Common Pleas President Judge Joseph James, following a 3¹/₂-hour hearing Monday, dismissed a petition that accused a Mt. Lebanon political action committee of providing false information on forms it filed with the county Elections Division.

But one of the five Mt. Lebanon residents behind the filing of the petition said she still believes the hearing was a success because it revealed who was really behind the Save Mt. Lebanon Schools Committee's efforts to oust three incumbent school directors in the November election.

Judge James acknowledged there were mistakes in the filings of the Save Mt. Lebanon Schools Committee and that rules may not have been strictly followed.

But he said he believed the incidents were more likely the result of sloppy paperwork and confusion than an effort to disguise who was behind the effort.

As a result, the judge declined to turn the matter over to the district attorney's office for a criminal investigation.

William Schmeltzer, who was listed as chairman of the Save Mt. Lebanon Schools Committee, and Calvin Lynch, who was listed as treasurer, said after Monday's hearing they felt vindicated by the dismissal and that they believed all along that the petition had no merit.

Karen Cullen, one of the five Mt. Lebanon residents behind the filing of the petition, said she believes the testimony at the hearing proved there were more people than Mr. Schmeltzer and Mr. Lynch involved in the political action committee.

"Transparency in the election process is very important to the integrity of the system," Ms. Cullen said in a statement after the hearing. She said she still believes the intent of the reports filed by the committee was " to hide the identity of those who really organized the effort."

During testimony at Monday's hearing, Terry Matuszak, supervisor of inspections for construction work in the county controller's office, said he created the 10,000 post cards and 90 posters produced by the Save Mt. Lebanon Schools Committee as part of his side job doing printing jobs for political campaigns.

He said his boss, Controller Mark Patrick Flaherty, a Mt. Lebanon resident, was involved in creating the content of the post cards and posters the committee circulated, not Mr. Schmeltzer and Mr. Lynch, who are the only members of the committee listed on its filings with the elections division.

A contribution from Mr. Flaherty's campaign was part of the basis for the petition filing. Mr. Flaherty's campaign listed an in-kind contribution to the Mt. Lebanon committee of $4,505, while the Save Mt. Lebanon Schools Committee listed the contribution as $3,710. An amended report later filed by Mr. Flaherty's committee after the petition was filed listed the amount as $3,709.

Mr. Matuszak also said that Faith Ann Stipanovich, a payroll manager in Mr. Flaherty's office and a current Mt. Lebanon school director who won her seat in the November election, proofread the material for the post cards.

Mr. Matuszak said none of the work on the Mt. Lebanon campaign materials was done during his county work hours.

In addition, Attorney Joseph Cavrich, who filed the petition on behalf of the five Mt. Lebanon residents, pointed out that one of the finance reports signed by Mr. Lynch and filed with the elections division on behalf of the Save Mt. Lebanon Schools Committee, was notarized by Kelly Serafin, who is an employee of the Pittsburgh Steelers

Mr. Cavrich used that information to ask Mr. Lynch during his testimony whether Mt. Lebanon school board President Mark Hart was involved in creating material for the post cards or financing the efforts of the Save Mt. Lebanon Schools Committee. Mr. Hart is director of business for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Mr. Lynch vigorously denied that Mr. Hart was involved in anyway with the committee, either through creating the materials or financing them, and said that he had never met Ms. Serafin, and that he had never visited the Steelers' offices. He said he recalled getting the form notarized at the "county building."

Mr. Lynch also said he could not tell if it was his handwriting that provided information on the report, but he did verify that his signature was on the form.

Mr. Hart declined comment on the matter. Ms. Serafin, who is listed as a member of the office staff on the Steelers' web site, could not be reached for comment.

Mr. Flaherty, through his spokeswoman, said he did not want to comment on the hearing testimony.

Ms. Stipanovch, contacted after the hearing, said she proofread material that Mr. Matuszak had gathered for the post cards without knowing what the material would be used for. She said that one day last fall, Mr. Matuszak showed her a paper with information about the candidates in the Mt. Lebanon school board race.

"He handed me a piece of paper that said the three incumbents all voted for certain things. I looked it over.'' He said "'is this stuff all true,' " Ms. Stipanovich said.

"I had no idea what it was for. I didn't know he was doing the mailing until the post card came."

She said she didn't even read all of the information on the sheet, but that she did correct the fact that Mrs. Rose did not vote for the Tax Increment Financing package given to a developer for a condominium project in Mt. Lebanon.

Ms. Stipanovich said she was not a member of the Save Mt. Lebanon Schools Committee and was not involved in any negative campaigning during the race for the school board.

The post cards, which went out just days before the general election, urged the ousting of incumbents Sue Rose, Carol Walton and Rene Garson. Mrs. Walton and Mrs. Garson lost their re-election bids. Mrs. Rose was re-elected.

The post cards also contained information on the candidates, including the fact that they voted for the $500,000 buyout of former Superintendent Margery Sable. They also said the incumbents were responsible for almost $15 million in cost overruns for the renovations of the elementary and junior high schools -- a claim the candidates said is inaccurate.

The cards also said that the incumbents were in favor of building a new $100 million high school and that they voted, with the exception of Mrs. Rose, in favor of tax increment financing for a Mt. Lebanon project. The candidates said they had not expressed an opinion on the high school project.

Mr. Matuszak said some of the material he put in the post cards came from newspaper articles he read about the Mt. Lebanon School District and from talking to people from Mt. Lebanon.

When Mr. Lynch was on the stand during Monday's hearing, he said he could not remember how or when it was decided by the committee to send out post cards and that he could not remember who came up with the information that was included on the cards.

Mr. Schmeltzer was at the hearing but was not called to testify, nor were any of the five residents who filed the petition.

Though much of the testimony was about who was involved with the effort, the impetus for the petition filing was the financial discrepancies and other mistakes made on the forms filed by the Save Mt. Lebanon Schools Committee.

The petition requested an audit of the committee, but Judge James chose to hold a hearing instead.

Mr. Cavrich said he was disappointed that the judge chose to dismiss the petition.

"He felt as though we had not established sufficient discrepancies in reporting to move the case forward. I feel as though the evidence clearly showed that the first two reports filed were clearly false," Mr. Cavrich said.

But Judge James said even though the numbers may have been wrong in the initial filings by the committees, Mr. Flaherty included the in-kind contribution in his first campaign report, which showed there was no effort to hide his involvement.

The judge characterized Mr. Schmeltzer and Mr. Lynch as two men who wanted to be involved in the political process at the grass roots level but likely didn't understand all of the rules regarding the financial reporting.