Libertarian Dumped On Technicality In State Senate Race
By Bob Small
The new minor party status that the Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania received was said to give them an advantage in special elections, including not having to gather signatures
This year’s first special election is on Jan 31 in the 27th state senatorial district. The 27th opened up when John Gordner resigned on Nov 30 to become counsel to State Senator Kim Ward who is now the Senate Majority Leader.
The major party candidates are Patricia Lawton (D) and Lynda Schlegel Culver (R), meaning one of them will become the first female 27th District Female Senator.
So it seemed that the Libertarians would have their initial Special Election Candidate for 2023, under this new statute. Well, the devil is in the details.
Though Thomas Anderson’s nomination packet was filed by the Dec. 12 deadline because “he failed to include a copy of his (SFI) statement of financial interests”
Here’s where it gets interesting; The DOS states that they gave Anderson leeway to file it in a few days, but that Anderson “inexplicably waited until Jan. 11 to file. There’s various conflicting statements in the media reports.
Anderson has a Bachelor’s Degree from the Stevens Institute of Technology and a graduate degree from Penn State University. He has worked as an alternative energy consultant, constable, and software engineer. He has been affiliated with the Columbia County Committee of the Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania, The Columbia County Landowners Association, We the People of Columbia County, and The Williamsport Tea Party.
On Jan. 25, I received an email from Thomas Anderson that contained confirmation that the SFI was timestamped as of 5:16 p.m. on Dec. 12.
I’ll leave the final quotes to Thomas Anderson “I was duly nominated by the third largest political party in Pennsylvania. They chose to deny for a technicality which was cured almost immediately”.
Two last comments The Greens have become used to this on a regular basis. Meanwhile, the newly minted Governor Shapiro refuses to even release some financial information.
More to follow.
