Judges schedule arguments in Gaughan, county's legal action
A panel of three senior Lackawanna County judges scheduled oral arguments for April 22 in Democratic Commissioner Bill Gaughan and the county's legal action challenging the now-paused process of replacing former Democratic Commissioner Matt McGloin.
Senior Judges Carmen D. Minora, Robert A. Mazzoni and Vito P. Geroulo will hear those arguments at 9:30 a.m. in Courtroom No. 1 of the county courthouse in downtown Scranton, per a scheduling order Minora issued Wednesday. Briefs from all parties to the issues raised in a March 17 petition county solicitor Donald Frederickson and attorneys with the Scranton law firm Myers, Brier & Kelly filed on behalf of Gaughan and the county must be filed with the court no later than April 14.
That petition initiated the legal matter and asks the court to amend a March 6 order on the replacement process so it complies with Pennsylvania Rule of Judicial Administration 1908, effectively removing the Lackawanna County Democratic Committee from the process of filling McGloin's seat for the almost three years remaining on his unexpired term.
The March 6 order signed by former county President Judge Trish Corbett maintained a replacement process established by the county's Home Rule Charter that tasks the county Democratic Committee with providing a list of three potential appointees for consideration by the judges of the county court. It's a process that played out controversially in late February, when county Democratic Party leaders used a scoring rubric to shrink a list of 18 applicants to three finalists — former county economic development Director Brenda Sacco, Olyphant Borough Council President James Baldan and Scranton School Director Robert J. Casey — before the executive committee voted to advance those candidates to the judges.
Corbett's order reset the clock on that process, giving the party five days from the date of the order to furnish the court with three potential appointees. County Democratic Party Chairman Chris Patrick resubmitted Sacco, Baldan and Casey's names to the court the next day.
By maintaining the Home Rule Charter process, Gaughan and the county contend Corbett's order violated state Rule of Judicial Administration 1908. That rule, adopted by the state Supreme Court in 2019, says the county court, not a political party, 'shall receive applications from any interested candidates for the position' pursuant to a deadline established by the court.
President Judge James Gibbons, who succeeded Corbett as president judge last month, paused the process of replacing McGloin shortly thereafter, staying the March 6 order in light of the legal challenge. Gibbons' rule to show cause gives the county Democratic Committee until April 7 to answer as to why the relief sought by Gaughan and the county shouldn't be granted.
Republican Commissioner Chris Chermak, meanwhile, opposes the county's participation in the legal action and recently filed with the court a praecipe to remove the county as a party to the litigation.
In a response Monday, attorneys for Gaughan and the county argued that Chermak's court filings are defective 'legal nullities' that should be stricken.
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