Lackawanna County Commissioner Bill Gaughan wants the county common pleas court to restart the process of replacing former Commissioner Matt McGloin.
This time, Gaughan’s petition to the court says, the court should run the selection process instead of the county Democratic Party, according to a petition filed Monday with the court.
Gaughan declined to comment except to say he's seeking a reset of the process.
"I'm going to let the (petition) speak for itself. I mean, it's pretty clear," he said.
The petition says procedures in the state county code and a state court rule for filling commissioner vacancies trump the county home rule charter’s vacancy-filling procedure.
Based on the home rule charter, the county Democratic Party executive committee met Feb. 27 and voted to recommend three people to replace McGloin, who resigned Feb. 24.
The committee overwhelmingly recommended former county planning and economic development director Brenda Sacco, Olyphant Council President James Baldan and Scranton School Director Bob Casey.
The charter says the judges must select one of the three. The court set Wednesday as the day for interviewing the three.
Court administrator Frank Castellano said he could not comment on the petition.
"The court cannot comment on pending litigation," Castellano said in an email.
Gaughan’s petition says the court is following the wrong procedure. The county code says common pleas court judges must appoint a replacement who comes from the same party as the commissioner who left office, the petition points out.
In 2019, the state Supreme Court “established the statewide procedure for courts of common pleas” to follow when filling vacancies under the county code.
The procedure, Gaughan’s petition says, is outlined under Rule 1908 of the Pennsylvania Rules of Judicial Administration.
It says the court will “receive applications from any interested candidates for the position” and set a deadline for applying.
The names will be public and available to anyone who asks for a list, the rule says. The common pleas court judges will vote on the candidates and the president judge will break any tie.
“The courts of common pleas are without power to adopt or implement procedures that are inconsistent with rules established by the Supreme Court,” the petition says. “The Democratic committee’s secret candidate pre-selection process is anathema to the transparency and inclusiveness enshrined in” the Supreme Court rule.
The petition notes the Democrats acted before McGloin’s vacancy was accepted by the commissioners and before the court ordered the committee to re-submit names.
The court has not set a date for hearing the petition.
County Democratic chairman Chris Patrick said a party lawyer reviewed the process and concluded the charter procedure was correct.
"Look at at the end of the day, all I did was follow the home rule charter as it's spelled out." Patrick said. "If the judges feel there's something different, or if this applies, and that's the decision they make, I have all the faith in the world in our bench. I mean, they're great people, men and women, and I'm okay with whatever they decide."
Two weeks ago, court administrator Frank Castellano said the judges settled on their procedure after consulting with the state Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts, the state court system’s administrative arm.
He declined to provide a copy of the advice the court office offered.
Gaughan, who wanted Dunmore Mayor Max Conway to replace McGloin, has repeatedly criticized the nature of the Democratic Party’s selection process as full of secrecy. Patrick has declined to reveal the names of the 18 people who applied for the vacancy and barred all but committee members from being present for the vote.
