The Lackawanna County Democratic Committee recently sent 76 elected committee members letters advising them they\u2019re ineligible to serve because they supported independent candidates in recent special or general elections, outgoing committee Chairman Chris Patrick confirmed.<\/p>\n
It prompted a swift reaction from a group calling themselves the Lackawanna United Democrats, which vowed legal action against the county Democratic Committee and Patrick, including filing a formal ethics complaint to the Pennsylvania Democratic Party and state Democratic Chairman Eugene DePasquale. The group includes committee members being removed from their elected positions.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Lackawanna United Democrats contend that the removals are unlawful, violate the rights of duly elected committee members, and represent an attempt by entrenched party leadership to maintain control despite the outcome of the committee elections,\u201d the group said in a press release.<\/p>\n
The letters signed by Patrick cite a rule in the committee\u2019s bylaws that disqualifies anyone who financially or otherwise supported \u201ca candidate \u2026 opposed to the duly nominated candidate of the Democratic Party\u201d from serving as a committee member or officer. It comes after several longtime Democrats ran unsuccessfully against official party nominees as independent candidates last year, when a factional civil war among local Democrats erupted over the process of filling former Democratic Commissioner Matt McGloin\u2019s vacant seat.<\/p>\n
While some positions are currently vacant, there are 326 seats on the county Democratic Committee, with 163 reserved for men and 163 reserved for women. The 76 members apparently disqualified for supporting independents make up more than 23% of the total.<\/p>\n
Democrats who switched to run as independent or otherwise unaffiliated candidates last year include: Michael Cappelli, in the special election to fill McGloin\u2019s unexpired term; Colleen Eagen Gerrity, in a special election to fill former Lackawanna County Clerk of Judicial Records Mauri Kelly\u2019s unexpired term; incumbent Scranton City Councilman Gerald Smurl, in the general election for city council; and Gene Barrett, in the general election for Scranton mayor. All four lost.<\/p>\n
\u201cPursuant to the bylaws of the Lackawanna County Democratic Committee, committee members are expected to support the Democratic Party\u2019s endorsed candidates and nominees,\u201d Patrick said in a written statement noting the committee is committed to supporting and electing Democrats at every level. \u201cAfter reviewing petition filings and campaign finance reports, the Committee has determined that certain members signed nomination petitions for independent candidates running in opposition to Democratic candidates.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile we respect every individual\u2019s right to support the candidate of their choosing, membership on the Democratic Committee carries specific obligations and responsibilities under our bylaws,\u201d the statement continues. \u201cAs a result, committee members who have violated these provisions will be subject to removal proceedings in accordance with the Committee\u2019s governing rules.\u201d<\/p>\n
Patrick\u2019s statement says the pending action isn\u2019t personal.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is about maintaining the integrity of the Democratic Party and ensuring that those entrusted with representing the Committee remain committed to advancing Democratic candidates and Democratic values,\u201d the statement concludes. \u201cThe rules must apply equally to everyone. Party leadership and committee members alike are expected to follow the bylaws they agreed to uphold.\u201d<\/p>\n
In an interview and subsequent text message, Patrick said the 76 members in question are removed but no action will be taken to replace them before the committee reorganizes July 7. Patrick, who is not seeking reelection as chairman during the reorganization, said the 76 won\u2019t be allowed at that meeting.<\/p>\n
William \u201cTrip\u201d O\u2019Malley, an elected committeeman representing Dunmore\u2019s Ward 1 Precinct 2, said he was \u201cshocked and upset\u201d when he received a letter Wednesday stating he\u2019s ineligible to serve. O\u2019Malley, who signed Colleen Eagen Gerrity\u2019s nomination papers to run against Democratic nominee and eventual victor Lauren Bieber Mailen in last year\u2019s clerk of judicial records special election, was reelected to his committee position during the May primary.<\/p>\n
He plans to fight to keep it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean my neighbors trust me and they voted for me for this position,\u201d O\u2019Malley said. \u201cThey helped get me on the ballot and they voted for me, and now, what, Chris Patrick is going to make their vote ineligible?\u201d<\/p>\n
Lexie Kelly, an elected committeewoman for Newton Twp., where her husband Tim Kelly is or at least was an elected committeeman, had not received a letter notifying her of her ineligibility as of Wednesday. But she expects both she and her husband will.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is bigger than a disagreement over party politics,\u201d Lexie Kelly said in the Lackawanna United Democrats press release. \u201cThis is about whether the votes of Democrats in Lackawanna County matter. Hundreds of Democrats worked tirelessly to elect new committee members because they wanted transparency, accountability, and a stronger party. Instead of respecting those results, the old guard is attempting to overturn them through procedural maneuvering and intimidation.\u201d<\/p>\n
The organization plans to \u201cpursue every available legal and administrative avenue to protect the rights of elected committee members,\u201d Kelly said in the release. She had recently put herself forward as a candidate for committee chairperson.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are prepared to fight this all the way to Harrisburg and beyond,\u201d she said. \u201cThe people affected by these actions should remain strong and know they are not alone. We fought too hard to clean up our party, open the doors to new voices, and restore trust in the Democratic process only to be confronted with what many view as the same unethical and un-American tactics that have frustrated Democrats in this county for years. We will not be intimidated, and we will not back down.\u201d<\/p>\n
Patrick, meanwhile, said he\u2019s enforcing the committee\u2019s longstanding rules that were known to members when they chose to support candidates other than the Democratic nominees.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are a country of laws,\u201d he said. \u201cOur bylaws are our law.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Lackawanna County Democratic Committee recently sent 76 elected committee members letters advising them they\u2019re ineligible to serve…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":227165,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[201,182,139,28,50,178,180,179],"class_list":["post-227164","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-lackawanna-county","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-politics","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227164","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=227164"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227164\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/227165"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=227164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=227164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=227164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}