The reins of power usually come with a secondary infection, a desperation to not lose control of authority and influence. As the election season draws to a close we can count on the powerful and influential to grasp for any straw within arms’ reach. When fear of becoming no one special again, losing an election, circles overhead like a vulture the desperation becomes a special kind of silly.
This year has been nothing short of predictable. Across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania challenger candidates have found themselves in the crosshairs of a scared and predatory class of powerful people. Below are some of my favorites:
Perry County
The Perry County Coroner’s special election race exploded into unsubstantiated accusations and boogeyman tales when Mike Hoak refused to be sidelined in-favor of an insider candidate. The Perry County Republican Party (PCRC), rather than endorse one of their own who was already doing the job, selected insider Robert Ressler. The barely qualified Ressler is a police officer in Cumberland County; Hoak, on the other hand, has 15 years’ experience in the Coroner’s office and is endorsed by former Coroner Michael Shalonis who had spent 40 years in service to the county.
The seat opened up when Shalonis retired and triggered the special election happening concurrent with the November 7th municipal ballot. However, when the PCRC snubbed Hoak by choosing Ressler, the entire coroner’s office tendered their resignations in protest. Hoak dropped his affiliation with the PCRC and sought the nomination of the Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania (LPPA). Predictably, the PCRC lost their collective marbles and began spreading dastardly rumors about Hoak on social media.
Duncannon Borough council member Darryl Crouthermal and other members of the Perry County police/EMS community circled the wagons and began a libel campaign against Mr Hoak by claiming he was “hiding dead bodies in his garage” and other nonsensical Salem Witch Trial era accusations. When contacted on his publicly listed work phone number, former journalist turned public pension profiteer Cris Courogen, the Duncannon Borough Manager, leapt into a tirade refusing to answer any questions even to confirm the publicly listed contact information for the councilman.
Courogen, Crouthermal, and even a firefighter from Washington DC threw online temper-tantrums demanding the LPPA drop their endorsement and stop asking for evidence of their accusations. Lisa Landis, admin of the facebook page This is Duncannon, went so far as to directly contact the LPPA chairman demanding, based solely on the credibility of her own self-importance, that any support of Hoak or questions of his accusers be immediately withdrawn. Illustrating their credibility Crouthermal, Courogen, and Landis all refused to respond to requests to put their accusations on camera.
Lackawanna County
Mayoral candidate Gary St Fleur has seen the inside of a courtroom multiple times in his bid to change the systems of power in the city of Scranton. St Fleur saw not only his ballot petition signatures challenged by puppets of his Republican opposition and refusals to debate from the Democrat candidate; St Fleur is leading a successful lawsuit against the city for over-taxing its residents.
St Fleur entered the race and has found significant support from the traditionally ignored, also known as ‘the poor’, of his city. Hoping to capture the discontent of residents bailing out the disappointing financial management of Scranton, St Fleur has energized a voting bloc that hasn’t seen any attention paid to it outside of how much they can be milked for fines and fees.
Given the successes of his lawsuit and the mobilization of a population wealthy power-peddlers would rather stay quietly tucked away, St Fleur has experienced all of the typical strong arm tactics… and keeps winning.
Deleware County
His name is Champ, which is great all in itself. Matt “Champ” Wallace is a normal guy, small business owner, and funny. That’s dangerous. So dangerous that Champ and fellow DelCo candidate Edward Clifford have nearly been arrested for talking to people in a public park, had his campaign commercial taken down by court order pushed by his opponent, and faced incessant harassment since announcing his candidacy for Sheriff of Deleware County.
Mr Wallace doesn’t want the county’s resources used to put people behind bars for pot. A steadfast opponent of the war on drugs Champ has found himself the target of a militarized DelCo political structure that makes more money than the average American CEO salary off incarcerating non-violent drug offenders.
The Champ has fought off over an hour’s worth of grilling from his opponent’s high-priced attorneys, built a grassroots base by simply not being one of his opponents, and laughed off the mud-slinging campaign flyers typical of entrenched incumbents.
Lycoming County
Mary Kilgus, an actual independent running for judge (yeah, I know, we are supposed to think judges are all independents) has faced some of the most vitriolic and abusive forms of intimidation this year. The former prosecutor, practicing attorney, mother, business owner, and advocate for the accused has found herself the target of malicious investigation. Her opponent, the current Lycoming County DA not only used his office to go after her as a candidate but also tried to destroy her law practice rather than face her in an election.
Kilgus found herself the victim of an all-too-common heavy handed law enforcement investigation when a former employee stole tens of thousands of dollars. Not only was the police investigation beyond over-the-top but it was also leaked to the media by someone inside her opponent’s office. Cleared of wrongdoing, Kilgus refused to be a victim and instead doubled her efforts to ensure no other person fell under this abuse of power.
These are just some of my favorites from this year but they are hardly unique or special. They are par for the course. Admittedly I am quite biased in support of the targets of political strong-arming, but, so is our Constitution. As Americans we should have a special level of disdain for the powerful who seek to use their office to subjugate their political opponents or exploit the trust voters placed in them.
Please remember to vote on November 7th.