The argument for a pending lawsuit against Butler County over the elimination of jury commissioners is that the action was done in an election year.

Attorney Dave Cleaver of Keller, Keller & Beck in Franklin County, state solicitor of the Pennsylvania State Association of Jury Commissioners, said the May 23 vote by the county commissioners was taken too late.

“You can’t abolish an office once people have been nominated for it,” Cleaver said.

He said the county commissioners went against the will of the people by discarding the part-time jury commissioners.

“They disenfranchised hundreds of people who voted,” Cleaver said.

Larry Thompson, president of the jury commissioners association, said the lawsuit would be filed soon.

“It is imminent,” Thompson said.

The three candidates who ran for the posts, Democratic Jury Commissioner Clinton Bonetti, Republican Jury Commissioner Jon Galante and Pat Stirling, Galante’s opponent in the May primary, would be the plaintiffs in the civil case to be filed in county court.

Thompson, a former Butler County jury commissioner who is the county deputy register of wills/clerk of orphans’ court, said Butler attorney Leo Stepanian Sr. would work on the case with jury commissioner association attorney Samuel Stretton.

Commissioners Bill McCarrier and Dale Pinkerton voted to cut the posts effective at the end of the year, citing cost savings to the county.

The salaries and benefits of the jury commissioners were budgeted this year for roughly $71,000.

County court administration maintains the duties of the jury commissioners, which select prospective jurors for criminal and civil trials, could be absorbed without adding staff.

Commissioner Jim Eckstein, who supported keeping the posts, was absent from the May 23 meeting to attend a conference in Harrisburg.

Bonetti said he and the other plaintiffs wanted to resolve the issue without resorting to litigation.

“We obviously don’t want to sue,” he said.

However, Cleaver said the county commissioners left no other option by refusing to rescind their May 23 vote.

“The commissioners ought to be sued,” he said.

McCarrier, board chairman, said he and Pinkerton did nothing wrong by doing away with the posts.

“I don’t feel that we have,” McCarrier said.

He said county solicitor Mike English and Doug Hill, executive director for the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania, agree the county was within its legal right to dispense with jury commissioners.

McCarrier stressed Bonetti and Galante only won nominations for the November election. However, the jury commissioners point out they were the de facto winners since they would have no opponents on the ballot.

Gov. Tom Corbett in May signed the law enabling counties to dispense with the posts.

While more than 40 other counties also eliminated jury commissioners this year, none of those posts were up for re-election.

Cleaver said that’s why Butler’s situation is unique.

“It’s different because of the timing and how the county commissioners did it,” he said.

Cleaver said the lawsuit won’t hinge on statutes or previous court cases because the posts were removed after there were nominees for the seats.

“To my knowledge, that is unprecedented,” he said.

McCarrier disagreed, saying other elected posts have been cut when those seats have been up for re-election.

He said he didn’t know the specifics, including when and where such a scenario happened.

Preceding the meeting Wednesday, the commissioners received a letter from Thompson dated July 16 that requested the posts be retained to avoid a lawsuit.

McCarrier said Wednesday the letter “almost seems like blackmail.”

Bonetti disputed that characterization of the letter.

“It’s more of a gentlemanly way to resolve an issue and unfortunately, they took it as a threatening letter,” he said.

Cleaver agreed.

“It does not fit the legal definition of blackmail,” he said.

Cleaver said county officials should be careful what they say.

“An accusation of blackmail is slander,” he said.

McCarrier denied his comments were slanderous, saying he did not make an accusation about anyone.

“I did not say it was blackmail,” he said.

Thompson said McCarrier’s comments should not have been made.

“I’m just surprised Mr. McCarrier has to resort to such innuendo,” Thompson said.

While a county court case is pending, a state Commonwealth Court case challenging the legality of the state law is under way.

Cleaver said that law, Act 4, violates the state and federal constitutions by ignoring the separation of powers.

“What we’re saying is the state Legislature cannot delegate to an executive branch of government the power to abolish an office that is part of the judicial branch of government,” he said.

Cleaver said under the circumstance of the posts’ creation in the mid-1800s, the Legislature could eliminate those jobs because it created them.

However, he said the Legislature could not delegate that power.

Unlike other county row offices, the jury commissioners and coroner were formed by the Legislature, not the state constitution.

Cleaver said once state law was amended in the 1960s, the jury commissioners became part of the judiciary.

“They moved into the judicial code,” he said. “The Legislature can no longer control them.”

He said that’s why the third person forming the jury commission is the county president judge.

Cleaver pointed out jury commissioners cannot enact laws like the legislative branch of government or set budgets as the executive branch does.

He said if the state and county cases would be lost, the jury commissioner candidates who ran this year could have legal standing to sue the county for damages to recoup campaign expenses.

“It’s certainly possible,” Cleaver said.

McCarrier expressed doubt such a lawsuit would be successful, saying civil complaints can be filed for any reason.

“Anybody can sue anyone at any time for anything,” he said.