A trio of Democrats took the two Republican county commissioners to task at their Wednesday meeting for the county being dismissed from a federal lawsuit against the Wolf administration's March emergency shutdown orders issued as the coronavirus pandemic began affecting Pennsylvania.

Phil Heasley, who is running for state representative in the 8th House District, and Daniel Smith Jr., a candidate for the 12th House District, both appealed to commissioners in May to drop the lawsuit against Gov. Tom Wolf.

On Wednesday, they upbraided Commissioners Leslie Osche and Kim Geyer, who voted in May to sue Wolf and Dr. Rachel Levine, state health secretary.

Four counties, led by Butler County, were among the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, but were dismissed from the suit by U.S. District Judge William Stickman IV, who, in his written opinion Monday, said counties are part of the state and do not possess rights under the Constitution.

Stickman ruled in favor of the remaining plaintiffs — four Republican lawmakers and several small businesses in Butler, Fayette, Washington and Greene counties — that Wolf's coronavirus mitigation orders were unconstitutional.

In May, Commissioner Kevin Boozel, a Democrat, voted against the county participating in the lawsuit.

Smith told the commissioners Wednesday that their participation in the lawsuit was a prime example of hypocrisy.

“What the county did was irresponsible and fruitless, as the judge dismissed all counties from the lawsuit,” Smith said. “In a nutshell, you should not have been included as a plaintiff on the case in the first place.”

He said taxpayers should not have to pay attorney fees for the suit.

Osche said after the meeting that no county funds have been spent on the lawsuit against Wolf and Levine.

Attorney Tom King told the Butler Eagle Monday that his firm, Dillon McCandless King Coulter & Graham, has not charged the county, but he did not rule out the possibility.

King said he and the plaintiffs' other attorneys will request the state pay for their bills for the countless hours spent on the case.

“Hopefully, the county won't have to pay us a penny,” King said after Stickman's ruling.

But Smith suggested King extend the courtesy of not charging for his services to the entire plaintiff list, or that King's bill be split between the remaining plaintiffs.

“Let them seek damages and court costs as any citizen in this nation has the right to do,” Smith said.

He also accused the four Republican lawmakers who sued of using the lawsuit to further their campaigns, which he called “morally and ethically wrong and equally inexcusable.”

Heasley agreed, and reminded Geyer and Osche that they said in the beginning that the lawsuit was not a political stunt.

“But this was nothing more than a taxpayer-funded campaign event,” he said.

He also was incredulous that no attorneys associated with the suit realized that a county cannot sue the state.

“I ask you to not squander any further taxpayer money,” Heasley said.

Catherine Lalonde, president of the county Democratic Committee, agreed with the candidates' points.

She said while the previous proceedings during the Wednesday meeting demonstrated that the commissioners are diligent about the careful expenditure of taxpayer money, “it was not overseen with regards to this lawsuit.”

Lalonde also agreed that the Republican lawmakers' participation in the lawsuit appeared to be partisan.

“All of the parties have used the lawsuit in campaigns for election or re-election,” she said.

In an email, Osche responded to the accusations made during the meeting. “Ironically or not, the two constitutional amendments, which the judge upheld — our victory if you will — are what gives those present in today's meeting the right to express their opinion, and to protect the right to peacefully protest, which many have tried to do over the past several months,” Osche said. “We as commissioners, including Commissioner Boozel, worked diligently and in a bipartisan fashion to address the issues related to the virus. We voluntarily participated in the closures that were intended to be temporary to prevent a surge on hospitals.

“We prepared a plan working with the hospital, medical officials, school officials and tried to work with the governor's office and Department of Health. But when it became evident that these rights as defined above were being violated to the detriment of individuals and businesses ... we were left with one path. We pursued the only route left on behalf of constituents to apply those checks and balances.”