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Misuse of Democratic Mail Permit Investigated: Campaign Literature Attacking a Democratic State Representative is Sent Without the Party's Permission, a Lawyer Says.

Posted on: Tuesday, 16 May 2006, 15:06 CDT

By Kori Walter, Reading Eagle, Pa.

May 16--U.S. Postal Service inspectors in Reading are investigating the misuse of a Berks County Democratic Party mail permit to send about 600 election fliers attacking Democratic state Rep. Dante Santoni Jr.

John V. Ryan, a former Berks Democratic Party chairman and a lawyer for the party, said Monday that the fliers were sent without the party's permission.

"We do not allow one Democratic candidate to use our resources to attack another Democrat," Ryan said. "That would be inappropriate."

A postal worker at the Gus Yatron General Mail Facility, 2100 N. 13th St., confirmed an investigation has started but did not elaborate.

Temple resident Thomas Gross, a campaign volunteer for Santoni's Democratic primary rival, John A. DelCollo, said the fliers and cash to cover the postage were put on his doorstep late last week with mailing instructions.

"The stuff was put at my house when I wasn't home," Gross said. "I came home, and there it was with instructions."

Gross said he then took the fliers to the Yatron mail facility. Gross said he knew that he was sending political material but did not know that a mail-permit stamp on the one-page pieces was put there without the party's permission. "All I did was a favor for somebody that I don't even know," Gross said. DelCollo, a third-grade teacher from Temple, said Gross was a campaign volunteer but stressed that the campaign did not coordinate the mailing. "If I had money for a mailing, it would tell people about me," DelCollo said. Gross told DelCollo that he was just doing a favor for a man identified only as Timothy, whom Gross had never met. "I'm sure if Tom thought it was wrong he wouldn't have done it," DelCollo said of Gross. The fliers showed up in mailboxes late last week and attempt to link Santoni, a Reading resident, to a pay-to-play scandal involving former Muhlenberg Township Commissioner Steven J. Geras and ex-township solicitor Eugene C. LaManna.

LaManna played a key role in a federal investigation into corruption in Berks County -- a kickback scheme that resulted in a federal prison sentence for Geras, former president of the commissioners.

In February, LaManna was sentenced in federal court to four years of probation for tax evasion. He pleaded guilty Oct. 18 to failing to file tax returns for $406,000 in income in 1997 and 1998.

Santoni has not been named in any of the cases.

The fliers feature grainy, black-and-white photos of Santoni, LaManna and Geras and ask voters to stop corruption in government.

In addition to being mailed without Democrats' permission, the fliers do not state who paid for the pieces -- a state election law requirement for all political advertising.

Santoni is seeking the party's nomination for an eighth term in today's primary election.

DelCollo and Irv Livingood, a senior mechanic for Muhlenberg Township and a township resident, are challenging Santoni. Livingood condemned the smear tactics. "I vowed in the beginning that I would not stoop to mudslinging," Livingood said. "I'm sticking by it." Santoni said he learned about the fliers while campaigning door-to-door during the weekend. "I hope people will look at that (flier) and see through it," Santoni said. "I've run a positive campaign and stayed aboveboard."

Ryan, the party's lawyer, said postal workers at the Yatron facility apparently did not catch the unauthorized use of the mailing permit attacking Santoni.

The mailing permit allows authorized Democratic candidates to receive a discounted postage rate.

A postal worker contacted party officials Friday when someone tried to use the party's permit for a second flier attacking Livingood, Ryan said.

That person did not identify himself and said he was affiliated with the DelCollo campaign when questioned by a postal worker and a party official, Ryan said.

After a few minutes, the person left the facility, got into a car and drove away, DelCollo said.

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Copyright (c) 2006, Reading Eagle, Pa.

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Source: Reading Eagle

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