Hi Everyone,

I am responding to rumors from a few weeks ago that the board appointments were made on partisan lines. My perspective is that the best candidate for any board or authority should be chosen irrespective of party. Let me provide a little background for those of you who are just hearing about this issue.

Mt. Lebanon Municipality periodically runs advertisements for board positions and specifies a submission date for any resumes. The advertisement ran several weeks ago and there were several resumes that were received after the specified date and the Commission made the decision to include these resumes by a 3:2 vote (the 3 Rs voted to include the resumes and the 2 Ds voted nay). It has never been my understanding that this date was a hard cutoff.

Just to verify my understanding, I emailed Marsha Taylor, Assistant Manager of the municipality, after the voting by the Commission and here are her responses based on evaluations over a 2 year period:

1) My Question: Whether resumes had been received in the past after the deadline?
Response from Marsha Taylor: YES. Of the 62 applications that can be tracked, 8 applied after the due date.
2) My Question: Whether resumes received after the deadline had been considered by the Commission?
Response from Marsha Taylor: YES. In past years, as in this year, if an application was received prior to the date the Commission considered filling the vacancy, it was added to the list.
3) My Question: Whether anyone who applied after the deadline had been appointed?
Response from Marsha Taylor: YES. Of the 31 appointments in this time frame, 3 appointments were made of applicants after the due date.

The rumors indicated that the Republican Commissioners were partisan in their selection. The implication to me is that the Republican Commissioners are only selecting Republican candidates. Let me rebut this and provide some example of past appointments. I supported Mrs. Bonnie VanKirk (who ran on the Democratic ticket against me for Commissioner in the 1st Ward) and Joe DeIuliis (a Republican Commissioner) supported Mrs. Laura Reinhart (whose husband ran on the Democratic ticket against him for Commissioner in the 5th Ward, and I understand that Mrs. Reinhart is part of the Democratic Party of Mt. Lebanon). Since three endorsements are typically needed for a selection, the Democratic Commissioners endorsed these candidates and both Mrs. VanKirk and Mrs. Reinhart are now in the appropriate board/authority for which they applied.

Maybe the reason for the “hullabaloo” on partisan appointments to the board was that one individual, Dale Cowher, applied after the date specified in the advertisement. For those of you who are not aware, Dale Cowher is the endorsed Republican Candidate for Commissioner in the 4th Ward. I am presuming that the Democratic Commissioners voted for Mrs. VanKirk and Mrs. Reinhart because they knew them and felt that they are qualified for the board positions. I know Dale Cowher and supported his appointment since I felt that he is extremely well qualified. Understanding this situation, I requested that we delay the appointment to the position to which Dale Cowher had applied so that an advertisement can be re-run as appropriate. If any of you want to validate Dale’s qualification for yourself, I suggest that you reach out to Dale Cowher directly.

To conclude, I re-emphasize my position that the best candidate must be chosen for any appointment to boards/authority. If a submission date is to be interpreted as a hard date, with no extension, then the Commission must go against past tradition and make this explicit going forward. I hope this explanation will assist in quelling any false claims and implications from continuing to be propagated.

As always, I appreciate your feedback. Thanks.

Raja