Local Government TV

Wednesday, March 02, 2011

Seven Gracedale Circulators Engaged in Voter Fraud

My challenge to the Gracedale Initiative has little to do with actual signatures, but instead is focused on the people who circulated the petitions. Two Gracedale employees, one of them the AFSCME union president, were forced to admit they had sworn out 38 false affidavits, claiming to have circulated petitions that were actually handled by others. Another, Mary Ann Schmoyer, admitted she'd pass out as many 15 petitions at one time in various bingo parlors and social clubs. Nonresidents employed by the union acted as circulators, as did one unregistered voter.

According to our Supreme Court, circulators must ascertain that each signatory (1) knows what he is signing; (2) correctly states his address; (3) lives in the County; (4) signs on the date indicated; and (5) is a registered voter. These requirements are imposed, not as mere technicalities, but to prevent election fraud and preserve the integrity of the election process.

Instead of preserving the integrity of the election process, Judge Baratta's decision rewards circulators who admit that 38 of their affidavits were false. He winks at Schmoyer, who might as well have been using those petitions as bingo cards.

Naturally, I appealed. It makes no difference to me that this upsets a group of mobocrats. But this is all old news. Why am I bringing it up now? Let me explain.

At the February 4 hearing, Voting Regstrar Dee Rumsey, who did look at the individual signatures, told Judge Baratta there were 1,173 duplicates. That seems unusually high to me. I could certainly understand that someone might sign a petition at the polls and sign again later, not realizing that he was only allowed to sign once or perhaps not even remembering he had already signed. But would that list also reveal some people who knew exactly what they were doing?

After the hearing was over, I asked Ms. Rumsey for permission to examine her list of duplicates, but she needed time to finish counting. I asked again a few days later, but her office was working on the ballot. Finally, on February 17, Ms. Rumsey told me she had spoken to her Solicitor and I would need to file a Right-to-Know-Law request. I filed one that very day.

I finally received the list yesterday (March 1). Guess what? It turns out Mary Ann Schmoyer, a member of Gracedale Petition Committee and the person who was playing Bingo with petitions, signed the initiative at least three times. Loretta Ann Mammana, another member of the Gang of Twelve, signed the petition at least twice. In fact, seven circulators signed the initiative petition at least twice.

How can these circulators preserve the integrity of the elections process when they themselves are engaged in election fraud?

Mary Ann Schmoyer circulated 47 of the 507 petitions submitted, having obtained 1,439 signatures. Would Judge Baratta still be winking at her had he known that she signed the Petition three times? Should any signatures be allowed from seven circulators who themselves engaged in election fraud?

Because my appeal divests Judge Baratta of jurisdiction, he has no power to modify his ruling. But I will ask the Commonwealth Court to supplement the record with this after-discovered evidence.

47 comments:

  1. Denied ?dismissed. Claimant committed for psychiatric evaluation.

    Next case on the docket!

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  2. geez...just give it a rest already ...

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  3. Bernie please tell me why petitions for elected office are just left on tables in democratic clubs and republican clubs for people to sign.Seems to me thease petitions should be invalid also,but no one makes a stink about this process.

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  4. You mean like Morganelli having his petition to get on the ballot next to the cash register at Dartos Restaurant? With the fact that anyone just walks up and signs it while not having a single person responsible for witnessing I wonder if Morganelli will go after that type of voter fraud.

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  5. There's an incompetent knucklehead running our country whose minions make this look like good community service work.

    Where's the outrage ;)

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  6. Letting petitions sit at various clubs and bars s blatant election fraud, and if Morganelli is doing that, he should be ashamed of himself.

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  7. It's no surprise to see these people ignore the rules. They ignore them at Gracedale, too.

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  8. Until the RTK law is backed with criminal pentalties for those that dont comply, or who continually try to hide information, these idiots who work in govt offices will keep doing this.

    I am sorry it took them 10 days to get you the info.

    I am thankful there is a RTK law, but we have a long way to go in this area

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  9. It is not just the D A there are numerous petitions for many local candidates.So Bernie why no stink about this on your site,and Iam sure that the so called bulldog has had this done for him at one time or another lets not just fault the D A.

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  10. So lets just worry about Gracedale petitions,get real and stop the bullshit.

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  11. I want to commend the various Anonymous figures who see something bad going on right in front of your face. You win the f*****g idiot/moron award. And to those of you who want to blow this off completly you win the a*****e of the age of the world award. How in the name of all that is holy do you sleep at night. And then you have the gall to complain.
    Congrats to you Bernie. Maybe Ms Schmoyer will keep her words out of the press now and stop her damnable lies.

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  12. 3 Cheers for the battle cry of Freedom,your comments were on target and my thoughts were exactly the same thoughts as yours. There should be some oversight of petitions.
    When will people start to take a look at the big picture here.If I put my signature on something you can best bet I know what that petition is about! And to duplicate my own signature,that is plain stupidity.
    Thank Heavens there is a "Right To Know" law.And Clem is right,where is the outrage.I have a solution how about a petition to do away with petitions.Except of course for Girl Scout cookies.peace SWW

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  13. You are a ass
    But then you know that

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  14. Ah Sandra/Brenda/Bernie
    How about Suzy

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  15. The sad thing is I am sure this happens all the time. Yes I am sure the DA, Stoffa, and even Angle has done this whether or not they knew it was the question.

    The only reason this is found is because of the microscope the Gracedale issue is under.

    I would be interested in going back to other petitions that were circulated for one reason or another and see how common this really is.

    Any idea how long they keep these petitions on file?

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  16. This whole petition fraud reeks. Wake up and get real voters.Alot of petition circulators volunteer to help their cause or their candidate of choice. They pound the streets searching for registered voters, knocking at doors and ask the voter for their
    signature so the legal voter can express choices on elections and questions on the ballot.When fraud happens such as petitions,and it can be proven that petition should be eliminated plain and simple.Election rules are for ALL not for the chosen few.If the masses of county residents want to save Gracedale,petition fraud must be addressed.Circulators must be held accountable and fraud is fraud.This corruption must be addressed for the integrity of the process. Let's get to the real issues and stop putting a bandade on the wound.

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  17. You are wrong. It does not happen all the time. But it does happen, sometimes. And when it does happen, someone usually challenges the validity of the questionable signatures. There is no special scrutiny here. Morganelli, Stoffa and Angle are all clever enough to know to collect lots of extra signatures.
    Bernie is right in thinking that was an abnormally high percent of duplicates. Coupled with his difficulty in obtaining information about the duplicates from the voter registration office seems mighty suspicious.
    I wasn’t sure how I felt about his continuing to pursue this before – but now I am sure that he should follow this through. I would like to know when the voter registration office actually finished checking – if they ever did – maybe they just realized how bad the signatures were and stopped counting.

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  18. Bernie, you forgot to mention
    about all the couples that signed the petitions --you crossed off and said they were fraudulent because either the wife signed for the husband or the husband signed for the wife. That was every couple ??? ???
    What else are you going to come up with ?
    Get a life............

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  19. Anonymous 4:16PM

    so what you are saying is that if John Doe and Mary Doe as in husband and wife signed one after another.....BERNIE wiped both off saying they were signed by one person! What a crock that is BERNIE!!! As far as this MaryAnn.....did you ever think there may be more than one Maryann Schmoyer in Northampton County. You really do assume waaaaaay to much!!!

    dj

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  20. Bernie, stop trying to make some kind of name for yourself. Just let the people of Northampton County vote and the outcome will speak volumes of truth!

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  21. Hey pay attention -

    Bernie is not saying these people were duplicates - The voter registration office found that these people were duplicates.

    Do your comments apply to the hard working folks at the voter registration office?

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  22. I have been walking a petition around for an invidual and began talking about other petitions circulating for other candidates with the signer. He told me he signed one for Ron Angle. Get this because Ron now wants to keep Gracedale. LOLLOLLOLLOL I said thats funny you are a registered Democrat. He just got a funny look on his face. I told him I'll get it straightened out and will be forwarding his name to the elections people. Ultimately this ploy with Ron now in favor of keeping Gracedale seems to work with the DUMASSES. However most voters can see through your strategy, so good luck with your new endeavors Ron.

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  23. FYI

    There is only ONE registered Maryann Schmoyer registered in Northampton County. Lots of Schmoyers but only one Maryann.

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  24. Schmoyer is the poster child for making public employee unions go completely away. I wonder if she has children and has attempted to teach them about honesty? What a disgrace.

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  25. Maryann is a very decent person who is working on her on time to help the elderly. It is sad that evil trolls like O'Hare and his camp followers attack good people who disagree with their extreme political views.

    People who attack good people are sad critics who would rather throw stones than roll up their sleeves and solve problems.

    God Bless you Maryann and all the Gracdale guardian angels

    Reality Now!!

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  26. She should be commended for her work with the elderly, but the approach she has taken with respect to this Initiative has been childish at best.

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  27. Bernie, please cite the law that says I have to sign a verification that states I personally attest to every signature being 100% legal in all aspects of the election code. That would help us tremendously.

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  28. 25 P.S. Section 2869. See also In re Flaherty, 770 A.2d 327 (2001), a Supreme Court case that sets forth the 5 points and adds that a circulator must be personally present.

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  29. Bernie, The days of leaving nominations in the phone booths are gone.This was a rookie mistake.Thru-out the years local political candidates could not get on the ballot because of ignorance.It is so sad that people don't double check signatures against voting lists.Numerous people asked me to sign petitions and were upset that I could not sign because I was not a registered Dem. Would you please sign my 'Ban the Bomb' petition,

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  30. Maryann is a descent human being who has a lot of people behind her! I have watched you, read things you have written and am more appalled at what you do to slander people. I am just waiting for the day when someone stops your outlandish behavior.

    Sick and tired of Bernie Ohare!

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  31. Inasmuch as "descent" is any passing from higher to lower in degree or state, or decline, I'm forced to agree. I'll add that it's libel, not slander, damn it.

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  32. Anon: 4:31
    Yes every John Doe & Mary Doe were crossed off.

    Anon:5:07
    Bernie picked these names of the petitions and said they were invalid not the voter registration office. Most were verified over the phone with the voter reg. office by myself. another mistruth.

    Aon:6:31 Better check on the schmoyers maybe they are twins ??

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  33. Actually, I never pursued any challenges to individual signatures. My focus was on the circulators. I have all the information I need from the elections office, which shows the same persons signing their name more than once.

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  34. I'll add that it was the Registrar's testimony that there were 1,173 duplicate signatures. These were NOT a John and Mary Doe being signed by the same person, but the same person signing his own name more than once.

    I now have the 14 page list of these duplicates and, once again, am only concerned about circulators who signed a petition more than once. If they did that, it would be my argument that everything they did was fraudulent.

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  35. I hope you get sued to Hades

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  36. All my friends are there, so thanks.

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  37. FIGHT THE POWER.WE THE PEOPLE.QUESTION AUTHORITY!

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  38. You do not represent the people. You are little different than the lynch mobs who tried to string people up not so many years ago, and sometimes succeeded.

    We, the people, decided who represents us, and it's not you.

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  39. I think I know why Bernie no longer refers to the "fake Rev"
    and this liable thing is what gave me the idea
    how about
    cease and desist?

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  40. We, the people, decided who represents us, and it's not you.

    change is in the air
    we will decide anew
    you and your team of currently elected officials will be out like the trash on Monday morning
    Now that I signed all of my Dem petitions my next task is to change my party affiliation to R
    this so I can vote in the primaries to oust the Dowdy guy

    Hey Father say high to Jesus for me......yeah right
    if there is a god, he should be most worried

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  41. How 'bout cease and desist, Fake Rev?

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  42. The O'Hare case goes to court. The thrilling conclusion:::::

    denied, dismissed!

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  43. Here we go with an attempt to politicize this matter. I am concerned about Gracedale, but I am just as concerned about election fraud. If you really stood for democracy, you'd be appalled at the behavior of some of your fellow travelers. But you embrace it.

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  44. Too bad you didn't show that concern for your family and your clients.

    Fake concern

    Rons' concern

    not yours

    WAM

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  45. Maryann wants to help the poor,elderly sick taxpayers of this county.

    You wish to push the agenda of Angle/Stoffa by dumping Gracedale, screwing the elderly in favor of money for drug addict lounges.

    Nice touch O'Hare. We hope Angle compensates you well for being his beard in this case.

    You and he are fooling no one. Neither is John 'what should I do' Stoffa.

    Pathetic

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  46. Maryann is dishonest. It's a character flaw that supersedes all others and offsets any claimed good. She's dishonest and not to be trusted. It's why courts let jurors dismiss the totality of a witness's testimony if any part of it is determined to be untrue. She's dishonest and cannot be trusted. Period.

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  47. you are a nasty angry bitter troll. We love you Maryann.

    We The People

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You own views are appreciated, especially if they differ from mine. But remember, commenting is a privilege, not a right. I will delete personal attacks or off-topic remarks at my discretion. Comments that play into the tribalism that has consumed this nation will be declined. So will comments alleging voter fraud unless backed up by concrete evidence. If you attack someone personally, I expect you to identify yourself. I will delete criticisms of my comment policy, vulgarities, cut-and-paste jobs from other sources and any suggestion of violence towards anyone. I will also delete sweeping generalizations about mainstream parties or ideologies, i.e. identity politics. My decisions on these matters are made on a case by case basis, and may be affected by my mood that day, my access to the blog at the time the comment was made or other information that isn’t readily apparent.