In Re Set Aside the Nomination Petition of Fitzpatrick

DISSENTING STATEMENT

I write to explain my notation of dissent to the Court’s May 19, 2003 order declining to review the propriety of the stays entered by the trial court and the Commonwealth Court below.

This primary election dispute derives from fatal deficiencies in the nomination petition of Kathleen M. Fitzpatrick, a Democratic candidate for the seventh eouneilmanic district seat in the City of Philadelphia. On May 7, 2003—thirteen days before the primary election—the Honorable John J. O’Grady of the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County found that Fitzpatrick had produced an…