Judge Coates Rules On Challenges for Mayoral and Controller Candidates.
Thursday August 15, 2013 at 4:41 pm
By Jamie Serra

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Judge Bernard Coates Jr. has issued memorandum opinions striking Nate Curtis, Nevin Mindlin and Jennifer Smallwood from the ballot for Harrisburg's Municipal Election a week after the nomination challenges were filed.

Here is a description of the challenges raised for Nate Curtis, Nevin Mindlin and Jennifer Smallwood.

Judge Coates ruled against Curtis on the basis that he did not meet the 1 year residency requirement of the Third Class City Code, a story we reported the day Nate announced his intention to run for mayor.

We caught up with Nate after his Hearing on Wednesday, August 14, 2013 where he offered the following comments:

Video 1. "All I wanted to do was run for mayor of Harrisburg."

Video 2. The optional 3rd class city charter law.

Video 3. Are you calling Eric Papenfuse a liar?. "He's lying, absolutely."

Here's a copy of Judge Coates opinion for Nate Curtis.

Nevin Mindlin was stricken from the ballot due to his failure to properly complete his nomination papers. Under the Election Code, all nomination papers must specify a committee to fill vacancies should the candidate no longer be able to participate in the election. If a vacancy occurs, the committee serves to fill the position.

In this instance Mindlin's failure to list between 3 and 5 people that could take his place was enough to have him removed from the ballot as his nomination papers were deemed incomplete.

Mindlin indicated that he felt confident in his argument after his hearing. Here's a copy of Judge Coates opinion for Nevin Mindlin, and Mindlin's press release following Coates decision.

Jennifer Smallwood was seeking to run for the position of Controller but ultimately suffered the same challenge faced by Nevin Mindlin, a failure to specify a Committee to fill vacancies. Here's a copy of Judge Coates opinion for Jennifer Smallwood.

Eric Papenfuse, victor of the democratic mayoral primary, offered the following statement after Judge Coates issued his memorandum opinion.

Photo By Natalie Cake

 
Tags: Election 2013, Eric Papenfuse, Jennifer Smallwood, Nate Curtis, Nevin Mindlin