7 day forecast
Tea-party candidate withdraws from governor race
Share with others:
John Krupa, whose claim to be the tea party candidate for governor was questioned by other leaders of the movement, withdrew from the race today midway through a review of his petition signatures.
Lawyers who spent the weekend sifting through Mr. Krupa's petitions agreed even before review was half complete that more than 5,000 signatures were invalid, said Lawrence Tabas, a Philadelphia attorney representing four people who challenged Krupa's candidacy.
Mr. Krupa needed 19,082 voters' signatures and had turned in about 24,000.
"He didn't have the requisite number," his lawyer, David Montgomery of Pittsburgh, acknowledged.
Mr. Montgomery filed the withdrawal papers Monday just before the state Commonwealth Court in Philadelphia was scheduled to review the case in the first hearing on challenges to more than a half-dozen third-party candidates.
Krupa, a tavern-owner from Lock Haven and a former Republican, was nominated for governor by the Constitution Party in March, but he said that party joined forces with a tea-party group so he used that label. The tea-party movement is a collection of conservative grass roots groups, but Pennsylvania does not recognize any of them as a political party.
Among the individuals who challenged Mr. Krupa's candidacy was Diane Reimer, the state coordinator of the Tea Party Patriots, who said she did not know Mr. Krupa and called him an impostor.
First Published August 16, 2010 12:09 pm
