PG coverage: Fontana resigning county council seat -- soon

Fontana resigning county council seat -- soon Fontana resigning county council seat -- soon

Saturday, March 05, 2005

Wayne Fontana, the Democratic candidate for state Senate in the 42nd District, says he plans to resign his Allegheny County Council seat, just not yet.

Fontana rebuffed a call yesterday by Libertarian candidate Mark Rauterkus that he immediately resign the seat now that he has been nominated by the Democrats for the May 17 special election.

Rauterkus said the county's home-rule charter requires members of council to resign as soon as they become candidates for another office.

However, Fontana said he has opinions from the county solicitor and council's solicitor stating that he has 30 days from the time he is nominated to step down.

He also said he has been told by officials with the state Democratic Committee that he is not officially a candidate until he files formal paperwork with them. Fontana said he has until March 28 to do that.

Fontana is running against Rauterkus and state Rep. Michael Diven, a longtime Democrat who recently switched to the Republican Party, in the special election to replace Jack Wagner, who was elected state auditor general.

Another mention was made to this story on Rob Pratt's KDKA radio show. Pratt was on the air with an interview of the council chair, Rich Fitzgerald, D, about the assessments.