Northampton County's Apolitical Election Commission?

It's difficult to find a more partisan member of Northampton County Council than Charles Dertinger. He's a local area party chair. He and his wife, Maria, are also members of the state committee. He has strong union roots as a third generation IBEW Local 3 member. He has flatly told Republicans proposed for positions in the Stoffa administration he would vote against them simply because they belong to the wrong party.

So it's hard to take Dertinger seriously when he claims the Stoffa administration is too involved in what The Express Times calls the "apolitical election commission."

But is the election commission really all that apolitical? According to the Northampton County Home Rule Charter, here's how its five members are selected.

The Election Commission shall be comprised of five (5) members. No more than three (3) members shall be registered voters of the same political party. The County Executive shall notify the two (2) political parties receiving the greatest number of votes at the most recent general election in the County of all vacancies on the Election Commission and shall request them to submit a list of five (5) nominees for appointment to the Election Commission. None of these nominees shall hold public office or be an officer in a political party. Members shall be appointed from these lists. If a list of nominees is not submitted within thirty (30) days after the date of request, appointments to the Election Commission may be made from the entire list of registered voters of the political party which did not submit the nominations. Any three (3) members shall constitute a quorum and shall have the power to perform the functions assigned to the Election Commission.

It's impossible to suggest this is some nonpartisan body when three of its five members are essentially chosen by the majority party boss.

That's a problem. One recommendation by last year's citizens' advisory panel was to enlarge the election commission to "include third-party representatives as well as independent voters." That's the last thing Dertinger wants. He wants to make sure that the election commission, run by Democrats, installs a registrar acceptable to local Dems.