Republicans say she should withdraw; candidate says she’ll stay
Carolyn Comittta
By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times
The leadership of of the Chester County Republicans is calling on Democratic State House Candidate Carolyn Comitta to withdraw from her race for the 156th District, alleging irregularities with her campaign finance — but Comitta said Monday that the issue was a minor one over reregistration of her long-standing campaign committee.
Monday, the Republican Committee of Chester County said Monday that five 156th District residents filed a petition with the state’s Commonwealth Court seeking an audit of the campaign finance of Comitta’s campaign, claiming violations so serious that they could push the West Chester Mayor from the state house race.
The issue appears to center around Comitta’s Campaign Committee, Friends of Carolyn Comitta, possibly not being filed with the state Department of State when she began her campaign earlier this year. She appeared to be using the same campaign committee that had registered with Chester County Voter Services in 2006 for her runs for Borough Council and Mayor.
“It is unfortunate that Carolyn Comitta failed to follow the laws regarding campaign finance,” Amy Ludwig, Vice-Chair of the Republican Committee of Chester County said in a statement released by the party. “These are clear laws that need to be followed to safeguard the integrity of the democratic process.”
Because of this, Republicans say, Comitta should leave the race — saying her candidate affidavits that her campaign committee was, to the best of her knowledge, complying with all state campaign finance laws.
“We are calling on Mrs. Comitta to withdraw from this race before the Primary Election,” Ludwig said. “Unfortunately, Mrs. Comitta’s violations became clear too late to prevent her name from appearing on the Primary ballot.”
Comitta and county Democrats were quick to respond, though, saying Comitta had filed all of her campaign finance reports with the Department of State and the county’s Election Services, but that an issue had been raised late Friday regarding the reregistration of the nearly decade-old campaign committee she has used since first gaining election to West Chester Borough Council in 2006 — and that matter had been resolved and she will fully comply with an audit.
“Friends of Carolyn Comitta has been my authorized political committee since I filed the registration paperwork with Chester County a decade ago,” Comitta said in a statement issued Monday. “On April 15th my campaign filed a timely campaign finance report with the Department of State. We were informed Friday afternoon that we needed to refile our registration paperwork with the state, which was filed first thing this morning. At all times my committee’s information has been publicly available, my reports filed on time, and you can see my latest finance report online.”
But the Republicans argue the issues are fatal to Comitta’s campaign, and she should withdraw immediately, or run the risk that the Democrats would not be allowed to run a candidate against incumbent Dan Truitt in the 156th District.
“We want to make it known now, and it will be part of our later actions seeking to rectify this situation, that should Mrs. Comitta choose to stay in the race and become the Democratic nominee on Tuesday, we will be asking the court to ensure that the Democratic Party cannot replace her as the candidate should she later be forced off the ballot for her violations or choose to withdraw,” Ludwig said. “If the Democratic Party chooses to replace Mrs. Comitta at a later date, they will be condoning her actions in not following campaign finance law.”
Comitta made it clear Monday she is not withdrawing — and that the claims are nothing more than an attempt at political blackmail by Republicans.
“This is a political maneuver,” Comitta said. “The Chester County Republicans called me and threatened that if I did not withdraw from the race, they would move forward with an audit. These are the typical tactics we see from the the CCRC. The courts have previously ruled such oversights as de minimus, my ability to run is not in jeopardy. I have nothing to hide and will cooperate fully with the audit. My finance reports match the money I’ve raised, I expect this to be resolved in short order.”
“This is nothing more than a cheap political stunt designed to distract from Eric Roe’s residency issues,” said Brian J. McGinnis, Chair of the Chester County Democratic Committee.
Furthermore, McGinnis suggested that Republicans might need to spend more time worrying about their own candidate’s and campaigns. The Democratic chair told The Times that Roe and his campaign have been running illegal campaign ads on Google and other Web ad networks without the required “Paid For” disclaimers on the ad.
A Web ad, county Democrats say State House Candidate Eric Roe’s campaign is running without the proper “Paid For” disclaimer.
