WILLIAMSPORT – A group of Republican lawmakers and candidates are suing Philadelphia County, Delaware County and Centre County in a federal court, alleging both GOP candidates and voters are being hurt by the use of nonprofit grant funds from the Center for Tech and Civic Life (CTCL).
The Pennsylvania Voters Alliance, Rep. Stephanie Borowicz, Rep. Eric Nelson, Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, Rep. Dawn Wetzel Keefer, Rep. Russ Diamond, Rep. Chris Dush, Rep. Jim Gregory, Rep. Francis Ryan, voters Kristine Eng, Theodore A. Dannerth, Eric Kroner and Congressional candidates Michael Harvey, David Torres and Dasha Pruett filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania on Sept. 25 versus Philadelphia County of Philadelphia, Delaware County of Media and Centre County of Bellefonte.
The litigation centers around $13 million in grant funds from CTCL that were presented to Philadelphia County, Delaware County and Centre Country, which the plaintiffs allege is an illegal public-private partnership, one whose influence will skew to progressive voters instead of conservative voters.
“CTCL, to accomplish its objective of turning out progressive votes in the urban counties and cities, has circumvented these state legislatures by recruiting local governments to apply and agree to accept CTCL’s private federal election grants,” the suit says.
CTCL has attracted prominent donors, including Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan, who committed $250 million to the organization to promote “safe and reliable voting in states and localities” during the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to a statement from CTCL, it is a non-partisan organization that has assisted municipalities with no distinction to political party.
“This year, we’ve heard from countless election officials, from across the political spectrum, who simply don’t have the funding they need to provide a safe, secure voting process for their voters as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic,” the organization said.
“In this moment of need, we feel so fortunate to be administering an open call grant program available to every local election department in every state in the union to ensure that they have the staffing, training, and equipment necessary so that this November every eligible voter can participate in a safe and timely way and have their vote counted.”
CTCL described itself as “a non-partisan organization backed by Democrats, Republicans, and nonpartisan officials”, one which is “confident that these frivolous charges are without merit, and looks forward to continuing this critical grant program in these unprecedented times.”
Philadelphia County netted $10 million from the CTCL grant funds, which was utilized for 15 mail-in voting locations, seven of which were launched on Tuesday, poll workers, materials and processing equipment for absentee and mail-in voting, secure drop boxes, printing, postage and other supplies.
For the remaining grant funds, CTCL issued $2.2 million to Delaware County and $863,000 to Centre County for similar purposes, per the litigation.
However, critics contend that CTCL is actually a group of Democratic operatives seeking to maximize the use of mail-in ballots and tip the voting scales toward Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden.
Scott Walter, president of the Washington-based Capital Research Center (CRC), says the group’s focus is on those urban areas where President Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton in 2016 by narrow margins.
The plaintiffs are seeking declaratory relief that Philadelphia County, Delaware County and Centre County have acted without legal authority in accepting CTCL’s private federal election grants, an injunction enjoining Philadelphia County, Delaware County and Centre County from using CTCL’s private federal election grants, costs, expenses and expert witness fees, attorney’s fees and costs, plus such other and further relief as the Court deems just.
The plaintiffs are represented by Jordan P. Shuber, Ronald T. Elliott, Thomas Eric Breth and Thomas W. King III of Dillon McCandless King Coulter & Graham in Butler, plus Erick G. Kaardal of Mohrman Kaardal & Erickson, in Minneapolis, Minn.
The defendants are represented by Elizabeth A. Dupuis and Molly E. Meacham of Babst Calland in State College and Pittsburgh, Edward D. Rogers, Elizabeth Wingfield, Terence M. Grugan and Timothy D. Katsiff of Ballard Spahr, plus Claire Ann Blewitt, Jerry R. Desiderato and Timothy James Ford, in Philadelphia.
U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania case 4:20-cv-01761
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com