Judge knocks incumbent off the ballot

The Associated Press is reporting that state Rep. Thomas Blackwell, D-Philadelphia, has been removed from the April 22 primary ballot by a state judge who ruled that that Blackwell did not turn in the minimum required signatures on his nominating petition.

It's the second time in less than a week that a state judge has removed an incumbent state lawmaker from the ballot. Rep. Frank Andrew Shimkus, a Democrat from Scranton, was removed from the ballot on Friday by another state judge, who also cited a faulty nominating petition. Shimkus won Lackawanna County's 113th District seat in 2006 and was planning to run for re-election.

With last week's announcement by state Sen. Vince Fumo, D-Philadelphia, that he will not seek another term, voters have an opportunity to send up to 27 new legislators to Harrisburg in 2008. That's how many incumbents have retired, given up their seats to seek other elected offices or removed from the ballot by judges.

Interestingly enough, a judge found problems with the nominating petition filed by Rep. Mauree Gingrich in the 101st House District, but the judge refused to remove Gingrich from the ballot. One of her opponents, Russ Diamond, has appealed the ruling to the state Supreme Court.

Back to Blackwell. The order issued Wednesday by Commonwealth Court President Judge Bonnie Leadbetter says Blackwell's petition contains fewer valid signatures than the 300 required, according to the news service.

His opponent had claimed that Blackwell's petition contained full pages of apparently bogus signatures, the AP reported.

Blackwell has represented the 190th House District since 2004.

The judge's ruling leaves Vanessa L. Brown as the only Democrat on the ballot for the West Philadelphia seat. Republican Rahim Foreman is running unopposed in the GOP primary, setting up a November contest between Brown and Foreman.