Payton has enough
to stay in race

Campaign Bits
By Tom Waring

State Rep. Tony Payton will remain on the ballot in the 179th Legislative District, now that lawyers and a judge have determined that he has enough nominating petitions.
Guy Lewis, Payton’s opponent in the April 22 Democratic primary, challenged the incumbent’s petitions.
Payton filed 1,361 signatures, well above the 300 needed to qualify for the ballot, but the Lewis campaign noticed that many of the signatures were faulty for a variety of reasons.
Attorneys James C. Crumlish III, representing a Lewis supporter, and Clifford Levine, hired by Payton, spent two days last week in Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court going over the validity of the signatures.
In the end, Judge Doris Smith-Ribner validated 386 signatures, enough to keep Payton on the ballot.
"We were confident we had the signatures," said Levine, who is based in Pittsburgh.
Crumlish maintains the right to appeal to Pennsylvania Supreme Court, but Levine believes there is no basis.
Payton survived thanks to another visitor from the Steel City, expert handwriting analyst Michelle Dresbold.
Before the court case began, both sides agreed that Payton had at least 183 good signatures.
"We were (nearly) two-thirds of the way there," Levine said.
The experienced, highly regarded Dresbold examined the signatures that Crumlish challenged and filed a preliminary report with the court. The judge accepted her as an expert but declined to permit Crumlish to use a handwriting analyst because the individual did not file a report.
While Payton won the court challenge, it was not pretty. Levine withdrew about 800 petitions, acknowledging that they were likely invalid for a variety of reasons. Payton signed as the circulator on four of the pages.
The Lewis camp has alleged that most of the petitions were forged or from Republicans, independents, unregistered voters, dead people and a few others who had moved or were in jail. Payton signed his own name four times. Only once is allowed.
Smith-Ribner threw out four pages of petitions because they were not notarized. She eliminated another 30 signatures because the circulator lived outside the district.
Payton, though, prevailed in a line-by-line challenge. As the judge looked at the nominating petitions, an employee of the city commissioners’ office showed the voter’s signature — as it appears on the registration card — on an overhead projector.
Crumlish argued that the signatures were different. Dresbold, in almost every instance, insisted that the signature on the petition was the same as on the card. In most cases, the judge sided with the handwriting expert.
Payton was called to the stand, but Crumlish was allowed to ask him only about a Philadelphia Daily News article in which the lawmaker said his campaign had "disassociated" itself with people involved in the petition gathering.
Blair Talmadge was in charge of organizing volunteers to get signatures.
"He didn’t perform up to the level that he should," said Payton, adding that he wasn’t sure if circulators were paid.
Now, the focus will turn to the election, less than four weeks away.
"Tony Payton wants to go out and campaign," Levine said.
Lewis has the official support of the party, thanks to his backing from ward leaders Dan Savage (23rd), Bill Dolbow (35th) and Marge Tartaglione (62nd).
The challenger should do well in those Frankford, Northwood and Oxford Circle wards and will have to hold off the incumbent, who has endorsements from ward leaders in the Feltonville, Olney and Hunting Park portions of the district.
"I think he’ll definitely win," Savage, a former city councilman, said of Lewis. "He’s a lifelong resident of the district and he has good ward leaders behind him."

• • •

The Committee of Seventy is recruiting and training more than 500 volunteers to monitor polling places in Philadelphia during the April 22 primary.
"The intensity of the Democratic primary, both nationally and in a few local contests, demands a strong volunteer presence at the polls," said Zachary Stalberg, president and CEO of Seventy, an election-watchdog group.
Citizens will be dispersed citywide to settle minor disputes on-site or to direct more significant matters to the appropriate law enforcement authorities.
For more information, call 215-557-3600 or visit www.seventy.org ••
Reporter Tom Waring can be reached at 215-354-3034 or twaring@phillynews.com