The Republican’s road to returning as the party representing Pennsylvania’s 8th District in Congress got a little easier after a successful petition challenge knocked conservative independent Tom Lingenfelter off the ballot, Thursday.
Commonwealth Court Judge Dan Pellegrini ruled that 769 signatures on the petition were invalid because they were obtained by circulators who lived outside the district.
Lingenfelter attorney Larry Otter argued that the Department of Stateinstructions simply said circulators “must be a qualified elector of theCommonwealth of Pennsylvania.”Pellegrini, however, said a ruling by the state Supreme Court that they must be district residents took precedence over the Department of State directions.
Among those circulating the petitions for Lingenfelter were two interns working for Democrat incumbent Patrick Murphy. The Republican in the race is former Congressman Mike Fitzpatrick, who Murphy beat by 1,518 votes in 2006.
Lingenfelter received more than 5,000 as a third-party candidate in 2008, in the race that saw Murphy easily win reelection with 57 percent of the vote over Republican Tom Manion.
Murphy, an Iraq war veteran, has claimed to be a moderate. With Obama in office, however, he has shown himself not just to be an extreme social liberal, with his support for abortion and gun control, but a fiscal one as well supporting Obamacare and the stimulus. He has voted with Nancy Pelosi 99 percent of the time.
Lingenfelter remains on the ballot in 143rd District State House race.
Didn’t everyone get highly upset when that judge in CA overruled the voters a few weeks back?
Guess it isn’t judicial activism / ignoring the will of the voters if you agree with the judges decision.