Tired of ads? Subscribers enjoy a distraction-free reading experience.
Click here to subscribe today or Login.

By JENNIFER LEARN-ANDES AND DAVID ISEMAN [email protected],
[email protected]
Friday, October 31, 2003     Page: 1A

Such a big mistake has to be somebody’s fault, right?
   
So, who’s to blame for the home rule screw-up? Who failed to place the
legal ads that could scuttle the charter vote?
    Not me, says the county clerk.
   
It wasn’t my responsibility, says the head of Voter Services.
   
We’ll figure it out later, after we try to solve the problem, says the head
of the Election Board.
   
A state expert, Fred Reddig, deputy director of the state Center for Local
Government Services, said the county chief clerk and Election Board share
responsibility for properly advertising a home rule question under state
election laws.
   
But many of the people directly involved – including County Chief Clerk Jim
Torbik and Election Board Chairman Joe Cosgrove – say the issue isn’t cut and
dried.
   
Torbik said the county Voter Services Department has always handled its own
legal advertising requirements or notified him to place ads. That didn’t
happen in this situation.
   
Kevin Jordan heads Voter Services and says he had no clue until Thursday
that the charter question had special legal advertising requirements. Pointing
to wording in the home rule law, he says it clearly puts the advertising
responsibility on the “clerk” of any municipality voting on a home rule
question.
   
He continually tapped the word “clerk” with his pinkie.
   
Citing a specific portion of the law, Jordan said, “Section 2952 says what
it says.”
   
Torbik countered that the last legally mandated public notices related to
home rule in October and November 2001 – which he had a hand in publishing
came from members of the Election Board who were handling Voter Services
duties.
   
“I’m not a mind reader,” Torbik said. “This was not a case of this
document sitting on my desk and me going out to lunch and forgetting about it.
… Anybody who is trying to make it that is simply trying to place blame.”
   

   
Carl Goodwin, who helped draft the home rule charter, said Torbik shouldn’t
claim ignorance. Goodwin told Torbik and county commissioners about the
advertising requirement at a July commissioner meeting.
   
Jordan was not at that meeting.
   
Goodwin said he read the law to commissioners, and county Commissioner Tom
Makowski assured him the proper legal advertising would be done. According to
Goodwin, Makowski told county Solicitor Jim Blaum to make sure advertising
deadlines were met, and Blaum said he would.
   
Blaum also serves as solicitor of the county Election Board. He did not
return calls for comment Thursday afternoon about why he didn’t carry out that
promise.
   
Asked about that July meeting, Torbik said he couldn’t recall the Goodwin
admonition. Even if he had heard it, he said he doesn’t run ads on his own.
“I would have to have been directed to do it.”
   
Cosgrove said he believes legal advertising requirements are administrative
tasks that should be handled by Voter Services staff.
   
“It’s not the responsibility of the Election Board to handle day-to-day
administrative matters,” Cosgrove said. “Voter Services should have done
this, but as chairman of the Election Board, my colleagues and I take full
responsibility.”
   
Minority Commissioner Stephen A. Urban said the finger-pointing boils down
to the fact that nobody seems to be looking at the details of election law and
taking responsibility for making sure things get done.
   
Urban said his reading of the state Center for Local Government Services’
explainer book on home rule tells him the chief clerk is supposed to post a
notice.
   
“I don’t think he can just say he only posts them if somebody tells him,”
Urban said of Torbik.
   
Blaum also should have been on top of the situation, Urban said. “The
solicitor is the legal adviser to the Election Board. He should’ve been aware
of the notice, and the notice should’ve been prepared.”
   
Urban also said Cosgrove was on the board the last time home rule public
notices had to be issued.
   
“He’s a lawyer too. He knows there are deadlines,” Urban said.
   
And Urban said Jordan also should have been keeping an eye on deadlines
because his duties include making sure election deadlines are met.
   
“This is not pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey. They all come out looking like
donkeys. Nobody’s responsible for anything,” Urban said.
   
Jordan says one of the reasons he wasn’t aware of the rules for charter
advertisements is that he was on “family medical leave” in late 2001 when
the first home rule advertising was required.
   
At that time, home rule study candidates expressed concerns to Cosgrove and
other Election Board members that the advertisement requirement wouldn’t be
fulfilled, opening up the possibility that the home rule study referendum
could be thrown off the ballot.
   
It was the same requirement that applies today: a notice of the home rule
question must be published in at least one newspaper of general circulation
once a week for three consecutive weeks during the 30 days prior to the
election.
   
Jordan was asked what he would say to county residents who wonder why, as
head of Voter Services, he wasn’t up on all aspects of the home rule law.
Isn’t it his job to make sure all elections run smoothly and legally?
   
“We try to do that every election,” he said, pausing as he appeared to
search for words. “We don’t know that we didn’t try to do that this
election.”
   
Jordan added that he and his staff have been busy working many hours during
the past few weeks just to ensure the regular, general election runs smoothly.
   
Jordan also contends that some of his administrative duties aren’t clearly
spelled out because Commissioners Makowski and Tom Pizano have limited some of
his administrative powers since he took the 2001 leave.
   
Makowski and Pizano told the county Court of Common Pleas in July 2003 that
while they can’t legally serve on the Election Board while home rule is on the
ballot, they want to continue watching over Jordan.
   
Majority commissioners said they will continue to “oversee all
administrative functions of the Voter Services Bureau on a daily basis.”
   
Several attempts to reach Makowski for comment were unsuccessful. Pizano
said Thursday morning that his initial reaction to the matter is that Jordan –
not the Election Board or Torbik – is responsible for making sure advertising
deadlines are met.
   
Cosgrove said the Election Board will follow through to figure out what
went wrong.
   
“When the election is over, we’re going to investigate the matter fully as
to what problems occurred and how to remedy this to ensure we don’t confront
this kind of situation in the future,” Cosgrove said.
   
Cosgrove said all personnel will be investigated.
   
“Everything should be on the table,” Cosgrove said.
   
Jennifer Learn-Andes, a Times Leader staff writer, can be reached at
831-7333. David Iseman, Times Leader managing editor, can be reached at
829-7176.