Mar 23, 2015 3 min read

Jesse White will not appear on the Republican ballot in the Cecil area magisterial race in the May primary after losing a nominating petition challenge Monday.

Attorney David Montgomery represented Sharon and Alan DePaoli of North DePaoli Road, Jason Capps of Morganza Road and Roslyn Corton of Farm Valley Road, who challenged the validity of more than 20 signatures on White’s petitions.

A candidate must obtain at least 100 authentic signatures to be included on the ballet. White collected 113 signatures, and visiting Senior Judge John Reed of Mercer County removed 15, leaving White below the threshold.

White, who cross-filed, will remain on the Democratic ballot.

“I’m disappointed,” White said after the hearing. “I firmly believed I had enough signatures.”

White is considering whether to run a Republican write-in campaign and file an appeal.

He lost his re-election bid for state representative to Jason Ortitay in November after serving four terms in office. The loss came more than a year after White was exposed in May 2013 for using multiple anonymous online personas to attack constituents and the Marcellus Shale industry on various Internet message boards.

White now practices law out of his Cecil Township office.

The DePaolis and Capps also challenged the Republican nominating petitions of former police officer Mike Philips in the same race. Montgomery represented both challenges and said he withdrew the challenge against Philips Monday.

“Our challenge involved hash marks,” he said. “Philips will remain on both ballots.”

Traci McDonald-Kemp also is running for district judge. All three candidates cross-filed for the seat that has been vacant since Valarie Costanzo resigned from her post to become a Washington County Common Pleas Court judge in January 2014.

Several other candidates also will be excluded from the primary ballot. On Friday, Reed ruled incumbent Washington Councilman Terry Faust would not be included on the Republican ballot. A group of Republicans challenged the filing date of Faust’s statement of financial interest, more commonly known as an “ethics form.” Reed found Faust failed to file a timely statement.

Republicans asking that Faust’s nominating petitions be set aside were Mary Bunner of East Wheeling Street, Dennis Deal of Lawrence Avenue and Patrick Uram of The George Washington hotel.

Faust did not return calls for comment.

Gary W. Hoover Sr., a resident of the Mon Valley community of Roscoe, was disqualified as the GOP candidate for Washington County clerk of courts after Reed determined he failed to meet a number of requirements. Colleen Quattro of Maple Avenue, Washington, a Republican, filed the challenge against Hoover and claimed his nominating petitions did not place voters on notice as to which office Hoover is seeking and the year in which the election is being held. Hoover also failed to secure the necessary number of signatures.

Democrats seeking the clerk of courts office, where incumbent Barbara Gibbs has declined to run for a ninth, four-year term, are Kristin L. Marcy of Stockdale, who is now assistant clerk of courts, and Frank J. Scandale of Canonsburg, an insurance broker.