Concord Supervisors Dominic Pileggi and Kevin O’Donoghue, and solicitor Hugh Donaghue must resign.
The record seems to show that these three misused Concord Township funds, misrepresented themselves to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, and acted in what appears to me to be violations of conflict of interest statutes. They took these actions because they were and are desperate to stop to voters from having the opportunity to decide to change our township’s classification to First Class. A year ago, almost 1,000 Concord residents signed a petition to have that chance, but the three have fought it with every means at their disposal.
Fortunately for Concord, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court rejected all of their arguments and reversed lower court rulings that these three officers sought. The ballot question will now go before the voters this November, although the high court stated it should have happened last year if not for Concord officials’ opposition.
But in their failed effort to gain a favorable ruling in the state’s highest court, these Concord officials crossed the line. Without formal Board of Supervisors approval, and acting as private individuals and not in their capacity as township officials, the three conspired to use township funds to hire a lawyer. They instructed the lawyer to file a legal brief and other documents with the state Supreme Court in the name of the Government Study Commission and its commissioners, whose election wasn’t even certified yet, and without their advance knowledge or approval. They took this extreme and potentially unlawful action solely in an attempt to advance their own arguments in the case before the Supreme Court.
As township officers, whether as private citizens or in their official capacity, these three had no business arguing against our township’s voters, even to save their positions. But to do so as they did – deploying township funds to secretly hire a lawyer to deceive the court – is deplorable. Officials with any honor would resign now to save our township the embarrassment of having to remove them. I doubt they will.
Daniel Levin
Concord Township
(2 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
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