Questionable Lawsuit May Result In Criminal Consequences for Prominent PA GOP Party Members

Philadelphia, PA – April 22, 2008 – Chaos ensued in Philadelphia today as 2 prominent Pennsylvania GOP party members filed suit against 8 other GOP delegates. The case, filed by the lawfirm of McNichol, Byrne & Matlawski, P.C., was brought on behalf of Barbara Harvey of Broomall, PA and Alana Cervino of Springfield, PA, both prominent GOP supporters. The suit was brought against GOP Alternate Delegate Rick Lacey also names several other GOP candidates including David K Walter, Michael P. Boyle, Peter J. Manfra, Ryan Hodinka, John Savastio, John Pedley, Bernie Strain, Mike Noonan, and Marianne Loughran. Though none of the defendants were officially endorsed by the Pennsylvania GOP, all were Republican Party members running for Republican Party seats, and most if not all seem to be supporters of Presidential Candidate Ron Paul.

The official complaint alleges that sample ballot cards printed by the candidates violated campaign finance laws since the cards were not paid for by a political action committee. It is however common knowledge that campaign materials distributed for the purpose of securing a party seat are not subject to the campaign finance laws of a candidate seeking public office.

Though an injunction was granted to the plaintiff’s, a Delaware county Judge quickly reversed the decision after the error was brought before the court early Tuesday morning. The reversal was not quick enough however as Delaware county sheriffs improperly confiscated ballots from polls where they were being handed out, and promptly destroyed them without authorization.

Though the Ron Paul Campaign has not officially responded to the suit, state co-coordinators for the Ron Paul campaign and defendants have said that they are taking the incident seriously and are considering further legal action against the plaintiffs. They further stated that while a course of action had not been determined, they would not rule out filing criminal charges in the case.