Another Bolus appeal unsuccessful in mayor candidacy case

Yahoo

05-07-2025

A state Commonwealth Court judge recently rejected another appeal Scranton resident Bob Bolus filed after a Lackawanna County judge ordered him removed as a Republican candidate for city mayor in the May 20 primary election.
Last month's action by Commonwealth Court Judge Stacy Wallace came nearly three months after Scranton Republican Charlie Spano again successfully challenged Bolus' attempt to run for mayor, arguing Bolus falsely claimed in candidate affidavits he was eligible to hold the office when his past felony convictions make him ineligible to serve. Lackawanna County Judge Terrence R. Nealon booted Bolus off the ballot in March, ruling that the lack of a valid candidate affidavit in his nomination petition rendered it 'fatally defective.'
Bolus appealed Nealon's ruling in Commonwealth Court, where a judge dismissed the appeal April 11 because Bolus missed a deadline to file a required legal brief.
On May 19, a day before the primary election, Bolus filed in county court a petition for leave to appeal 'nunc pro tunc,' a Latin phrase meaning 'now for then.' It amounted to a request to file an appeal of Nealon's order out of time, or after the appeals window closed, with Bolus representing himself on a pro se basis. He argued in the filing that Spano lacked standing to bring his challenge.
County President Judge James Gibbons denied Bolus' petition in an order issued May 21, writing Bolus essentially reargued a position Nealon's March order already addressed and 'offered nothing in support of his request to file his notice of appeal out of time.'
'In sum, the record in this matter reflects that Bolus has already filed an appeal,' Gibbons wrote. 'We are, therefore, at a loss to understand why he wishes to file another appeal. Even if he were able to articulate some basis, we find that any appeal would be frivolous in light of the repeated and unsuccessful efforts by Bolus to appear on a ballot for all the reasons expressed by Judge Nealon in his March 20, 2025 Memorandum and Order.'
Bolus subsequently appealed Gibbons' May 21 order in Commonwealth Court, where Judge Wallace affirmed it in an order June 16.
'As an initial matter, nunc pro tunc relief is inappropriate in this case because Bolus has already filed an appeal from the trial court's March 20, 2025 memorandum and order and exhausted his appellate rights,' Wallace wrote. 'Bolus did not fail to file a timely appeal because of 'extraordinary circumstances' but rather failed to comply with multiple orders from this Court directing him to submit a brief in support of the timely appeal he filed, resulting in dismissal. Bolus could have requested reconsideration of the Court's order dismissing his appeal but did not do so, instead waiting over a month before filing a petition for leave to appeal nunc pro tunc in the trial court.'
Wallace also noted that Bolus' attempt to get on the primary election ballot was moot, since the election is already over, and that the Pennsylvania Election Code 'expressly provides for filing petitions to set aside like the one Spano filed in this case.'
That Bolus' past felony convictions prohibited him from seeking the Republican nomination for Scranton mayor is 'beyond reasonable dispute,' Wallace wrote. 'Thus, the trial court correctly set aside Bolus's nomination petitions.'
Reached Monday, Bolus said both the county court and Commonwealth Court judges erred in their rulings. He maintains he should have been allowed to appear on the primary ballot.
Accounting executive Patricia 'Trish' Beynon ultimately won the Republican primary for Scranton mayor, defeating business owner Lynn Labrosky. Beynon will face incumbent Democratic Mayor Paige Gebhardt Cognetti in November's municipal election.