Judge clears Region 2 candidate to run for Pine-Richland School Board after objections

Judge John McVay ordered objections to Pine-Richland School Board candidate Robert Stein’s election petitions be denied on March 31, leaving Stein clear to run in the May primaries.

The objections, filed by Pine-Richland attorney Chris Cafardi, alleged that Stein, who is running in Region 2 of the district, did not have enough Democratic signatures for his petition to run in the Democratic primary and that some signatures on his Republican petition were invalid.

For both Republican and Democratic primary elections, a candidate must submit a petition with signatures from 10 party members. Though Stein’s Democratic petition had 10 signatures, Cafardi alleges one of the signers was actually an independent, which would leave the candidate with an insufficient amount to run.

As for the Republican petition, Cafardi said several of the signers did not actually sign the petition themselves, making them invalid. In response, Stein’s attorney, Thomas King, admitted that some of the signatures were written by family members of other signers or were otherwise invalid. Still, he said, enough signatures were left to keep the petition valid.

But McVay ruled that both petitions be denied because of “lack of timely service” to the Allegheny County Elections Division since Cafardi missed the March 18 deadline to serve that office. King further pointed out that the law does not allow Cafardi, a registered Republican, to challenge a Democratic petition in the first place.

Though McVay seemed sympathetic to Cafardi’s point that the tight deadline was “overly formalistic,” he ultimately said that case law was “abundantly clear” that objections must be served by the deadline.

Cafardi, though recognizing the procedural issues, still moved to present evidence against the validity of Stein’s petitions because of what he said were “allegations of actual fraud.” But the judge declined to hear this.

The judge’s orders are unsurprising, Cafardi said, bound by what Cafardi called a “service technicality.”.

Stein declined to comment about the orders, but King said he was “very pleased” with the result and expected Stein to move “full speed ahead.”

In Region 2, Stein will face four cross-filed challengers for the two open seats, among them incumbent Amy Terchick and Cafardi’s wife, Amy, as well as incumbent Christina Brussalis, who filed solely for the Republican race.

The primary elections are set for May 20.