Last night’s Commission Discussion Session was a revelation. I learned that there is nothing in the Home Rule Charter to protect us from electing commissioners with a criminal record.
Section 305. Qualifications of Commissioners
At the time of election or appointment, a Commissioner shall be a citizen of the United States, shall be at least twenty-five (25) years of age, shall have been a registered voter in the Municipality for at least two (2) years immediately prior to election, and shall be a bona fide resident of the ward from which elected.
The Commissioners recommended that we do our homework before we cast our votes. The disturbing part of this statement is that voters in Wards 2, 3, 4, and 5 are counting on the voters in Ward 1, for example, to do their research. Once elected, the Home Rule Charter states:
Section 306. Authority
All Commission authority shall be asserted by the Commissioners as a body only.
In simpler terms, what happens in Ward 1 doesn’t stay in Ward 1. Whew! Talk about pressure!!!
So, how do we do our homework? Google? Criminal records don’t show up using Google. For magisterial dockets, one must search here: http://ujsportal.pacourts.us/DocketSheets/MDJ.aspx
For Criminal Courts of Common Pleas dockets: http://ujsportal.pacourts.us/DocketSheets/CP.aspx
Appellate Courts:
But we are advised that, “Docket sheet information should not be used in place of a criminal history background check.”
Now what? Who is responsible for running a criminal history background check? The parties? Clearly, that didn’t happen. Should there be something in the Home Rule Charter that the individual must be able to pass a criminal history background check? If so, how long? Five years? Ten years? What convictions are acceptable?
The bottom line is that we must be mindful of all candidates running. Once elected, they govern all of us, regardless of ward.
4 comments:
Our Pennsylvania Supreme Court discussed "infamous crimes" in May:
http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2011/05/pennsylvania_supreme_court_con_1.html
See Article II, § 7 of the
Pennsylvania Constitution.
David Huston
Here is the rest of the link that did not get published.
2011/05/pennsylvania_supreme_court_con_1.html
Elaine, your last statement:
"The bottom line is that we must be mindful of all candidates running. Once elected, they govern all of us, regardless of ward."
Is so true.
What's sad is that local elections have the least amount of participation of all elections. People are excited to vote for the President, who's actions may not affect our daily lives directly while they ignore the local elections for councils and school boards, which have a direct impact on our daily lives.
Jack, I think Dan Miller said that Matt Kluck won with a 30% turnout and Dan won with a number lower than that. People don't vote which is sad. There was more interest in Giffen Good's identity which could be tracked through Google Analytics and comments submitted, than all the candidates' names combined. Maybe that will change now with the links to the UJS Portal published.
Show of hands - how many got any work done yesterday after I posted the UJS link?
Elaine
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