Republican Charlie Spano aims to get Bob Bolus bumped off GOP primary election ballot for Scranton mayor
Scranton Republican Charlie Spano aims to again get Bob Bolus bumped off a ballot.
Spano filed in Lackawanna County Court a challenge to Bolus' seeking the GOP nomination for mayor in the May 20 primary election, arguing Bolus falsely claims in his candidate affidavit that he is eligible to hold the office of Scranton mayor.
Spano seeks to have the court void Bolus' election petition because his status as a convicted felon precludes him from holding that office.
Lackawanna County Court Judge Terrence Nealon will hear on Wednesday arguments on whether to void Bolus' 2025 nomination petition.
Bob Bolus Sr,, candidate for Scranton mayor in May 20, 2025 Republican primary election. (PHOTO SUBMITTED / COURTESY OF BOB BOLUS SR.)
For Scranton's four-year mayoral term, incumbent Mayor Paige Gebhardt Cognetti and former Scranton School Board President Bob Sheridan will battle for the Democratic nomination, while Bolus and newcomers Trish Beynon and Lynn Labrosky each seek the Republican nomination.
The challenge filed Friday by Spano is similar to one he successfully pursued against Bolus in his run for mayor in 2021, when a judge bounced Bolus from that ballot and the state Commonwealth Court upheld the removal. At that time, Spano asked the court to strike the candidate petition of Bolus because he claimed in a candidate affidavit he was eligible to hold the office of mayor. Spano argued courts previously ruled Bolus cannot serve as mayor because of a prior felony conviction. Bolus had claimed that even if he could not hold the office, the rulings did not preclude him from running for mayor.
Two years earlier, in 2019, Bolus filed nomination papers as an independent candidate for Scranton mayor, a challenge was filed, a judge removed Bolus as a candidate and the state Commonwealth Court upheld that ruling.
In the current challenge, Spano similarly argues Bolus signed a candidate affidavit claiming he is eligible to hold the office of mayor, 'a claim which Bolus knows is completely false, rendering the petitions fatally defective and is a fraud.'
Charlie Spano during a debate of candidates for Scranton mayor hosted by the League of Women Voters of Lackawanna County and the Political Science Department at The University of Scranton, at the university on Oct. 15, 2019. (TIMES-TRIBUNE / FILE PHOTO)
Spano's challenge cites various examples of case law on the issue and notes that 'Pennsylvania appellate courts have also held that nomination petitions and affidavits are not mere technicalities, but are necessary to prevent fraud.'
In a phone interview Monday, Bolus said he is seeking expungements of his record before the swearing in of the next mayor.
'I'll be there Wednesday and lay out exactly what we're doing (regarding seeking expungement), so I will be able to take the seat because the felonies will no longer exist,' Bolus said.
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