Two local state Senate candidates and an incumbent state representative will remain on the ballot after court orders issued Monday.
Commonwealth Court judges ruled in favor of letting state Sen. Marty Flynn, D-Lackawanna, Flynn challenger Jeffrey Lake and Rep. Maureen Madden, D-Monroe, stay on the Democratic ballot in the May 19 primary election.
The Flynn challenges
Flynn, who represents the 22nd Senate District that straddles Lackawanna and Luzerne counties, is seeking a second full four-year term.
Lake wants to unseat him and challenged Flynn’s ballot status. He contended Flynn didn’t fill out his candidate affidavit properly. The affidavit affirms a person is running for an elected office. Candidates gather signatures on petitions to get on a primary election ballot.
Flynn, Lake said, left blank the line that asked for the name of his voting precinct.
In an unrelated challenge last week, another Commonwealth Court judge ruled leaving that line blank should not bar someone from the ballot.
That wasn’t the reason Judge Matthew S. Wolf said Flynn could remain on the ballot. Instead, Wolf ruled Lake didn’t file the challenge by the 5 p.m. March 17 deadline but the next day instead.
Judge Wolf threw out a challenge by Democratic Lawrence Sparano to Flynn’s petitions for the same reason. Sparano also filed his challenge the day after the deadline, the judge said. Sparano’s wife, Sharon Soltis Sparano, is unopposed for the Republican nomination for the Senate seat.
The Lake challenge
Lawrence “Larry” Wynne, a Democratic voter and Flynn ally, challenged Lake’s petitions, arguing no more than 440 of the 758 signatures on them were valid. A Senate candidate needs 500 valid signatures.
Wynne alleged many signatures were invalid because a signer wasn’t registered to vote or registered in the district and other reasons.
Attorney Kevin Greenberg, Wynne’s lawyer, said he withdrew the challenge over the weekend.
“I withdrew it over the weekend when our full pre-trial workup convinced me that the court was likely to find he had between 502 and 509 valid (signature) lines,” Greenberg wrote in an email Monday. “Close doesn't count so we didn't want to make the court or Mr. Lake waste his time.”
A judge then issued an order dismissing the challenge.
The Madden challenge
In Madden’s case, President Judge Renee Cohn Jubelirer dismissed a challenge to her petitions by Anna Lopez, who’s also seeking the Democratic nomination for the 115th House District seat. Madden is seeking a sixth two-year term. The district covers part of Monroe County.
Jubelirer ruled Lopez also filed her petition challenge a day late.
A challenge to Lopez’s petitions remains pending with a hearing scheduled for Tuesday at 10 a.m.
Monroe County Democratic Party Chairperson Tameko Patterson and Alfred Johnson challenged Lopez’s petition. They argue she did not obtain the 300 valid signatures necessary for a state representative candidate. Signatures are invalid for reasons that include a signer isn’t registered to vote or isn’t registered in the district or as a Democrat, they contend.
Richard Szabo is unopposed for the Republican nomination to the seat.
