When your own party leadership slaps your hand, takes you to the woodshed and calls you a bad boy, most politicians can take the hint to step aside, but not Schuylkill County Commissioner George Halcovage Jr.

Despite his being cited in a federal sexual harassment lawsuit that has resulted in mandated changes in the way county employees are trained and treated and restrictions placed on him, Halcovage has seemingly taken a page from the playbook of former President Donald Trump, who is hanging tough in the face of multiple counts in an indictment stemming from the alleged illegal payment of hush money to a porn star during the 2016 Presidential campaign which Trump won.

Halcovage has not been charged with any crime. It’s been more of a reprimand so far because of his actions involving female county employees. Halcovage has consistently denied the allegations, and although he said he would like to defend himself publicly, he has been advised by his legal counsel to keep quiet.

Halcovage has so far resisted stepping down despite being asked to do so by some of the most powerful Republican colleagues in local and state government. He did, however, relinquish the board of commissioners’ chairmanship when a county investigation confirmed allegations against him.

Leading the call for Halcovage’s resignation is the dean of the Schuylkill County legislative delegation, state Sen. David Argall. Joining him were the three Republican state representatives who represent parts of Schuylkill.

It’s been unfortunate that the House Judiciary Subcommittee, which called for an investigation into whether Halcovage had abused his authority as a public official in 2021, has dragged its feet.

With the start of the new legislative session this year and the change in House leadership from Republican to Democrat, the process slowed down, but is on track again to determine whether Halcovage should be impeached. If he is, a trial would be held by the state Senate to decide whether to convict or acquit him.

In the meantime, Halcovage is brazenly running for re-election in this May’s Republican primary, even though the Schuylkill County Republican Committee voted to censure him.

According to county GOP chair Howard Merrick, the censure vote was taken now to let Judicial Committee members know local sentiment as it decides Halcovage’s fate.

At a meeting earlier this month attended by 39 of the 75 members, which met the committee’s 30 members in attendance bylaws requirement, the committee vote was 30 for censure, three against with six abstentions. I was told by some GOP insiders that the relatively poor turnout on such a very important matter was because some of the committee members did not want to go on record with a vote.

Although the censure action is largely symbolic, it is another indication of the party’s displeasure with Halcovage’s actions. The censure letter is quite pointed: “Commissioner Halcovage has shown a repeated pattern of being fiscally irresponsible, lacking transparency and a lack of integrity. His frequent missing of commissioner meetings has resulted in key issues not being voted on and timely addressed,” the letter said in part. Despite this, the committee did not endorse any of the eight other candidates for the primary

Republicans will nominate two of the eight ballot candidates in the May 16 primary, who will run against two Democrats in November. The top three vote-getters among the four candidates will win the three commissioners’ seats.

In addition to Halcovage and incumbent chair Barron L. “Boots” Hetherington, the other GOP candidates are: Clerk of Courts Maria Casey of Minersville, Jeffrey Dunkel of Palo Alto, Dan Evans of Tamaqua, Ray Jones of Ashland, Mary Jo Moss of Orwigsburg and Larry Padora of New Ringgold.

The unopposed Democratic candidates are incumbent Gary J. Hess and Rita Anczarski Baldino of Kline Township.

A commissioner’s salary is $62,701.81; the chair’s salary is $65,427.96.

Some Schuylkill analysts believe Halcovage has a real shot at winning one of the two slots, depending on how loyal his base is and how willing they are to stand by him in this especially large field where the vote would be shotgunned among so many candidates.

In top-heavy Republican Schuylkill County, where the GOP leads in voter registration by nearly 2 to 1 - 48,500 to 26,900 as of April 17 - several Republican strategists told me that it’s a virtual given that the two Republicans who win the primary will prevail in the General Election - even Halcovage, they predicted.

By Bruce Frassinelli | tneditor@tnonline.com

The foregoing opinions do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editorial Board or Times News LLC.