HARRISBURG — A federal judge is among the more than 1,000 people whose names and signatures appear on a petition in support of 12th Congressional District candidate Steve Irwin.
But this judge, and a number of other people whose names appear on the petition, say they did not sign Mr. Irwin’s petitions — potentially calling Mr. Irwin’s candidacy into question.
A representative from federal Western District Judge Cathy Bissoon’s office confirmed that she did not sign a petition in support of Mr. Irwin. At least five other people who live on the same street as Judge Bissoon said they did not sign any petition in support of Mr. Irwin, and confirmed that it is not their signature that appears on the petition. One of the alleged signatories said she is not registered to vote. Another noted that her husband’s name was spelled wrong on the petition.
These alleged forgeries could call Mr. Irwin’s candidacy into question, with at least one other Democratic candidate considering waging a challenge to his petitions. If a significant number of these signatures are thrown out, Mr. Irwin could be taken down below the 1,000 signature threshold to make the ballot. What’s more: the person who submitted the alleged fraudulent signatures could potentially be criminally investigated.
On each petition, the person circulating it is tasked with signing a “statement of circulator.” The circulator must confirm that the signatures are all cast knowingly by voters of the same political party, and that the statement is subject to penalties under the state’s perjury and falsification law. The maximum penalty is a $1,000 fine.
The state attorney general’s office and a local district attorney’s office may concurrently investigate alleged forged signatures, per the state Election Code, a spokesperson for the state Department of State said. The Allegheny County district attorney’s office would not prosecute a case like this unless the Allegheny County Police determined that charges should be filed, a spokesperson said.
Candidates always try to collect more than the 1,000 signatures required to get on the ballot, just in case some signatures are inaccurate or invalid. Campaign staff and volunteers can circulate petitions in support of a candidate and are tasked with gathering up to 30 signatures per petition. Mr. Irwin’s campaign submitted 64 pages of petitions earlier this week. Approximately 20 of those petitions were submitted by Kirk Rice. It is unclear how many of these signatures may now be called into question.
Mr. Irwin’s campaign said in a statement that they were aware of the concerns raised about the “validity of certain signatures submitted with our petitions.”
"The signatures in question were all gathered by the same circulator, and we are currently reviewing all petitions submitted by this circulator,” the campaign added in the statement. “This is extremely disappointing, and we will take all appropriate action to resolve this issue."
Chuck Pascal, an attorney retained by state Rep. Summer Lee, a Democratic candidate for the 12th District race, said in an email that he is undecided on whether the campaign will file a formal challenge against Mr. Irwin’s petitions.
“The determination on that depends on whether we believe there are sufficient valid signatures remaining after all forgeries and other signatures that may be bad for other reasons,” Mr. Pascal said in an email. “However, that doesn’t take away from the gravity or potential criminal liability of the obvious forgeries.”
Mr. Irwin’s campaign did not respond to an additional inquiry about what role Mr. Rice plays within the campaign.
Gillian McGoldrick: gmcgoldrick@post-gazette.com
First Published: March 18, 2022, 10:43 p.m.
Updated: March 19, 2022, 11:51 a.m.
