Confusion ruled the night of the Republican Committee of Lancaster County’s endorsement convention last week as a miscount of committee members in attendance and a quorum temporarily sent the contested Court of Common Pleas positions into doubt.
The miscount was caught during the vote at the Farm and Home Center in Lancaster for endorsement of the Clerk of Courts position when committee leaders discovered signatures on one of the sign-in sheets hadn’t been accounted for, requiring a second round of voting in the Court of Common Pleas endorsement.
First Assistant District Attorney Todd Brown and personal injury attorney Shawn McLaughlin won more than the necessary two-thirds vote on the first ballot with 73.8% and 72.2% support respectively, while attorney Christina Parsons initially secured a narrow endorsement in the first round with 66% support. However, after the quorum was recalculated, Parsons fell below the two-thirds threshold with 64.9% of the vote, necessitating a second vote for the judge position.
Parsons, the wife of Lancaster County Commissioner Josh Parsons, eventually won endorsement in the second round of voting with 67% support after Assistant District Attorney Mark Fetterman took his name off the ballot for contention. Current Judge Karen Maisano, who was appointed to the bench in July, along with personal injury lawyer Ted Kennett, failed to receive endorsements.
Halfway through the convention, candidates for all the county positions were called into the hallway to notify them about the miscount of the quorum.
County Republican Committee Chairman Kirk Radanovic later notified the members in attendance about the discrepancy.
Before the quorum issue, the committee voted on a unanimous ballot endorsing Josh Parsons and Ray D’Agostino for Lancaster County Commissioner, Dr. Stephen Diamantoni as Lancaster County Coroner, Heather Adams for Lancaster County District Attorney, Andy Spade for Lancaster County prothonotary, Anne Cooper for Lancaster County Register of Wills, Chris Leppler for Lancaster County Sheriff and Amber Martin for Lancaster County Treasurer.
Judge Endorsements
Brown addressed the committee members after receiving the most endorsement votes for Court of Common Pleas thanking them for their support.
Brown said his college-age son came home the previous weekend to watch the Super Bowl with him. Brown said he told his son he was “emotionally unprepared” for a loss by his favorite team, the Philadelphia Eagles, in the Super Bowl.
Standing on the stage last week at the endorsement convention, Brown said he was equally “emotionally unprepared for this win.”
“I do not take it lightly,” Brown said in his remarks. “I promise to do everything that I told you that I would do and be who I told you that I am. And I think that throughout this process, hopefully you all have known who you voted for and why you voted.”
McLaughlin, who lost the endorsement for an open Clerk of Courts position six years ago, said he took the words to heart of former Chairman Dave Dumeyer who told him that the committee didn’t know who he really was and what he stood for, leading to no endorsement. McLaughlin said he spent the next six years getting to know local committee members, leading to his endorsement last week.
McLaughlin said he wanted to emphasize conservatism on the campaign trail.
“We have a different idea as Republicans than does the left,” McLaughlin said. “And as I’ve tried to emphasize, it’s important the judges that we send because what they believe actually affects the work that they do on a daily basis.”
After securing the third endorsement, Parsons also thanked her supporters. Parsons said she plans on bringing a “Constitutional conservative judicial philosophy” to the bench.
“I’m really honored to have been endorsed by this committee,” Parsons said. “I feel like the time that I have spent with you over many years makes it all the more meaningful and humbling to me.”
Clerk of Courts Open
In a disputed move, the committee was unable to come to an endorsement for the Lancaster County Clerk of Courts position after four rounds of voting.
On the first ballot, former police officer and dog day care owner Nicky Woods led over incumbent Mary Anater, 170 to 149 votes.
Anater, who currently holds the position, has had a contentious relationship with commissioners Parsons and D’Agostino since winning the position in 2021, taking over for current County Solicitor Jackie Pfursich.
Committee members twice tried to close the meeting after the vote was deadlocked with Woods receiving 55% support and Anater receiving 45% support.
The position will officially have no party endorsement for the May 16 primary.
Democrat Convention
The Lancaster County Democrats held its own endorsement convention on Saturday at the Mountville Area Community Center, endorsing two candidates for county commissioner for the first time since 2011.
Community health administrator Alice Yoder and former Eastern Lancaster County School District Superintendent Bob Hollister both won endorsement for the commissioner positions.
Hollister ran against U.S. Rep. Lloyd Smucker in the 2022 General Election, losing by about 17%.
Democrats also endorsed attorney Catherina Celosse for register of wills and nonprofit consultant Tara Ruby for clerk of courts. They did not fill the other county government positions on the ballot.
Staff writer Michael Yoder is an award-winning journalist who has been honored with several Keystone Press Awards for his investigative pieces.
These idiots who run the Lancaster patriot sounds like a bunch of liberal a holes who will say anything to get their liberal politicians to win office, AT OUR EXPENSE!
This article was very helpful to my Clerk of Courts decision.
Don’t forget GOP if things get to confusing just make something up. like fake election loses, Jewish space lasers, Blood drinking cabals and on and on and on….