Scranton will have one fewer candidate for mayor.
Lackawanna County Common Pleas Court Judge Terrence R. Nealon ruled Thursday that Republican candidate Bob Bolus remains ineligible to run for the office because of 1991 and 2012 felony convictions.
Nealon ruled on a petition by Republican Charlie Spano, a Scranton resident. Spano pointed out that the state Commonwealth Court twice ruled Bolus ineligible based on the convictions.
When candidates file nominating petitions to get on the ballot, they must sign affidavits swearing they can serve if elected.
Spano said Bolus filed his petitions with an affidavit wrongly attesting he could serve if elected.
Nealon agreed.
It’s the third time the county court has removed Bolus from the ballot as he tried to run for mayor. The first two happened in 2019 and 2021 with both county court rulings affirmed by the Commonwealth Court. The county court also removed him from the ballot in 2007 when he tried to run for Scranton City Council.
In 2001, the Commonwealth Court allowed him to run for mayor, but ruled he could not serve if elected because the nature of the challenge to his ballot status was different. He lost the election anyway.
The state Constitution forbids people from serving in elected office if they were convicted of infamous crimes. The state Supreme Court ruled May 2000 in a separate case that felonies are infamous crimes.
Bolus was convicted of receiving stolen property in 1991 and insurance fraud and theft by deception in 2012. All are felonies.
Spano said nothing had changed since the two previous times Bolus was thrown off the ballot. Spano cited that as the reason he represented himself without a lawyer just before Nealon began a hearing on the matter Wednesday.
Bolus, 82, argued he’s eligible to have his record cleared because of a state law that allows for that if someone is at least 70 years old and a sentence that ended at least ten years ago.
Nealon acknowledged the law, but said Bolus hasn’t had his record formally expunged.
With his departure from the race, Patricia Beynon, an accounting executive, and Lynn Labrosky, an auto repair shop co-owner, remain in the Republican race for mayor.
The Democratic candidates are Mayor Paige Gebhardt Cognetti and former Scranton School Director Bob Sheridan, who owns a used car business.
The primary election that will decide the Republican and Democratic nominees is May 20.
Former Scranton Councilman Gene Barrett and Mike Mancini have announced independent bids for mayor. They have until Aug. 1 to gather 207 signatures to get on the ballot separately.
In an unrelated matter, the county commissioners asked the common pleas court Wednesday to appoint a new member of the Board of Elections, which consists of the commissioners. A vacancy exists because Commissioner Matt McGloin resigned last month and hasn’t been replaced.
