The race for the Republican nominations to two seats on the Schuylkill County Board of Commissioners is getting down and dirty.

Most of the drama spotlights four candidates: incumbent commissioners George F. Halcovage Jr. and Chairman Barron L. Hetherington, and Clerk of Courts Maria T. Casey and Jeffrey Dunkel.

The remaining candidates - Dan Evans, Larry Padora, Mary Jo Moss, and Ray Jones - are conducting quieter campaigns.

The Democratic candidates, incumbent Gary J. Hess and Rita Anczarski Baldino, are the only two, so there are no fireworks there.

Voters on May 16 will choose two candidates from their respective party to run for election in November. The top three vote-getters in that race will serve on the board.

The battlefield

Of all four Republican candidates, it’s Halcovage who draws the most fire.

He’s contesting a federal sexual harassment lawsuit filed in March 2021 by four women who work at the courthouse. The women, identified only as Jane Does, contend he sexually harassed them since he was first elected in 2012.

Those accusation also made Halcovage the subject of an impeachment investigation, although that process appears to have stuttered to a perhaps temporary halt.

Dunkel has spoken at almost every public commissioners meeting, taking Halcovage and Hetherington to task.

He lambastes Halcovage about the lawsuit, a police radio he says should be given back, and electronic devices Dunkel says were issued to Halcovage but vanished after he was told to not delete any information from them as part of a 2020 investigation by the county Human Resources Department that concluded he had violated three policies.

Dunkel also lays into Hetherington for the $7.3 million cost of the reassessment the county is now undergoing, for using federal pandemic funds to balance the county budget without raising taxes.

Casey grills Halcovage on the federal lawsuit; she has been a staunch advocate of the four women. She, too, scolds Hetherington on what she says is a lack of transparency and the hiring of outside consultants to perform tasks she believes could be done more cost-effectively in-house.

The latest salvos

While Dunkel and Casey have been criticizing Halcovage and Hetherington for years, the animosity has intensified as the May 16 primary election comes down to the wire.

Several weeks ago, someone gleaned the names and addresses of those who signed Halcovage’s petition, and then anonymously sent letters to them, urging them to not vote for him.

The letter talks about the federal lawsuit, then advises recipients to visit a website for a petition calling on Halcovage to resign.

“Take a few moments and think if this was your wife, daughter, sister, mother, niece, or granddaughter that he victimized. We cannot reward him by placing him back in office. There are several candidates that would like to get the county back on track and have your best interest in mind. Boots has tolerated his behavior and suspended two of the victims without pay for over 550 days as George and Boots continue to retaliate against these victims,” the letter says.

It then lists 11 elected officials who have asked him to step down.

They include state Sen. David G. Argall, county row officers - including Casey - and state representatives Tim Twardzik and Joe Kerwin.

The letter infuriated Rush Township Supervisor Robert J Leibensperger, who gathered 25 signatures in his municipality for Halcovage’s petition.

“I think it’s totally disgusting and underhanded for Casey and Argall to put their names to a letter to intimidate voters. That only happens in third world countries, where people with guns stop people from voting,” he said.

Leibensperger is also upset the state attorney general “didn’t go after them.

“It was an unsigned letter and it was just a general letter. It was voter intimidation. It’s like someone sticking a letter in your mailbox saying there going to burn your house down,” he said.

“All of the people who signed the petition are angry. A lot of people are upset. The election chief should have prevented that. He should have pursued action against the individual who got the names,” Leibensperger said.

That the letter was not signed rankles him even further.

“If you don’t put your name to it, it means it’s untrue, and you’re a liar,” he said.

Halcovage agreed.

“Voter intimidation is unacceptable. The threats made against people who signed my petition has been brought to the attention of District Attorney (Michael A.) O’Pake and he stated he will not be able to evaluate it until after the election. I have been contacted by many of these people and they want an investigation done now,” he said.

Asked whether the use of the names violated the law, the Pennsylvania Department of State “cannot comment on whether this specific mailing was legal,” said Office of Communications and Press Director Amy Gulli.

Then, on Tuesday morning, an email from Kate Staudenmeier, widow of the late Commissioner Frank J. Staudenmeier, popped up on social media sites, including that of the Schuylkill County Republican Committee.

Frank Staudenmeier died in March 2020. At the time, he was Halcovage’s running mate.

In the email, addressed to all three commissioners and County Administrator Gary R. Bender, among others.

In it, she sharply criticizes Halcovage for attending the funeral of one of her late husband’s close friends, which she believes was to be seen by people.

“You dared to come to one of Frank‘s best friend’s funeral at the end of the Mass just in time to prance yourself up the aisle for communion so everyone could see you. Then to top it off, you had the audacity to go out and tap on the car window of his loving wife, again so everyone could see you. One thing to remember is that Frank’s friends are not your friends,” she wrote.

Mrs. Staudenmeier also chided Halcovage for taking money left in his and Frank Staudenmeier’s joint campaign account; money she believes should have gone to her to be donated to the Ashland Little League and the Pioneer Tunnel.

“One other thing is I would request that you donate the $8,200 you supposedly took from Frank’s account without any notice to me to the Pioneer Tunnel for the building they are dedicating in his memory,” she wrote.

Halcovage defended his actions in both cases.

“I attended the funeral of Bob Gownley, who was a friend of mine for close to 30 years. I knew Bob even before I worked with Frank. In fact, when Bob’s brother had passed away, Bob called me to sing at his funeral,” Halcovage said.

As for the money, “Frank and I had a joint campaign account and, with his passing, the money legally went into my campaign account which was approved by our campaign treasurer and the Department of State,” he said.

Candidates’ view

“Dirty campaigns have become a sign of the times. Rather than talk about accomplishments and vision, some candidates just trash their opposition,” Halcovage said.

“In 2011, I ran for county commissioner not to get a job but to do a job in representing the people of our county. As then to the present day, I am running a positive campaign focused on the future of our county,” he said. “The political establishment and some of my opponents are attacking me because I’ve been fighting for the people of Schuylkill County.

“The voters elect candidates to represent them, whereas, the establishment wants politicians they can control. I represent the people and not the establishment,” Halcovage said.

His fellow commissioner, Hetherington, said people are weary of mudslinging.

“It’s been ugly since the start,” he said. “I’m hearing from people. They’re upset about it and tired of it.”

He referred to Dunkel and Casey’s comments during public meetings.

“They bring nothing to the table. They just attack other candidates,” he said. “When you say something often enough, even if it’s a lie, people will start to believe it,” he said. “We’ll see what happens next Tuesday.”

Casey said that “problems always come out at the end (of a campaign). Everything gets heated in a political race. But I think the public has to know.”

“We have a $10 million deficit, and we have this looming reassessment. The county is not only broken, it’s actually broke,” she said. “Unless people start addressing this, we are going to be in very bad straits. We’ll have huge tax increases, older people not being able to afford their homes. It’s just crazy.”

“Because Jeff (Dunkel) and I speak out, it means we’re very concerned. If we didn’t do it, nobody would know about this stuff,” Casey said.

Dunkel said he “thinks it’s great the truth is finally coming out about George’s character, the lack of transparency, and what Boots (Hetherington) has not accomplished. Ninety percent of his fliers are false.”

“The animosity and disagreements are mostly between the two incumbents,” he said.

Dunkel said he gets along fine with the other candidates.

“The common denominator is the incumbents,” he said. “Overall, the campaign’s going good, it’s the incumbents that are the problem.”