The state Supreme Court issued an order that effectively blocked Brenda Sacco from taking the oath of office Friday morning as Lackawanna County’s new commissioner.
The order will not affect the swearing in of Lauren Bieber Mailen as the new clerk of judicial records, court administrator Frank Castellano said.
But the order means Sacco’s swearing-in is off, Castellano said.
The order does not specifically address the appointment of Bieber Mailen, though the legal issues surrounding her appointment are similar.
Castellano declined to address the similarity and would only confirm Sacco’s ceremony was cancelled and Bieber Mailen’s wasn’t.
Seven county common pleas court judges signed an order Thursday appointing Sacco and Bieber Mailen to fill vacancies.
Bieber Mailen sworn in
Bieber Mailen was sworn in Friday morning by Judge Michael Barrasse, a close friend of her late father, George Bieber, the former security director at the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport.
Bieber Mailen replaces Mauri Kelly, who retired Tuesday.
Sacco would replace former Commissioner Matt McGloin, who resigned in February.
Instead, the state’s top court approved the county and Commissioner Bill Gaughan’s request for an emergency order that delays any appointment of a new commissioner until the Supreme Court rules on their request for an appeal.
The county and Gaughan have asked the Supreme Court to listen to their appeal to overturn two lower court rulings that allowed the appointment of someone to replace McGloin. The top court has not decided whether to do that.
With the common pleas scheduled to appoint replacements, the county and Gaughan asked the Supreme Court for an emergency order barring the commissioner appointment Wednesday.
The court did not rule by the time the common pleas judges met to appoint Sacco and Bieber Mailen, but did so Friday morning.
Procedural background
After McGloin resigned, the county Democratic Party met and overwhelmingly voted to recommend, Sacco, Olyphant Council President James Baldan and Scranton School Director Bob Casey. The party relied on a county home rule charter process that allows the party of a resigned official to recommend three replacements and requires the common pleas judges to pick one.
Gaughan challenged that in court, saying state law, the state constitution and a Supreme Court administrative rule trump the charter and require the common pleas judges to solicit applications and pick someone without the party having a direct say.
Three senior county common pleas judges voted 2-1 to uphold the home rule charter process. Gaughan and the county appealed, but the state Commonwealth Court affirmed the county court decision.
Gaughan and the county then went to the Supreme Court.
The emergency order says the appointment process is automatically stopped until the Supreme Court decides whether to hear the appeal.
Check back for updates.
UNDERSTANDING THE PROCESS
Lackawanna County Commissioner Matt McGloin's resignation in February touched off a complex, monthslong replacement battle. For anyone trying to keep track of who's who and what happened when, here is a rundown of key developments.
