May 18, 2013 4 min read

Could the Ringgold School Board race have a ripple effect on nominations for two seats on the Washington County bench?

Whether to build a new middle school has been a controversial issue in Ringgold, where 14 candidates are seeking nominations as a prelude to the November election, when seven are to be elected.

A big voter turnout in the municipalities comprising the school district – New Eagle, Monongahela, Finleyville, Donora, plus Carroll, Union and Nottingham townships – could add a dimension to the judges’ race, where eight candidates are seeking two nominations from Democrats and Republicans.

In 2011, heavily Republican Peters Township had a 42 percent voter turnout due to a hotly contested Marcellus Shale ballot measure, sending both the third spot on the Washington County board of commissioners and the district attorney’s race down to the wire. Turnout in an off-year general election in Peters is usually 19 percent.

Larry Spahr, Washington County elections director, predicted that Tuesday’s voter turnout might be about 22 to 23 percent countywide. There were just 650 requests for absentee ballots compared with the municipal primary of 2011 when more than 900 voters asked for absentee ballots.

William Merrell, Washington County Republican Party chairman, said, “I’d like to see a 50 percent turnout.” His Democratic counterpart, George Vitteck, did not return calls for comment.

Washington & Jefferson College political science department Chairman Joseph DiSarro said he did not conduct any polling in the judges’ race because half of the candidates – Thomas Fallert, Michael Lucas, Peter V. Marcoline III and Lane Turturice – are former students of his.

All have cross-filed, including Alan Benyak, Blane A. Black, Valarie Costanzo and Charles E. Kurowski.

DiSarro said he sees a low turnout as “unfortunate. Judges have a direct impact on people’s lives, in divorce, custody, crime. I find it disturbing as a political scientist that people know very little about the race, and very little about what judges do.”

While more of the candidates live in South Strabane Township than any other municipality, many have ties to the Mon Valley.

“Those geographic lines are going to be important,” DiSarro said of the valley and the Washington-Canonsburg-Cecil-Peters corridor.

“You have to hold onto your base and see what you can do in an area you’re not particularly strong in. Can they win part of the political turf, or a demographic, they were not supposed to win?

That’s Washington County politics.

“In a very low turnout, anything can happen. All bets are off. Who knows who gets their people out?”

If two candidates receive both nominations, there would be no contest in November, barring a challenge from a third-party or independent candidate who would have an opportunity to file nomination papers in August. It’s more likely that, in Tuesday’s primary, the field will be winnowed to three or four candidates who will be on the general election ballot.

Campaign finance reports as of May 6 filed in the judges’ race showed Costanzo was the top fundraiser with committee contributions totaling $94,691, $20,000 of which came from the candidate and $10,000 from Eileen Costanzo. The campaign had spent $38,561 as of early May and ended the reporting period with a cash balance of $56,130.

Lucas’ campaign raised $63,952 and spent $42,966, leaving a cash balance of $20,986. The campaign listed himself as the creditor for an unpaid debt of $26,297, which included a loan and costs advanced.

Benyak contributed $50,500 to his committee, the lion’s share of the $61,745 it raised. His committee reported expenditures of $53,857 and cash on hand of $7,887.

Kurowski, individually, reported total expenditures of $32,383, and loaned his committee a total of $30,000. His committee reported spending $25,000 with West Media Group, Latrobe, Westmoreland County, and a cash balance of $24,050.

Black’s committee raised $16,425, spending $13,396. Individually, he reported total expenditures of $1,093.

Marcoline’s committee raised $15,190, including unpaid debts of $8,739 owed to himself and family members. He spent $7,946 and reported $7,243 as a cash balance.

Fallert, who filed as a candidate rather than a committee, reported total expenditures of $2,767 and an unpaid debt of $3,923 to himself for the campaign.

According to the Department of State website, Black’s campaign was assessed a $20 late filing fee because his report, due May 10, arrived in Harrisburg on the next business day, May 13. Lucas’ campaign was assessed a $40 late fee because the Pennsylvania Department of State received his report May 14.

The state had received no report from the Turturice campaign as of Friday. The candidate did not return a call for comment.

The Department of State website also showed a $150 penalty for filing a finance report Dec. 21, 2011, which had been due Dec. 8 of that year.

Turturice, the Republican nominee, lost that judicial election to Democrat Gary Gilman.