{news} Pa. Green candidate Romanelli will fight state court ruling (Times Leader, Wilkes-Barre)

[Tim McKee]

----- Original Message -----

From: "Scott McLarty"
To: natlcomaffairs at green.gpus.org
Subject: [usgp-dx] Pa. Green candidate Romanelli will fight state court
ruling (Times Leader, Wilkes-Barre)
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 2009 16:59:25 +0000



Green Party candidate will fight court ruling

Carl Romanelli blasts rejection of his appeal of a decision that he
must pay more than $80,000.

By Steve Mocarsky
Times Leader, Wilkes-Barre (Pennsylvania), August 20, 2009
http://www.timesleader.com/news/Green_Party_candidate_will_fight_court_ruling_08-20-2009.html


Days after the state Supreme Court denied his appeal, Carl
Romanelli – a 2006 Green Party candidate for the U.S. Senate – says
he will continue to fight a Commonwealth Court decision directing
him to pay more than $80,000 to the parties that challenged his
nomination petition.

“I am dismayed because we presented some very serious new
information to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court – information coming
out of the attorney general’s presentation regarding the Bonusgate
scandal. We raised the issue of the challenge itself being part of
the poison fruit of the … scandal,” Romanelli, 49, of Wilkes-Barre,
said in a phone interview on Wednesday.

In a two-sentence order issued Monday, the state Supreme Court
affirmed Commonwealth Court’s decision that directed Romanelli and
his attorney, Lawrence M. Otter, of Doylestown, to pay $80,407.56
to the petition challengers. The order also denied Romanelli’s
motion for oral argument in the case.

“Not only did (the state Supreme Court) uphold a lower court ruling
that in my opinion was not intent on looking at the facts, they
failed to issue a written opinion. … If it’s OK to have a
conspiracy by the state against a citizen, fine. But say it,”
Romanelli said.

State Attorney General Tom Corbett’s presentation on Bonusgate
describes how 12 people involved in the state House Democratic
Caucus were charged with illegally giving state-funded bonuses to
state employees for performing partisan political work, such as
campaigning and challenging nomination petitions.

Corbett specifically drew attention to Romanelli’s case, which he
called one of “two outstanding examples of misappropriation of
taxpayers’ resources.”

The day Romanelli filed his nominating petitions, which included
94,544 signatures – well over the 67,070 required – a caucus
employee obtained copies of the petitions from the Department of
State, and an army of caucus staffers went to work trying to find
signatures to challenge, according to Corbett’s presentation.

The goal was to enhance the election chances of the Democratic
nominee, Robert Casey, by removing from the ballot a challenger
whose vote tally would likely come at the expense of the Democratic
candidate. The effort resulted in a challenge of at least 69,000
signatures and successfully knocked Romanelli off the ballot.

“If they allow this to become settled law, it will allow a
precedent to be set,” Romanelli said of the state Supreme Court’s
decision. “The next time a third-party candidate’s nomination
petition is challenged, they can look at this case and say, ‘We
know crimes were committed against the candidate, but that didn’t
stop Democrats from collecting court costs in the Romanelli case.’ ”

Romanelli can either petition the state Supreme Court to reconsider
its decision or appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. He said he will
most likely file a petition.

Shawn Gallagher, an attorney representing the challengers of the
nomination petition, said the court ruled appropriately.

Gallagher said Commonwealth Court found that Romanelli and his
attorney acted in bad faith during the proceedings.

The costs imposed – other than the attorney fees that amounted to
about $48,000 – were so high “based on Mr. Romanelli’s conduct and
his attorney’s conduct during all these weeks when they reviewed
the signatures. There was a court order that set forth the
procedure for review, and the costs were a result of Mr.
Romanelli’s and his attorney’s defiance of the order,” Gallagher
said.

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******************************************
Tim McKee, New Britian, CT, main number cell-860-778-1304, 860-505-8454
 National Committee member of the Green Party of the United States and is a spokesperson for the Green Party of CT.
/www.ctgreentimes.org
BLOG-http://thebiggreenpicture.blogspot.com

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