It was a double victory for former Luzerne County controller Walter Griffith.
County Judge William H. Amesbury ruled Thursday the Kingston Township resident has enough signatures on his nomination petition to appear on the May 16 primary ballot as a candidate for controller. The judge also concluded Griffith is not barred from holding the post if he is elected due to a past criminal charge.
“This gives me closure. It also gives the voters closure,” Griffith said. “Now people can rest assured that the cloud has gone away and the elephant’s out of the room.”
Former county councilman Rick Morelli, who filed the court challenge against Griffith, said he respects the judge’s opinion but believes more petition signatures should have been voided.
Amesbury struck 16 signatures for a variety of legal reasons after hours of painstakingly reviewing voter records at a previous public hearing. That left Griffith with 251 signatures, or one more than required.
At least 13 more signatures were flagged in court because the voters were not registered Republicans as required. Griffith, who represented himself, argued these signatures must still be counted because their party registration was contested after the March 15 challenge deadline.
Amesbury agreed with Griffith. To nullify, or “set aside,” a nomination petition, the objector must file a challenge within seven days containing the exact page and line number of each contested signature and the basis for arguing invalidity, the judge’s opinion said.
“Walter clearly would have less than 250 signatures if these ones were removed, so the challenge was legitimate,” Morelli noted.
Morelli said he and his attorneys were unable to research these party registrations because they couldn’t decipher the names of the voters on the petition, particularly without access to the election office’s searchable database used in court. Morelli will now review the 24-page ruling with his legal counsel and discuss the possibility of an appeal.
‘Pale in comparison’
On the issue of Griffith’s eligibility to hold the post, the state constitution says people convicted of embezzlement of public money, bribery, perjury or other “infamous crime” are barred from holding public office.
Griffith pleaded guilty to three misdemeanor counts of obstructing the administration of law for illegally recording conversations. The three recordings that led to the charges were a 2010 call with county pension fund officials, a retirement board closed-door executive session that same year, and a 2011 call with Y. Judd Shoval, a member of the nonprofit CityVest board that handled the failed Hotel Sterling renovation in Wilkes-Barre.
In his September 2013 plea agreement, Griffith agreed to immediately resign as controller, remove himself from the ballot in the controller race that year and agree not to seek elective office during his three-year probation term, which ended last September.
Morelli argued Griffith’s misdemeanor obstruction offense fell into the “infamous crime” category.
According to Amesbury’s opinion:
The courts must assess infamy by “considering whether the convicted individual may retain the public’s confidence as to their honesty, decency and good moral character.”
In this case, the court relied on Griffith’s deposition in a civil case involving one of the subjects of Griffith’s recording.
This transcript provides “significant insight,” the judge wrote.
Amesbury said Griffith assumed the duties of county controller with no prior education or experience in accounting or finance. He previously worked as a cook, construction worker and in motor vehicle service. His associate degree was in automotive technology.
Griffith had no secretary and had to oversee and manage experienced investigators, auditors and data collectors.
“He readily admitted he found his position to be ‘daunting.’ He had many things to know, retain, remember and report,” the judge wrote.
Griffith said “there was too much going on for him to just sit and take notes,” but he realized “accurate recall” was necessary to perform the job. He obtained an MP3 recorder for his personal use to address these concerns, and none of his staff knew or listened to anything recorded.
“However, the secrecy of this personal tool was not intentional, and he considered it of no significance,” Amesbury wrote.
The court found this “ignorance claim” credible. For example, the judge noted Griffith incriminated himself to authorities by turning over one of his recordings to an FBI agent in response to a federal grand jury subpoena.
“At the time of this disclosure, only he was aware the recording existed,” the judge wrote, referring to Griffith. “That legally compliant act precipitated the other two charges.”
In addition, the state Supreme Court has determined convictions for unlawful restraints, terroristic threats, firearms carried without a license and reckless endangerment were not infamous crimes in a case involving a man who held his girlfriend at gunpoint for three hours in a parked car, the judge wrote.
Griffith’s ignorance of the wiretap law and recording of conversations never heard by a third party “pale in comparison,” the judge wrote.
Recorder smashed
The lone Republican controller candidate in the primary, Griffith said he took ownership of his wrongdoing and apologized for unknowingly breaking the law.
“I was very impressed with the judge’s opinion, that he took the time to read the documentation. That speaks volumes about what kind of judge he is,” said Griffith.
Incumbent Controller Michelle Bednar is running without competition on the Democratic side.
If he’s elected this fall, Griffith promises recording someone won’t be an issue again. He said his wife smashed his MP3 recorder with a hammer when he got into trouble.
