By Joseph A. Gambardello
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
State Sen. Vincent Fumo's name will not appear on the April 22 primary election ballot, a possibility that existed until he obtained a court order this morning.
City election officials had planned to start printing the ballots this morning but delayed when they received word that Fumo's lawyers would go to Commonwealth Court to petition to have his taken off the ballot.
"His name won't appear in the data base, it won't appear anywhere," said Bob Lee, voting registration administrator at the City Commissioners Office.
Fumo had missed an administrative deadline of 5 p.m. yesterday to obtain the court order.
If Fumo had delayed any further in obtaining the order, election officials would have had to put a sticker on his name on the ballot after he did. But even then it would have been possible to vote for him.
Fumo, who has represented the First District for 30 years, announced March 12 he would not run for re-election because of the stress associated with his upcoming trial on a 139-count federal indictment charging that he abused his position and his staff to support a lavish lifestyle.
Three other candidates for the Democratic nomination - Larry Farnese, John Dougherty and Anne Dicker - will now appear on the ballot in that order.
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