Jorn Jensen
A West Franklin Township resident’s name will not appear on the ballot in the May Primary for school director or supervisor.
Armstrong County President Judge James J. Panchik ruled yesterday that although Jorn Jensen filed a financial statement with his petition with the court house, he did not file copies of that statement with either the Armstrong School District (ASD) or West Franklin Township.
Panchik cited Section 1104(b) of the Public Official and Employee Ethics Act that stipulates a petition to appear on the ballot for election will not be accepted if the person running for office does not file a statement of financial interest prior to the date the petition was due.
Panchik also referred to previous case law in 2014 that ruled: “The failure to timely file a statement of financial interest with the appropriate governing authority is fatal to the nomination petition, and this failure cannot be remedied by the Court via equitable principles.”
Jensen said he did not remember being told that he had to file copies of his financial statement with the school district or the township.
“I was also suppose to turn in the financial report only to the township secretary and the school secretary. I did not realize that, and in court, it was debated whether I was told that or not. I don’t recall being told that because if I was told that, I had a half-day to complete that task and I would have completed it. At the time I left the court house, I thought I had all the tasks necessary completed in order to be on the ballot.”
According to Panchik’s written ruling, “Armstrong County Director of Elections, Jennifer Bellas, advised Jensen that he must attach statements of financial interest to the petitions. She then gave him blank statements of financial interest, which he completed and attached to his petitions prior to filing. Ms. Bellas further informed Jensen that he had to file a copy of the statements with the governing authorities presiding over the offices which he was seeking candidacy, namely the Armstrong School District and West Franklin Township.”
However, there was no indication that Bellas verbally communicated to Jensen that copies of the financial statements would have to be given to the ASD or West Franklin by end of that day.
Jensen said that he attempted to give the copies of the financial statement to the secretaries of both the ASD and West Franklin during the court hearing, but it was rejected by both secretaries.
The objection to Jensen’s petition was filed by current school board member Joseph Close through his attorney Chuck Pascal.
Panchik’s ordered “that the nomination petitions filed by Jorn Jensen for the offices of School Director representing Region II of the Armstrong School District and Supervisor of West Franklin Township be and hereby are set aside and stricken.”
The Libertarian State convention isn’t in July, it’s April 2nd in Harrisburg. Not much time left but you still may be able to do it.
http://www.Lppa.org
info@lppa.org
You still may be able to appear on the November ballot, Mr. Jensen. Go to the Court House and change you registration to a 3rd party, such as a Libertarian. Then request that their State party nominate you as their candidate. (My name has appeared on ballot as a Libertarian). They’ll nominate you at their State convention in July - no May primary needed. You will still have to collect signatures and turn in financial disclosures. Chance are good that a 3rd Party will accept you just to get a candidate on the ballot. Contract their State party chairman via email and talk to him about what’s required.
You still may be able to appear on the November ballot, Mr. Jensen. Go to the Court House and change you registration to a 3rd party, such as a Libertarian. Then request that their State party nominate you as their candidate. (My name has appeared on ballot as a Libertarian). They’ll nominate you at their State convention in July - no May primary needed. You will still have to collect signatures and turn in financial disclosures. Chance are good that a 3rd Party will accept you just to get a candidate on the ballot. Contract their State party chairman via email and talk to him about what’s required
Sorry to hear jensen but the good old boys club doesn’t want people who will rattle their cage. Kinda like the whole trump deal. You can still run as a write in.
Whaaaaaa ” all I wanted to do was ” LOL
Give it up Fjenny. Nobody wants you elected to anything. You’re schizophrenic.
LOL
What a moron.
When Jorn tells us that ASD is in the top 10 in pay but not in performance you can be sure he would be the demagogue in chief. It appears he doesn’t understand the basics of running for office that other candidates have mastered. He will call it a technicality. Maybe if he hadn’t alienated people in the the election offices or at the school district office he might have been shepherded through the process. We’ll be better off without the faux-Solak.
JJ:
Blame the Russians.
I’ve heard they are behind a rash of false pizza delivery orders which have shaken this country to its core.
However, getting outsmarted by Joe … well…
Opie- The sheriff’s office may not have been correct a few months ago. The KP has obviously found photographic evidence of a creepy clown in Armstrong County.
LOL
Want any cheese with that whine Jenny?
We can all learn a lesson from this - make sure you dot all ‘i’s’ and cross all ‘t’s’ as you jump through the hoops of fire for non-paying local government jobs. This is not like business and industry.
All I wanted to do was represent the students and taxpayers on school board and the taxpayers on township supervisors.
School board - there are 501 school districts in Pennsylvania and the ASD is in the top 10 in pay, but not in the top 10 in education performance/results. That needs changed. You’ll now have more years of Joe Close on school board - good luck with that.
West Franklin Township - has $500,000 in the bank and is spending $200,000 on a big plastic tent for the front yard of the township property to keep anti-skid in. Other townships tarp their anti-skid. When we moved here 20 years ago, our road was ‘paved’ - it is no longer as farming equipment has grown in size and weight - the road is now a dirt road. I’ve asked the township to pave our road to modern load standards and can’t get that done - but we can get a tent to store anti-skid. Clearly, the roadmaster runs this township. In discussion in a public meeting, I questioned supervisors on the ‘payback’, the return on investment, on this tent. None was offered by the supervisors. Then the roadmaster spoke up, “Mr. Jensen, have you ever broken apart frozen clumps of anti-skid at 3 AM on a cold winter’s morning?” “No, I haven’t. I did not choose that job, but if I had, I’d have covered it with tarps when the weather was good.” Joe Close happened to be in attendance in that meeting and spoke up in defense of the tent expenditure. Well-played, Mr. Close, who knows, better than you, how to spend the taxpayers’ dollars?
To my supporters, I apologize for missing the detail of filing the financial disclosure forms with the two outlying secretaries. If you ever run for public office, remember to do that and get a receipt.
Thanks ever so much Joe Close, job well done. Thank You….
Play by the Rules or you don’t get to play at all! Better luck next time…….