Editorial: Westmoreland GOP chair says lawsuits are about eliminating rivals
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So what is up with the Westmoreland County commissioners’ race?
The primary election that will decide the two Republicans and two Democrats who advance to the November general election still is two months away. While legal catfights over legitimacy have become the default in Pennsylvania politics, that seems like something we shouldn’t be seeing until we start taking down the Halloween decorations.
Yet here we are.
Westmoreland County Republican Committee chairman Bill Bretz filed two lawsuits last week, attempting to remove two Hempfield candidates from the ballot.
John Ventre came in third for the Republican nomination in 2019. Paul Kosko was fourth. The lawsuits address the candidacies on the same grounds, claiming they failed to file necessary financial disclosures with not only the county elections bureau but also the chief county clerk — in the commissioners office.
That’s important. All candidates should follow the law when it comes to representing the people. But Ventre and Kosko say it was improper direction from county officials that kept them from filing with the clerk.
That is believable, as “chief clerk” does not appear on the county’s website or the office directory in the lobby. Even searching for Vera Spina by name in the staff directory doesn’t get you an office number. The only signs that say “chief clerk” appear outside the commissioners’ office. Contradictory info on the website would seem to point to the prothonotary.
Ventre and Kosko vow to fight to stay on the ballot, but, if they lose, that leaves just three Republicans in play. Two of them are incumbents Sean Kertes and Doug Chew. Chew, incidentally, also had financial filing issues and had to pay a $250 fine for submitting his campaign finance report a month late. The third candidate is former chief deputy sheriff Patricia Fritz, who isn’t challenged in the lawsuit.
What is most concerning: This isn’t the first time this year the GOP committee has seemed to stack the deck. In February, before some people had even decided to run for office, the committee held an unusually early convention and endorsed all of the incumbents. That is normal action made strange by the timeline.
But now look at it next to Bretz’s comment on the lawsuit.
“This is an opportunity for the two candidates I am supporting to eliminate two rivals without firing a shot,” he said.
That is a party leader openly saying his actions are not about playing inside the lines but about knocking pieces off the board before people go to the polls.
Just think: The primary is still two months away. What happens next?