Seven plead guilty in Pennsylvania corruption case
Back in 2006 Carl Romanelli sought to run as a Green Party candidate for US Senate in Pennsylvania. His ballot access petitions were challenged. He was tossed off the ballot. Later he was charged the costs of the challenger’s expenses. Pennsylvania is the only state to do this. It’s important to understand that that Romanelli was not fined, as he did nothing illegal.
Later it was revealed that some of the challenges were undertaken by state employees working on the taxpayer dollar on behalf of the Democratic nominee. Yesterday seven people pleaded guilty in this case. The story was reported at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The article includes this
Observers in the courtroom included Carl Romanelli, who ran in 2006 as a Green Party candidate for U.S. Senate. Some of the charges in the Bonusgate case revolve around allegations that Democratic staffers worked on state time to challenge signatures on his election petitions in an attempt to knock him off the ballot and secure more votes for Democrat Bob Casey.Yesterday’s guilty pleas were good news for third-party candidates who have a hard enough time running against majority parties when everyone plays by the rules, Mr. Romanelli said.
The Democrats tried to force me to have no choice but to vote for their candidate. That was the motivation behind the challenge. I will not reward them by ever voting for a Democrat again.
As smart thing to do Matt.
Thanks for posting this…Greens can be proud of their perseverance…my article from from 2006:
http://ebbortz.blogspot.com/2006/11/green-roots-harrisburg-blues.html
Thanks for the link e b. Somehow we have missed linking to your site until now. I am glad to report that, with Ron’s help, I was able to figure out how to link to it, so it’s in our Green blogroll now.