How much does it cost to run for Borough Council or mayor in West Chester? The answer -- or at least part of it -- can be found in "campaign expense reports" which candidates are required to file with the County. An examination of reports from fall 2005 yields some surprising conclusions about the candidates and how they handle campaign contributions.

A total of twelve people presented themselves as candidates for local office in 2005 (a thirteenth, Mark Bruno, ran unopposed for a second term as district justice, and is not included in this article). There were two candidates for Borough Council in wards 1, 3 and 7, and three in ward 5 because Carolyn Comitta replaced the Democratic incumbent, Barbara McIlvaine Smith, midway through the campaign season. There were also three candidates for mayor, a Republican, a Democrat and a write-in candidate.

The battle over the federal requirement that states adopt new electronic voting machines is approaching a climax. That requirement was part of the 2002 Help American Vote Act, or HAVA, which supporters claim was enacted to eliminate the kind of "hanging chad" problems that resulted from the 2000 presidential election, and to make it possible for all Americans -- even those with disabilities -- to vote without assistance. It was supplemented by laws passed in each state that require local election boards to implement the federal order using voting machines certified as HAVA-compliant by the state. To encourage compliance, the federal government also set aside $3.9 billion dollars to be distributed by the states to help cover the cost of new voting machines. HAVA and its state analogs required the new systems to be in place in time for the spring 2006 primary on May 16.

All of this has created a set of problems that became even more critical in the past two weeks. First, the federal appropriation is only a fraction of what will be needed to change voting systems across the county. Chester County's share is roughly $1.8 million, but the cost to replace machines will be about $6 million. The balance must be made up by the taxpayers who are already funding a $541 million budget this year.

As recently as the beginning of the month, Chester County's commissioners believed that HAVA compliance could be achieved using the existing punch card machines, as long as they placed an additional machine in each of the County's 223 precincts to serve people with disabilities. But after Westmoreland County Judge Dan Pellegrini ruled that the state constitution requires a voter referendum before new machines can be introduced, the situation became a great deal stickier. While the State Supreme Court "fast tracks" an appeal of Judge Pellegini's ruling, U.S. Justice Department officials threatened last week to sue the state of Pennsylvania and to withhold $23 million in HAVA assistance funds if its 67 counties do not meet the HAVA deadline.

Here in Chester County, officials are scrambling. As of last Friday (February 24), they were still considering the use of the punch-card system plus a single electronic machine in each precinct. The Commissioners have announced that they will discuss their decision this Tuesday (February 28) at their work session and make their decision two days later at their regular Thursday meeting.

Somewhere in the middle of the lawsuits and legal threats lies an even bigger problem. By now, just about everyone admits that electronic voting machines which use computer software are susceptible to tampering, and there is plenty of evidence from Ohio and Florida that electronic machines gave false totals in the fall 2004 elections. What is worse, the process of "certifying" HAVA compliant machines has gone so slowly that at this point, any decision will be a hasty one. And one of the most widely certified machines is made by the Diebold corporation whose leadership was heavily involved in the Bush/Cheney reelection campaign. The process seems poised to undermine whatever confidence stills remains in our electoral system.

Voting integrity advocates have consistently called for machines that produce an independent paper trail that will permit a recount, should one be necessary. None of the machines that have been certified by the State of Pennsylvania meet that requirement. Despite that, Lawrence Tabas, the special counsel selected by the County Commissioners to advise them on election matters, is urging that they abandon the punchcards and go with a paperless electronic system.

COMMENTARY: All of this stinks to high heaven. Tabas was the leader of the Bush/Cheney legal team in Pennsylvania during the 2004 election. His main argument at the December 21 public hearing was that if the County hesitates, it will loose the federal HAVA money and have to absorb the entire cost of compliance (instead of only 70 percent of the cost). The federal and state legislatures, both controlled by the Republican party, are using threats and bribes to force voters to accept a system that can be corrupted without leaving a trace.

Does anyone remember ever having a problem with punch cards? Probably not, and according to unnamed county officials, there haven't been any problems [Source: Gina Zotti, "Wanted: a new voting system" in Daily Local News, January 26, 2005]. But now we are being told to hurry up and take whatever they offer us, don't ask any questions and don't even think about how we're going to pay for it.

The idea of giving people with disabilities the same access to voting machines as everyone else is a noble one, but it is not worth undermining democratic elections to achieve it. Our system already provides absentee ballots for those who can't get to the polling place, so there is no good reason not to provide a separate system for those who can't punch holes in a ballot card.

If you think that this issue is important, then it's time to take action. Use these links to email the Chester County Commissioners, and tell them that as long as it's going to cost us millions to become HAVA-compliant, we are better off using the money to defend against the federal government if it persists in the effort to undermine democracy.

The wheels of justice turn slowly sometimes, but they recently produced a big payoff in the case of "Borough of West Chester vs. RST Partners." After over four years of legal wrangling, a violation of the Student Home Ordinance has resulted in a fine of $15,000 paid to the Borough.

The case concerned 307 E. Rosedale Avenue, one side of a pair of attached houses located about a block east of Fame Fire Company. RST Partners bought the house at Sheriff's sale for just over $87,000 in October 2001, more than six months after the passage of the Student Home Ordinance, and Borough inspectors discovered students living there almost immediately. They issued an order to cease and desist, RST appealed the order to the Zoning Hearing Board, and Borough Council decided to send its solicitor to the hearing, setting the stage for a confrontation.

RST used a number of tactics to drag the hearings out over several months, but finally, in April 2002, the Zoning Hearing Board voted 4-0 to upgold the cease-and-desist order. RST appealed the decision and filed a series of legal challenges that extended the case for three more years. Finally, on January 30, 2006, Judge William Mahon ordered RST to pay $15,000 "as full and final settlement for the fines, court costs and attorney's fees" and to give up the right to appeal any futher.

According to a memo from Housing Officer Michael Perrone, this is probably the largest award for a zoning violation in Pennsylvania history, but it is not the largest penalty ever levied against RST. On January 6, 2005, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that one of RST's principle partner (described as "an inveterate litigant") was ordered to pay $26,000 to the Borough of Modena for violations over a thirteen month period. The reporter added that the partner has "a reputation for stretching his frequent disputes with municipal building inspectors into protracted courtroom dances" and quoted Chester County Court Judge Thomas Gavin's estimate "that he has presided over at least 100 real estate cases" involving the same individual in the last five years.

With that in mind, it is refreshing to see the Borough's perseverance pay off. After noting the diligence of the Borough solicitor, Perrone added "Though the process of enforcing our zoning codes can be frustrating and time-consuming, following the due process of our legal system ultimately allowed us to achieve code compliance."

West Chester's tourist railroad has published a schedule featuring an array of regular excursions and special events starting April 8 and 9. And in other local transportation news, the new bus station on West Market Street opened for business on February 13.

The West Chester Railroad will operate its renowned "Easter Bunny Express" on Saturday and Sunday, April 8-9, and again on Saturday April 15, with departures from the Market Street station at 11AM, 1PM and 3PM. These excursions have attracted families with young children for years by providing them with an opportunity to meet the Easter Bunny.

The Railroad has several other special events on its timetable. The "Mother's Day Express" will leave Market Street at noon and 2PM on Sunday, May 7, while the "Father's Day Express" will do the same on Sunday, June 18. On Sunday, May 28, the banjo-playing "Swing Shift" will entertain passengers for Memorial Day, while on Saturday and Sunday, June 24-25, the Railroad will host "Von Runstedt's Express" featuring military reenactors, vehicles and props from World War II. The Railroad also offers Picnic Specials every Sunday from June 4 to September 17 which pick up passengers at Market Street at noon and 2PM for a ride through the woods of West Goshen, Westtown and Thornbury Townships to their picnic grove near the Glen Mills station.

In all the excitement a few weeks back about a developer's plans for the M. S. Yearsley & Sons building on E. Market Street, a few relevant facts were obscured. Yearsley will continue in business in West Chester, and they won't be leaving the building any time soon. For the past several weeks, Yearsley employees have steadily loaded up merchandise from the hardware store and carted it three blocks to the Cambridge Square Shopping Center at 323 E. Gay Street. The hardware division of been purchased by Parkway Hardware and they intend to continue its operation under the M. S. Yearsley name in the former Atlanta Bread Company building.		Yearsley's seed department before the move
In 1909, the Hemphill coal & lumber yard occupied the Cambridge Square site	By an odd coincidence, Cambridge Square was once home to a coal and lumber yard owned by Dallet Hemphill. Surviving maps show the location of a feed and flour warehouse, a feed mill and bins for the storage of coal, lumber and other bulk materials. When the site was converted into a shopping center, the original structures were reused, including the stone-walled bins which were strong enough to support a railroad siding so that coal cars could simply dump their loads. The Yearsley home and garden tractor division will continue to operate at the Market Street location, at least until they find a suitable alternative "within five minutes of here," according to one of the employees. In addition to John Deere tractors, they carry weed whackers and chain saws by Stihl, and riding mowers and snow blowers by Ferris, and they will continue to offer complete repair service for everything they sell. Their lease doesn't end until the end of 2007, so the Yearsley name will appear at two different locations in West Chester starting later this month.

Maybe the timing was merely coincidental, but on the same day (Tuesday, March 7, 2006) that the National Historic Trust recognized West Chester as one of only twelve "Distinctive Destination" communities in the entire country, representatives of Dave Magrogan (owner of Kildare's Restaurant) argued for nearly an hour that Borough Council should allow them to cover up the front of a historic Gay Street building.