The attorney of former Erie County Councilman Ebert Beeman on Friday filed an appeal to have his client's cased be reviewed by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
This comes after Jeffrey Del Fuoco just last week seeking removal as Beeman's counsel due to relationship with Beeman's replacement, Edward DiMattio. The court's found no issue with that, and now Del Fuoco is moving on with this appeal.
This all started in November when a Judge Ernest DiSantis ruled Beeman to be removed from council. Del Fuoco says under Pennsylvania Constitution, only the governor and senate can exclusively remove any elected official. So he has now filed the appeal to a December 6, 2012 motion to dismiss this case.
Del Fuoco tells us that with all do respect to Judge DiSantis and Mr. DiMattio, this decision was made in the wrong forum, and he believes that Beeman's replacement has no legal authority to occupy the seat on council.
"The issue is whether or not he is even a council member," said Del Fuoco. "Bottom line, according to the constitution he's not, its still Beeman. And that would suggest to me that if Mr. DiMattio partakes pf any county business, votes on issue, whatever, it could have legal ramifications down the road."
Del Fuoco said that back in 2003, there was similar case here in Erie County that a judge threw out because of Article VI Section 7 in the state constitution, saying only the governor and senate can exclusively remove an elected official. So he says this case does have precedent in the courts right here in Erie.
The District Attorney now has 14 days to respond to this appeal.
All content © Copyright 2000 - 2013 WorldNow and WICU. All Rights Reserved.
