Mar 13, 2017 2 min read

A Democratic candidate for a seat on the Union Township board of supervisors is trying to block two Republican candidates’ names from the ballot for the May primary.

Stephen Parish, a former supervisor, filed petitions Friday challenging two would-be GOP candidates’ bids for the party’s nomination in the primary. The petitions allege incumbent Heather Daerr and Richard Lawson, both Republicans, failed to submit statements of financial interest to the township when they filed nominating petitions with the county elections office. A township secretary said Monday both candidates filed the ethics statements March 9, two days after they were due.

Daerr is one of two supervisors whose terms expire at the end of this year. The other is Larry Spahr, a Democrat who also is Washington County elections director. Spahr is seeking re-election.

The state ethics law requires a candidate for a local government post to file the financial interest form with the political subdivision in which he or she is seeking office.

March 7 was the deadline to file all paperwork to appear on the ballot in the May 16 primary. Parish’s attorney, former township solicitor Dennis Makel, argues the township hadn’t received ethics forms from the candidates as of March 8 and that their names should be stricken from the ballot.

A hearing on Parish’s challenges to Daerr’s and Lawson’s petitions is scheduled for 2 p.m. Tuesday before Senior Judge John C. Reed.