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Addis Removed From PA-5 Ballot

Republican Congressional candidate Paul Addis was ordered off the 5th district primary ballot by the Commonwealth Court for not having enough valid signatures on his nominating petitions.

Addis’ petitions were challenged by Delaware county GOP insider Michael Puppio based off issues such as signatures from deceased individuals.  

Delaware county GOP Chairman Andy Reilly said that Addis is a “honorable man” who acted with integrity.  

“I met with Paul Addis and came away with the impression that he is an honorable man with a true desire to serve his country.  However, as Addis has acknowledged, his campaign simply did not meet the minimum threshold of signatures,” Reilly said.

Pearl Kim, the only Republican left on the ballot, said that she does not blame Addis personally for the issues with his petitions.  

“By all accounts, Paul Addis is a good man and I do not blame him personally for the actions of some of his petition circulators.  I hope to meet with Paul in the coming weeks to hear about his personal journey to professional success and his ideas for growing our economy and job creation,” Kim said.

The decision to remove Addis gives Kim the opporunity to spend the primary raising money and increasing her name recognition in the district.  The district was formerly Congressman Pat Meehan’s district, but following the state Supreme Court redraw of the Congressional maps the district is now strongly Democratic.

17 Responses

  1. In Kansas you can get on the Ballot one of 2 ways either by signitures on a ballot or by paying a fee That is how it should be done in Pennsylvania as well . It’s an outrage that in a position as important as Congress or US Senate that there is only one person on the Ballot in any given Party . We should have as many people to choose from as want to run for office OPEN UP THE BALLOT

    1. We have about a dozen Dems on the ballot in PA-5. Don’t blame us. 🙂

      In Kansas, they want to teach creationism in the schools, too. So, let’s not get too excited about Kansas.

  2. A well funded candidate is assumed to have the ability to hire professionals that guarantee you don’t get your keister tossed off the ballot due to minor league issues like not enough signatures. Not enough signatures??? Give me a break! This is small time screw up that should never happen to a serious properly funded candidate. The fact it happened is a major red flag the candidacy is deeply flawed. There is no excuse for such errors in pursuit of higher level offices.

    1. I’ve got no problem with someone being kicked off for not enough signatures. And, a low count is often the sign of a weak campaign. But, let’s not pretend that the Delco GOP had any interest in an open primary or that they don’t have a history of forging signatures themselves.

      Lindy Li was well funded in 2016, turned in 2,300 and still didn’t have 1,000 good ones. This was a perfect example of why she didn’t possess the organizational/hiring skills to run a campaign, nor spend money wisely. She learned her lesson, and turned in plenty of signatures this year, and wasn’t challenged.

      1. Flawed?? There were hundreds and hundreds of forgeries. this guy was a joke and a con artist

        1. The only con artists are the petition circulators who signed their names and swore to a notary public that the signatures they had collected were legitimate (clearly many were not). I doubt you’ll see Addis’s name on the petition collector line on a single page (please correct me if I’m wrong though).

          He obviously got a late start collecting petitions and hired whatever firm he could find to do it for him. Late in the game I doubt there were many reputable firms left. Hope he can get his money back.

          1. Try again-

            I think he had a out of state firm. Not sure.

            But, it doesn’t really matter. The GOP has zero chance of winning that seat, so Addis and Kim were just fighting over who got the “honor” of losing to the Dems.

            My guess is that the Delco GOP wants Pearl Kim for some other role (like maybe DA or to save a county council seat), and this election is a way to get her name out in front of Delco voters ahead of 2019 to improve her chances.

          2. Addis’ own wife signed on a page that the rest of the signatures were forged….

  3. The Delco GOP machine doesn’t like contested primaries, and makes a point of picking who runs, and stepping on people they don’t want to run.

    Notice that Reilly and Kim made a point of saying that Addis was a good man, but neither made any similar statement about Puppio?

    Puppio’s “insider” moniker puts him closer to the mold of Trump’s “fixer” Michael Cohen. You don’t need to be a great lawyer in Delco when the GOP machine effectively owns the judges, DA’s office, and courthouse.

    There is an old adage:
    “A Good Lawyer Knows the Law but a Great Lawyer Knows the Judge”

      1. Bubba-

        My point was about why Puppio’s the insider and go-to guy, and got the gift of billable hours on this one. He didn’t need to be a great lawyer to handle an issue of signature counts.

        The Delco GOP machine was behind the effort to challenge the petitions and reach out to voters as to whether they signed. That’s where Puppio got the resources to pull off the challenge. No skill was involved.

        I didn’t say this particular case was in Delco court, just that’s where Puppio’s prowess sits.

        1. ahh Lindy Li. I missed her suitcase full of hopes and dreams. so glad she is back for another beat down.

  4. He has integrity…..my a##!!! He stated to everyone who would listen to his pitch that he would not run without the party’s endorsement. Then when he lost fair and square to a real woman of integrity, he said she didn’t have enough experience to run. What a hypocrite. He lied the entire time. He wanted to run for Governor, then US Senate and then he shows up a week before the deadline for congress. He is a typical 60something rich white guy….a “know it all-smartest guy in the room-the savior-the answer” Bahahahahaha. what a loser. you can’t buy everything Paulie. get ready to pay an attorney.
    PS on the bright side you—-you can devote all of your time to your presidential campaign.

    1. Not sure how anything Addis did would suggest he thinks he’s a “know it all” or a “savior.” Seems to me (and Andy Reilly, apparently) that he is a patriotic guy who wanted to serve the state and country and thought he had valuable experience and new ideas with which to do so.

      If you gave his website a look or ever heard him speak (I did at USW endorsement meeting – he was the only Republican there), it was clear that he was very knowledgeable about a plethora of issues, and wasn’t someone who felt any duty to toe the party line where he thought it didn’t make sense (no wonder party insiders didn’t support him…)

      If the party has no interest in picking a candidate on the basis of ideas or experience, why shouldn’t he run without their support?? Being late to the party in a run for Congress when the lines hadn’t even been drawn until a few weeks before petitions were due seems like the most minor of sins.

      Also, seems to me it was wise of him to stay out of this s#*t-show of a GOP gubernatorial primary and to decide against throwing a bunch of his own money at a Senate campaign that appears to be increasingly unwinnable for the GOP (or at a primary that insiders are determined will not be contested in any way #keepfightingthegoodfightJimChristiana).

      1. Agree with you about Christiana. a very good guy. Disagree on Addis. He LIED (with all caps) to a number of people he dealt with while trying to seek the endorsement. If you are going to run with or with out the endorsement- then say it. no issues with that position. that is not what addis did. He did the exact opposite and then when he didn’t get his way he criticized the other candidates as lacking in comparison to him and then used his business acumen to hire a crappy firm to get signatures. Buck stops with him. That’s how he sold himself. He has demonstrated his lack of trustworthiness during his limited foray into politics. Own up to the issue of forgeries

        1. I’m pretty sure your “lying” is someone else’s mind changing given changing circumstances. GASP (all caps) – this has never happened before in politics! THE HORROR (all caps).

          Addis told the USW that he wouldn’t accept political donations FROM THEIR PAC while was seeking their endorsement. Certainly didn’t seem like the type to say what he thought people wanted to hear to get ahead.

          I’m not sure I saw him criticize the other Republican candidates in comparison to him, at least not in a public forum (again, please advise if so). If you are claiming he said in private conversations to party insider types that he was the best candidate…uhhhh, what do you expect him to do? Say that Pearl Kim is better qualified?!?

          I did hear him criticize the Democratic candidates, or, I should say, their poorly thought out positions (again, at USW nominating meeting). I was there, and the Democratic field was uninspiring, at best (and that is an incredibly generous). I imagine after sizing up the Democratic field, he thought he’d have a reasonable chance if he had the chance to be compared side by side – regardless of the partisanship of the district.

          Not sure what else you expect from him on the signatures point. He owned up to the issue, acknowledged that many signatures were invalid, and as a result isn’t on the ballot (the definition of “the buck stopping with him”). He didn’t order the signatures to be phony, so why should he have to take the blame for that? Clearly, the party agrees, which is why none have called his integrity or character into question.

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