Judge Dally Denies Attempt to Bounce Bellis in Palmer Tp

Charles E Bellis III filed a nomination petition for Palmer Tp Supervisor. He's running as a Democrat against Ann Marie Panella. But on March 13, prominent Easton Attorney Theresa Hogan sought to have him tossed from the ballot in a challenge filed on behalf of Ruthann Arras, a Palmer Tp Democrat. Bellis filed no answer, failed to appear in court, and in fact told Attorney Hogan that he would not be appearing at a hearing that was held on March 16. I assumed that Bellis had thrown in the towel. But not Judge Craig Dally. Not only did he carefully review Hogan's challenge, but he actually dismissed it in an Opinion handed down on Tuesday.

Hogan's argument is that Bellis had to be rejected because he wanted to use the nickname "Zeke" but failed to complete and file an affidavit with Voting Registrar Dee Rumsey.

The problem with this argument advanced by Hogan is that the rule she recited is contained nowhere in the Election Code. It is simply the office policy of the elections office. And that policy contains no time limit on filing the affidavit.

Bellis, incidentally, has always been known as Zeke Bellis.

Though Ann Marie Panella may have been behind this challenge, it's not really her style.She was notably absent from the hearing on March 16.