This mailer is one of two that Al Buchtan alleges in a lawsuit defamed him and hurt his chances at winning a May primary for state Senate.
PITTSBURGH – A Western Pennsylvania Republican who challenged incumbent state Sen. Camera Bartolotta says her political allies ruined his campaign with defamatory mailers claiming he was under investigation for voter fraud.
Al Buchtan sued the Washington County Board of Elections and two of its three members, Nick Sherman and Electra Janis, last week in Pittsburgh federal court. He’d fended off a challenge to his residency that reached the state Supreme Court and had his voter registration taken away in the months leading to the primary, then came the topper:
“State Senate candidate Al Buchtan is under investigation by the Attorney General’s Office for Voter Fraud. He could go to jail if found guilty.”
That’s what one of two mailers told voters. The statements are attributed to a “Washington County Election Official,” and Buchtan, who says no such investigation ever happened, figures they must have been made by Sherman or Janis, considering they’d publicly endorsed Bartolotta’s campaign, but lists the alleged offender as a John Doe.
“Counsel for Buchtan reached out to the Attorney General’s Office and received no indication that any active investigation existed,” his complaint says. “Neither the Attorney General’s Office nor any other law-enforcement agency took any steps to investigate Buchtan for purported voter fraud.”
Bartolotta was susceptible to a primary challenge, Buchtan alleges, thanks to her track record. The Washington County Republican Party Executive Committee approved a vote of “no confidence” in January 21-3, declaring on Facebook that she had failed “to act in the best interest of Washington County residents.”
The state GOP rejected the vote, however. When Buchtan, who had started his own masonry business and had served on the Carmichaels Area School Board of Directors, stepped up to challenge Bartolotta, his primary residence became an issue.
He has one house in Washington County and one in Greene County, both in the legislative district. He listed the Washington County house as his primary residence, leading objectors to file a petition to set aside his nomination with the Commonwealth Court that claimed he lied on election forms about where his primary residence is, because there are more voters in Washington County.
On April 2, the Commonwealth Court declined to take action on his candidacy, finding he “testified credibly that he believes he resides at the Washington County Address and did not intend to deceive the public.”
Later that month, the state Supreme Court agreed. Considering those courts had approved his candidacy, he says it would have been foolish for any law-enforcement agency to take further action.
It didn’t stop the Washington County Board of Elections of stripping him of his voter registration, though. He claims that was in “retaliation for Buchtan’s public criticism of Bartolotta, his candidacy against Bartolotta, and his criticism of the perceived political establishment and political status quo.”
A second mailer from a “Washington County Election Official” declared he was under active investigation for voter fraud. A mass text by the Pennsylvania Senate Republican Campaign Committee made similar claims.
Bartolotta received 11,386 votes in the primary to Buchtan’s 9,925. Since Democrat Evan Snyder, who ran unopposed in his primary, withdrew from the general election, Bartolotta might only face an Independent candidate.
His lawsuit seeks relief for the cancellation of his voter registration, harm to his reputation, defamation and false light invasion of privacy. He is represented by Michel Comber of Comber Miller in Pittsburgh and attorneys at James Otis Law Group in St. Louis.
