while Net the Truth Online does not endorse candidates for public office, we do attempt to raise issues and questions related to such offices.
What's unsettling about the situation reported on in the Herald Standard article is it has taken since March '09 for this particular determination to be made so close to an election. Six months after the former assessment was made that the Republican and Democrat Parties could name individuals to be a candidate for the 'special election' 'vacated council seat ' and the public is informed that will not happen?
Uniontown City Council will have to make another appointment to fill the seat that former Councilman Marlin Sprouts held.
Fayette County Election Bureau Director Laurie Lint said Wednesday the bureau checked with the Pennsylvania Department of State and was told the seat will have to be filled through an appointment until the 2011 elections because Sprouts resigned after the March 10 deadline to file primary election petitions.
Worse, the Herald Standard article begins with
Uniontown City Council will have to make another appointment to fill the seat that former Councilman Marlin Sprouts held.
Will have to make another appointment to fill the seat...
That makes it appear there is no other recourse than for another appointment to be made by city council, when there is a potential alternative. Sproul keeps the appointment because he is no longer a candidate for one of the two open council seats.
To shake things up, the appointed councilman, a Republican, Sproul, should pull his candidacy status seeking one of the two open council seats in the November election. He would then retain his appointed position on the Uniontown City Council, unless and until that appointment is challenged, or the city council members cause a vote to vacate the seat.
By withdrawing from the race for one of the two open seats, Sproul would give an opportunity rarely seen in local politics to another Republican candidate in a county with a 4 to 1 ratio of Democrat registered to Republican registered voters.
A chance opportunity to actually win.
Should Republican Russell Rhodes win one of the two open slots, and one of the Democrats win the other open seat, still city council would have the situation of considering an appointment other than Republican Sproul (to serve out the formerly vacated seat wherein two Democrats were appointed) - but it would be unlikely they'd chance making a switch - or face looking like politics was played in the first place by making the appointment of a Republican over a another Democrat.
Pledge signers:
http://www.localgovernmentacademy.org/sub.asp?ID=71&subID=247
Net the Truth Online
Uniontown City Council will have to make another appointment to fill the seat that former Councilman Marlin Sprouts held.
Fayette County Election Bureau Director Laurie Lint said Wednesday the bureau checked with the Pennsylvania Department of State and was told the seat will have to be filled through an appointment until the 2011 elections because Sprouts resigned after the March 10 deadline to file primary election petitions.
Sprouts resigned March 17 after he was sentenced to probation and ordered to pay restitution in a federal mortgage fraud case. He was indicted about a month after he took office in January 2007.
At its March 17 meeting, council appointed Philip J. Michael to serve the remainder of Sprouts' term, which would have ended in 2011.
Michael resigned on April 14 after Democratic City Council candidate Gary Gearing sued him, claiming he was not qualified to hold the office because he lived in the city for less than a year before he was appointed and council should have appointed him to serve only until the November election.
Council then appointed Republican council candidate Curtis Sproul to fill the vacancy until the general election on Nov. 3.
Advertisement If Sproul wins in November, council would have to appoint someone else to fill the vacant office until the 2011 elections.
Previously, Lint said the appointment would last until the November election when a special election would be held to fill the office and the Democratic and Republican parties had until Sept. 5 to submit nominations.
"It will not be on the (November) ballot," Lint said Wednesday.
Sproul, Republic candidate Russ Rhodes and Democratic candidates Francis "Joby" Palumbo and Gearing will run for two four-year terms in the November election.
http://www.heraldstandard.com/news_detail/article/1220/2009/august/11/brecount-bounces-geary-from-ag-race-b.html
Related from the Herald Standard
Recount bounces Geary from AG race
August 11, 2009 03:52 AM TEXT SIZE By: ANGIE ORAVEC
Herald Standard
A recount of primary election votes apparently changed the outcome of the Albert Gallatin School Board race.
Laurie Lint, director of the Fayette County Election Bureau, confirmed Monday that challenger Ryan Geary Sr. lost the Republican nomination in the spring race for school board.
Lint said a recount of votes was finalized mid-June. Votes were unofficial until that time. New vote totals show that incumbent candidate Kenneth J. Plisko bested Geary by one vote.
Plisko gained the fourth and final spot on the Republican ticket by securing 254 votes, pushing Geary out of the race. Geary secured 253 votes, an additional 13 votes as compared to unofficial election results in June, but less than the other candidates.
Geary did not receive enough Democratic votes to secure a spot on that ticket, either, so he will not appear on the ballot in the November general election.
Geary said he was "shocked" when the Herald-Standard notified him of the news Monday. Geary said he had not heard from the election bureau on the recount. He said when he called the bureau around July 4 to check on election results, he was told he was on the ballot for November.
He said he was just about to gear up his campaign for the fall.
"If I lost, I lost. So be it," said Geary, but noted he wonders how his election to the board could hinge on one vote when he had a higher vote total than Plisko in May.
Lint said votes not able to be scanned at a polling place were scanned in as part of the recount. She said some absentee votes could be included in the recount of the Albert Gallatin School Board race as well as the newly scanned votes.
Geary speculated that the scanned votes, when scanned at the election bureau, could have been counted twice. He also would like an explanation as to why a voting machine at the Fayette County Area Vocational-Technical School needed replaced.
Advertisement "What happened? Why wasn't it working?" he asked.
"I just think it's funny," Geary added. "Something is not right. I just don't like the (vague) description I got (from the election bureau on the reason why I lost the Republican nomination)."
Although Geary is out of the competition, voters still will see a contested race. They will be able to choose four among five candidates - all who are competing for four-year terms.
Plisko, along with incumbents Edward F. Andria, Bill Boni and Ed Sutton, will face off against two-time challenger Terry Ryan. Ryan lost the election to school board in the 2007.
Andria and Sutton finished in the top spots on the Republican ticket, with 358 and 318 votes, respectively. New vote totals showed Andria and Sutton received an additional 33 and 22 votes, respectively, since June. Ryan still finished third, securing 276 votes, 27 more votes as compared to June.
Democratic vote totals also changed, but did not alter the outcome of the race.
Plisko cross-filed and secured a spot on the Democratic ticket with 1,752 votes, 46 more than in June. He placed third on that ticket.
Andria, the top vote getter on both tickets, received 2,215 votes, 102 more than in June. Sutton, second-place finisher on both tickets, received 1,838 votes, 52 more than in June. Ryan secured 1,498 votes, 39 more than in June. Bill Boni, whose name appeared only on the Democratic ticket since he did not cross-file, received 1,704 votes, 65 more than in June, securing the fourth and final spot on the Democratic ticket.
Plisko could not be reached for comment on the new outcome of the race Monday.
http://www.heraldstandard.com/news_detail/article/1220/2009/august/11/brecount-bounces-geary-from-ag-race-b.html
Uniontown mayoral hopeful to forgo recount
A Fayette County mayoral candidate who lost the election by just 56 votes likely will not seek a recount, despite the slim margin separating him from the winner.
The unofficial returns in the race for mayor of Uniontown that put Democrat Ed Fike ahead of Republican Russell R. Rhodes do not include 131 absentee ballots cast in the city.
The election bureau is in the process of counting 1,200 absentee ballots cast countywide, with results not expected to be announced until Friday. Friday also marks the start of the official count, said Laurie Lint, election bureau director.
Rhodes yesterday said he does not expect the absentee ballots to give him enough additional votes to overtake Fike. Even if the official count still gives Fike the win by only a slim margin, Rhodes said he won't ask for a recount.
"I don't think, in today's electronic world, that would make a difference," Rhodes said. "It's tabulated right off the machines. If it was paper ballots, that would be another thing."
Rhodes said asking for a recount would be looked upon as "sour grapes." Although he's disappointed with the loss, he is thankful the race was close.
"People didn't give me a snowball's chance in hell," Rhodes said. "We're outregistered here, at least 2 1/2-, maybe 3-to-1, but I gave them a run for their money."
Rhodes noted he won four of the city's seven wards, but "just didn't fare well enough in the three losing ones to sustain that drive there."
Fike could not be reached for comment.
http://www.pittsburghlive.com:8000/x/pittsburghtrib/news/election/counties/s_536954.html
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