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Shine of Sheriff's race tarnished by recent developments |
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Tuesday, 01 May 2007 |
By Adam Faderewski
The campaign season in Elk County seemed rather quiet until an e-mail entitled “Sheriff, set straight” began making rounds on the Internet, which claims that the Democratic candidate for Sheriff, Ralph Dussia, does not have the qualifications that he lists and also claims that Dussia agreed to never work again for Elk County as part of a worker’s compensation agreement.
In the days following the circulation of the anonymous e-mail, which has been linked to the Krieg campaign, although Krieg stated that he only forwarded what he had received, it started to become clear that the race was only scratching the muddy surface.
On Tuesday, April 24, 2007, an advertisement from Sheriff Tom Kontes ran on page two of The Ridgway Record which related to a flyer distributed by Ralph Dussia. The advertisement states that “[the candidate states] that he is a deputy Sheriff backed up by a picture of him next to a current Sheriff’s car [which] is misleading. This person is not a Deputy Sheriff.”
The ad continues by questioning past experience of Dussia, stating, “At one time he may have been a Special Deputy, which is nothing more then... appointing him as special deputy for a certain incident and then serve only as long as absolutely needed. No County records support he was ever a Special Deputy.”
On the following Thursday, Dussia, who was unnamed in Kontes’s ad, responded with an advertisement of his own. Dussia’s advertisement on page two of The Ridgway Record on Thursday, April 26, 2007 clearly shows a Special Deputy Sheriff ID card which was given to Ralph Dussia on Jan. 6, 2000, and signed by Kontes.
Kontes was reached by a phone call on Monday, April 30, in response to the Special Deputy Sheriff ID card.
“The card that [Dussia] had advertised was given to him about three days after I came into office,” Kontes said. “It should have been shredded or turned in [when he had finished his job].”
The job which Kontes referred to was a prisoner transfer, in which Dussia assisted the Elk County Sheriff’s Department in transferring a prisoner from Allegheny County Prison to Elk County Prison. In regards to the job, Kontes stated that he terminated the program of naming Special Deputies the day after he had given the card to Dussia because it was unnecessary.
“There were only two [Special Deputy Sheriff ID] cards out there,” Kontes said. “We are trying to get both of them.”
Kontes did state at the time of the call that Dussia had turned the card over to Kontes.
Kontes also stated that the purpose of his advertisement was mainly to state that Dussia had no training as a Sheriff’s Deputy.
“He never had a day of Sheriff’s training,” Kontes said.
Kontes stated that in order to be a Deputy Sheriff a person has to go through 19 weeks of training at the Sheriff’s Academy in State College or be certified through Act 120 and have gone through two weeks of Sheriff’s Academy.
Brian Smith, Dussia campaign finance manager, stated that there are hundreds of people in Elk County that can remember Dussia being a Deputy Sheriff when the late Ray Krasinski was Elk County Sheriff.
“Ralph has numerous documents addressed to “Deputy Ralph Dussia” and “Deputy Sheriff Ralph Dussia,” including Ralph’s resignation from the Sheriff’s department in 1992,” Smith said. “Ralph also has his uniforms with the Sheriff’s Department, which clearly state “Elk County Sheriff’s Department.”
Smith also stated that an advertisement which the Dussia campaign will be publishing in the future will focus on Dussia’s past law enforcement experience as well as his administrative experience, leadership and community service.
A second point was raised by the e-mail, as to whether Dussia was legally eligible to run for Sheriff due to a worker’s compensation agreement. Smith stated that Dussia had contacted the attorney, who had handled his worker’s compensation case about the agreement.
“[The agreement] was a resignation from employment,” Robert J. Bilonick, of Pawlowski, Bilonick and Long of Ebensburg, said. “It was never intended [that Ralph should have to] give up the right to run for elected office.”
Bilonick specified that there were three tiers of employment with the county, the first being an employee of the county, the second as an appointed official and the third as an elected official of the county. Bilonick stated that the agreement that Dussia had signed was in regards to the employee tier and that Dussia had not forfeited his right to run for election for a position with Elk County.
Bilonick stated that if the party that had sent the e-mail had been concerned with the legality of Dussia running for Sheriff that they would have contacted the Elk County Election Board rather than distributing the e-mail around.
“[Dussia’s eligibility] is a matter for the election board,” Bilonick said. “None of the appropriate authorities have reacted to the allegations in regards to Mr. Dussia’s eligibility.”
Bilonick and Smith both agree that the person(s) that distributed the e-mail are desperate to harm the Dussia campaign. Smith noted that Dussia had caught a person removing “Dussia for Sheriff” campaign signs, but had decided not to press charges at the request of the property owner whose sign had been stolen. |
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 02 May 2007 )
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