Lawyers spar on Knox-Brady appeal

Attorneys for the Tom Knox supporters trying to get Bob Brady booted from the ballot asked that a judge not give in to Brady’s request to have the appeal go directly to the Supreme Court in a filing today.

Knox attorney Paul Rosen argued in his petition that Brady’s attorney are “forum shopping”  to try to get the decision out of the hand of the Commonwealth Courts, which Rosen says have ruled against candidates like Brady who left required financial information off their disclosure forms. 

“Commonwealth Court has ruled on two separate occasions that pensions are not governmentally mandated,” Rosen wrote.

Brady attorney Stephen Cozen says that the appeal should be heard directly by the Supreme Court to expedite the process of public importance. He says the Knox and Dwight Evans campaigns are just trying to slow Brady down.

“The Knox and Evans campaigns are attempting to keep this issue alive in order to impede the Brady campaign,” Cozen wrote in a filing last week.

A judge ruled last month that Brady should have included a pension that the local carpenters union credits for him, but that it wasn’t a fatal flaw and could be amended.

Rosen writes that the court’s decision was made “solely because it disagreed with the Legislature. Pennsylvania courts have repeatedly imposed this same sanction on other candidates for the same violence.”

Commonwealth Court is expected to hear arguments next Monday but a decision could come sooner than that.

Comments

[Jack]

Knox and Evans are showing their true colors on this one.

Opposing the motion to have this considered by the highest Court in the Commonwealth? ...when everyone knows that is where it will ultimately end up?

What possible reason can Knox or Evans offer the people for this tactic? It's not saving time; it's not saving taxpayer dollars; it's not keep the race focused on issues.

I am not a lawyer yet, so I don't know the legal issues involved. But as a voter, it seems pretty straightforward: after the trial court establishes the record, get an answer from the final authority as soon as possible.

For candidates who claim they want to save money and talk about the issues, Knox and Evans have a funny way of showing it.