I would like to extend a special thank- you (not) to you, Judge Harry Smail, for your unwise decisions to remove all Republican Norwin School Board candidates from this year’s primary ballot.
This removal for petty processing errors was disgraceful and absurd, especially your decision to remove one candidate because an eligible petitioner, who is severely visually impaired, utilized their spouse to neatly write their home address after affixing the signature to the petition. All the while acting to remove two other candidates for not providing copies of their financial reports to the school district after providing the original to the Board of Elections.
A similar decision, later overturned by the appellate court, makes this tragedy all the more baffling. However, it did serve to assist in what I believe is a political vendetta in your courtroom, which I think is why the appellate court saw fit to point out the petty nature of this type of decision-making.
Norwin, like most communities, has a difficult time recruiting viable candidates for school board. Candidates who are good people but not versed in the minutiae of the political process are the norm. This will be an expensive lesson. The end result will essentially hand the election to the opposing tax-and-spend faction and control of all school district matters, including financial ones. I don’t think it is an exaggeration to say that the cost to our residents will be in the tens of millions of dollars.
Rich Walczak
North Huntingdon