The Lackawanna County Democratic Committee\u2019s role in temporarily filling a commissioner vacancy under the county\u2019s Home Rule Charter survived a protracted legal battle, with the state Supreme Court ruling against Democratic Commissioner Bill Gaughan and the county in an opinion issued Monday.<\/p>\n
The implications of the Supreme Court ruling were not immediately clear. The charter provision in question pertains to an appointment process, and a special election to fill the vacancy created by former Democratic Commissioner Matt McGloin\u2019s late February resignation is scheduled for Nov. 4.<\/p>\n
Gaughan and the county initiated the litigation in March, specifically challenging the charter provision that tasked the county Democratic Committee with submitting three applicants to potentially replace McGloin for consideration by the judges of the county Court of Common Pleas. Gaughan and the county argued the charter process violated state Rule of Judicial Administration 1908, which would remove the Democratic committee from the replacement process and place it solely in the hands of the county judges.<\/p>\n
The legal fight continued through the spring and summer, with the majority of a panel of three senior county judges ruling against Gaughan and the county in May and the state Commonwealth Court upholding in July the county panel\u2019s majority ruling. The Supreme Court agreed to hear a narrow appeal of whether Rule 1908 overrides the charter section directing the county judges to choose from a pool of three candidates submitted by the committee.<\/p>\n
In affirming the earlier Commonwealth Court decision, the Supreme Court justices ruled it does not. Justice Kevin Dougherty did not participate in the decision.<\/p>\n
Monday\u2019s Supreme Court opinion ends a legal fight that delayed the appointment of McGloin\u2019s replacement. The county judges moved in early September to appoint former county Economic Development Director Brenda Sacco to fill the vacant seat, but that appointment was stayed pending a resolution to Gaughan and the county\u2019s legal challenge.<\/p>\n
Sacco\u2019s near appointment followed a surprising late August vote by the county Board of Elections declaring a Nov. 4 special election to fill the remainder of McGloin\u2019s term running into early January 2028. The Democratic committee, Sacco and a pair of other potential appointees sued seeking an injunction to block the special election, which survived the legal challenge in county court and on appeal.<\/p>\n
Sacco didn\u2019t seek candidacy in the special election and has not publicly expressed a desire to accept a temporary appointment. She said Monday her attorney would be issuing a statement.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not immediately clear if or how the county judges might proceed with a temporary appointment in light of Monday\u2019s state Supreme Court decision.<\/p>\n
Commissioner candidates in the special election include Democrat Thom Welby, Republican Chet Merli and independent Michael Cappellini.<\/p>\n
Gaughan said in a statement Monday that he respects the Supreme Court decision and is \u201cvery comforted by the knowledge that the voters of Lackawanna County will decide who permanently fills the vacancy.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018Bittersweet victory\u2019<\/p>\n
Attorney Adam Bonin, who represented the Democratic committee throughout the legal battle, said he\u2019s \u201cthrilled for my client that the argument that we\u2019ve maintained all along is right.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut it\u2019s a bittersweet victory, because if Commissioner Gaughan hadn\u2019t stalled this thing for seven months now, seven-plus months, Brenda Sacco could have been serving all this time,\u201d Bonin said. \u201cAnd she would then be in a position that \u2026 if they decided again to make this last-minute call for a special election she would have gotten her feet wet and she would have had a record to run on.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel bad for Brenda and I feel bad for the residents of the county that this baseless litigation stalled things out for so long,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Gaughan defended his legal challenge while taking another apparent shot at the Democratic committee process he\u2019s long criticized as politically tainted.<\/p>\n
\u201cI pursued this course from the beginning to ensure that the new commissioner is the result of the will of the people, not a few guys in a backroom someplace,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
County Democratic Party Chairman Chris Patrick also issued a statement, blasting Gaughan while arguing the commissioner\u2019s \u201cimmaturity, arrogance and obsession with control have made him unfit to serve.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery court in Pennsylvania, including the Supreme Court, has made it clear \u2014 he was wrong,\u201d Patrick said of Gaughan. \u201cBut instead of accepting responsibility, he doubled down, wasting taxpayer money and embarrassing Lackawanna County in the process.\u201d<\/p>\n
County officials have said the law firm representing Gaughan and the county in the legal battle over the McGloin vacancy, Myers, Brier & Kelly, would not bill the county for that representation.<\/p>\n
Patrick also referenced \u201cbackroom\u201d and \u201cinsider politics,\u201d accusing Gaughan of attempting to hand-pick McGloin\u2019s replacement in Cappellini, the independent commissioner candidate Gaughan recently endorsed in the special election.<\/p>\n
\u201cVoters have the chance to end this cycle of insider politics at the polls and send Bill Gaughan, Cappellini, and the real machine packing once and for all,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Cappellini emphasized late Monday that no one approached him about running in the special election. Running for commissioner was a goal of his long before the special election was declared, he said.<\/p>\n
Gaughan said Patrick should look in the mirror, \u201cbecause everything he is saying about me is actually what he has been doing since the very beginning.\u201d<\/p>\n
For years, Gaughan said, Patrick has \u201coperated in the shadows, cutting political deals, protecting insiders and manipulating the local Democratic committee to serve his own interests.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHis tantrum isn\u2019t relevant, and he\u2019s really not relevant,\u201d Gaughan said. \u201cWhat is relevant is that the voters of Lackawanna County will pick the next county commissioner.\u201d<\/p>\n
Originally Published: October 20, 2025 at 5:29 PM EDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Lackawanna County Democratic Committee\u2019s role in temporarily filling a commissioner vacancy under the county\u2019s Home Rule Charter…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9438,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[201,182,139,28,178,180,179],"class_list":{"0":"post-9437","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-scranton","8":"tag-lackawanna-county","9":"tag-local-news","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-pennsylvania","12":"tag-scranton","13":"tag-scranton-headlines","14":"tag-scranton-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9437","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=9437"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9437\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}