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Mark Rabo aims to knowingly defy Luzerne County’s home rule charter, which is an odd and potentially counter-productive way to campaign for office.
The Hazleton contractor, 38, wants to serve on county council. He’s a Republican candidate this year for one of six open seats on the 11-person legislative body.
Here’s the trouble: Rabo already serves as a member of the county’s Redevelopment Authority, an unpaid post to which he was appointed in July. And, the relatively new document that spells out the rules for county government, called the home rule charter, bars an authority member from serving on council until one year after leaving the authority.
Rabo, who has yet to resign from the Redevelopment Authority, contends the rule unfairly prohibits citizens from participating in their democracy, and he’s running anyway.
Our Opinion Board, which hasn’t yet met with Rabo or other of this season’s council contenders, can’t speak to whether he might make a great council member or a mediocre one. His qualifications and ideas, or lack thereof, presumably will become apparent as Election Day nears. Any resident who routinely attends council meetings, as Rabo reportedly does, and who tosses his or her hat in the ring for elective office earns our respect; more Luzerne County residents should be willing to serve.
That said, Rabo’s current run seems an unnecessary distraction.
He apparently believes his civil rights are being trampled. As a reminder, however, even the Constitution puts certain prohibitions on office-seekers. For example, “No person shall be a representative who shall not have attained to the age of 25 years, and been seven years a citizen of the United States …”
Rabo also pooh-poohs the notion his candidacy poses a conflict. The charter’s drafters likely would disagree, noting that the stipulation was carefully thought out and inserted in the document to discourage potential chicanery and outright corruption.
For example, an unethical authority member could pressure people who do business with that authority to support his or her candidacy in exchange for certain favors to be granted post-election victory. A variant of “pay-to-play” schemes, this conduct undercuts good government.
The majority of Luzerne County voters ultimately might decide this charter restriction on authority members is unneeded, or maybe they believe it’s previously been flouted, so why follow it.
However, our county’s already fractious government probably would be better served today if Rabo abided by the rules as written, reserving his council candidacy for a future election year. He and others who perceive flaws with the document should first aim to change the home rule charter, not thumb their noses at it.