Andy Reilly says he feels 'vindicated.'
The chairman of the Delaware County Republican Party was referring to a plea deal entered into this week by Vince Rongione, the Democratic candidate in last fall's hotly contested 163rd state House race to replace the legendary state Rep. Nick Micozzie in Harrisburg.
Rongione lost to Republican Upper Darby Council member Jamie Santora.
Along the way Rongione came under attack from the Delco GOP. Reilly and several GOP officials held a press conference on the front lawn of a home on Wilson Drive in Havertown, claiming Rongione was in violation of state election laws and had signed bogus affidavits in order to claim residency in the 163rd District.
"This is vindication of our complaints that Rongione knowingly and deliberately violated the Pennsylvania Constitution and election law by attempting to establish a bogus residency," Reilly said in a statement he emailed to me. "We always maintained that in pursuing his candidacy, Vince Rongione committed voter fraud and signed election documents that he knew to be false."
That's not exactly the way Rongione's attorney, Art Donato, sees it.
"My own view is that people shouldn't be charged with a crime unless there's clear evidence that they intended to commit one, and I don't think there was any intent at all in this case," Donato said.
The lawyer said he advised Rongione to accept the plea deal because it would allow him to enter the ARD program for first-time, non-violent offenders, and will allow for dismissal of the charges when Rongione completes the program.
He was sentenced to six months of supervision, 16 hours of community service and a $40 monthly fee for the length of the program.
While Reilly said he had no problem with the ARD disposition of the case, he was not buying Donato's explanation, and he wanted to let me know it. He said he was disappointed that he had not been given the opportunity to counter Donato's comments after the plea deal was reached in court.
I'll let the two of them quibble over that point.
But there is something odd about this case.
We first learned about it when Rongione entered the plea to two misdemeanor violations of the Pennsylvania Election Code on Wednesday.
But the charges were actually filed against Rongione by Delaware County Detective Robert Lythgoe on Feb. 11.
There was no press conference to announce the charges, and to the best of my knowledge, no press release was issued. Reilly said he was not aware of the charges until he learned about the plea deal the night before the story appeared in the Daily Times.
I can tell you that's not the way this usually works. We usually do a story when the charges are filed, then follow up with the adjudication of the case in court.
The case was not handled by the Delco D.A.'s office, but rather by special prosecutor Joe McGettigan.
No doubt part of what steamed Reilly is that back in the fall, a lot of people believed he was just playing politics and making a mountain out of a molehill in terms of Rongione's residence.
Donato maintains he was ready to dispute the allegations.
"I think everyone would agree that this was a totally unintentional thing that happened here," he said. "I think Vince thought he had, in good conscience, established a residency, and there was some dispute about that."
Reilly was having none of it.
He labeled the story as "laughable," adding it failed to "pass the smell test."
"His attorney is attempting to whitewash Rongione's clearly deliberate actions," Reilly said.
One of the reasons Reilly reached out to me was that he was somewhat taken aback that he was not offered the chance to counter Donato's comments in the story. He also couldn't resist pointing out that the Daily Times endorsed Rongione over Santora.
Vindication is yours, Mr. Chairman.
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