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Langhorne -May 25, 2008-
The Township of Middletown was
served today with a petition to the Bucks
County Common Pleas Court, by the firm of lawyer Michael Fitzpatrick.
Fitzpatrick is suing Middletown in
an attempt to overturn an April 29 Vacancy Board appointment of Township
Supervisor Kathy Heuer. This
is not the first attempt by Fitzpatrick to overturn Heuer’s appointment; a
previous attempt on May 12th
ended in his withdrawal of a failed petition on the grounds that it was
improperly brought. In actuality, the
petition was based on lies propounded by Fitzpatrick, who convinced three
Middletown Republican
committee people; Philip Schieber, Elizabeth Schieber, and Thomas
Gallagher, to sign-on to his fraudulent
claims. Fitzpatrick, of the firm of Begley Carlin Mandio, is obsessed
with securing the solicitor’s job at
Middletown Township for himself and, ironically, one element of his failed
attempt may have paved the way for this second suit.
In a stark example of corrupt government working against the people,
Fitzpatrick went directly to Common Pleas Court Judge Robert Mellon and was
granted an ex parte, (one-sided), injunction against the Middletown
Vacancy Board, who had scheduled a meeting for May 6.
Mellon’s injunction ordered the Vacancy Board
not to meet, under penalty of six months imprisonment and a $1,000.00 fine.
The purpose of the May 6 meeting was to correct an alleged impropriety in
the April 29 meeting, at which the agenda was printed out-of-sequence, and
public comment was taken after the vote. By the injunction preventing any
curative action, Fitzpatrick succeeded in pushing the Vacancy Board out of
its 15-day window to perform its sole duty: to fill a vacancy on the Board
of Supervisors.
Even Mellon, the judge who had granted the astonishingly partisan
injunction, could not bring himself to rule in Fitzpatrick’s favor, but it
was not for lack of trying. Choosing to hear a case that should have been
dismissed outright, Mellon investigated every angle to accommodate
Fitzpatrick’s fraudulent petition, but the case, as presented, was too
ridiculous, even for a partisan
judge.
Middletown Supervisor Robert McMonagle, a named defendant in the petition,
was sitting twelve feet from Fitzpatrick, who defied all professional ethics
in trying to make a case so completely lacking in merit. “I have been
involved in several cases of electoral law," remarked McMonagle. “And for
the first time, I felt embarrassed by the argument of opposing counsel. Mike
Fitzpatrick may be the weakest attorney I have ever seen. It was just sad.”
After a long conference in Mellon’s
chambers, Fitzpatrick was convinced to return to open court and
withdraw his petition, rather than have it dismissed. This was a critical
aspect because a dismissal would have reset the clock and given back the
time that was allowed to run-out by Mellon’s corrupt May 6 injunction. By
allowing Fitzpatrick's withdrawal, Mellon shirked
responsibility for correcting his blatantly-political injunction, thus
allowing Fitzpatrick to sue Middletown for sunshine law
violations alleged to have occurred at the April 29 meeting.
This second suit names Todd C. Kelly, former republican committeeman and
failed 2005 candidate for Township Supervisor,
Thomas Gallagher, republican committeeman, Philip & Elizabeth Schieber,
republican committee people, Francis Drummond
of Langhorne, Lisa Morganti, republican committeewoman and daughter of Ron
Rudy. Residents may recall Rudy as the failed 2007 school board candidate
who was propped-up by retired teacher Howard Lindner, but lost in a
landslide because he had been fired by Neshaminy for stealing. Rudy
was successful in a recent election of sorts; he was actually elected
chairman of the Middletown Republican Committee, which should give observers
some insight to that organization.
Township costs for these frivolous actions are mounting. In addition to
lost time in defense of these petitions, the Township manager was forced to
cancel a trip to the Pennsylvania State Association of Township
Supervisors, for which his convention fee and hotel were pre-paid by the
taxpayers. "The good people of Middletown need not worry about footing this
bill," McMonagle said. "The People will be suing the petitioners back for
these frivolous suits; the Schiebers, Gallagher, Morganti, Drummond, and
Kelly will pay all costs and damages to the taxpayers. It is not likely
Fitzpatrick explained that part when he was suckering them into signing onto
his fraudulent suit, but I suspect he can just ignore their phone calls."
Like he
did at the
Morrisville School Board meeting, where they actually pay him.
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Langhorne -May 27, 2008- Middletown assistant manager Frank Farry
resigned today, citing