Withdraw now
In what is becoming a familiar refrain, Bill DeWeese tried to fight the law — and the law won.
Last week saw the latest setback for DeWeese, who was denied an attempt to have the state Supreme Court overturn a lower judge’s decision to send him to jail rather than free him on bond pending his appeal. The high court’s dismissal means it is all but certain that if DeWeese does run for re-election, he will do so from behind bars.
That’s because absent asking the U.S. Supreme Court to take the case, DeWeese, 62, will have his appeals play out while he serves his sentence of 2 陆 to 5 years for theft and conflict of interest. If DeWeese and his lawyers decide to go all the way to the top, doing so would be an unlikely way to change his luck, since the U.S. Supreme Court receives about 10,000 cases a year and only hears between 75 and 80 of them.
So, with this latest legal setback, the question remains: Are we going to see this loquacious former lawmaker from Waynesburg, who served as a state representative for 35 years, continue this increasingly futile quest to retain his post?
DeWeese, who was convicted earlier this year of using state employees to do campaign work while they were supposed to be performing official legislative duties, has until Aug. 13 to remove himself from the ballot. Only he can do so. If he chooses this stubborn streak, there’s nothing the voters of the 50th District, county leaders or the state Democratic party can do about it.
That DeWeese has not already removed himself from the ballot — which would allow Democratic Party officials to replace him — proves he is not interested in anyone other than himself.
You see, the only thing DeWeese can hold on to is the slim, slim, slim chance that his conviction might be overturned in time for him to take office. And while it is technically possible his appeal may be heard and his sentence overturned in time, we’d think you’d have better odds of seeing Jimmy Carter win the White House in 2012.
In the much more likely event that his appeal is not heard in time, and if he manages to win re-election despite being housed in SCI-Camp Hill the entire campaign — something we won’t put past him, or the voters of the 50th — he will be legally barred from taking office.
That would necessitate a special election, most likely to coincide with the May primary, which would mean the 50th would be without representation for an entire year.
And let’s not even begin to imagine the embarrassment we’d suffer as the district that voted in a convict we knew couldn’t serve. If you think people make jokes about the people in our neck of the woods now, wait till the national media get wind of this sad saga. The joke writers will have a field day at our expense.
Put more simply: If DeWeese continues this quixotic quest for re-election and wins, the 50th District, which he has so long claimed to put first, will suffer.
If he continues to stay on the November ballot and loses — after all, even DeWeese would have a hard time spinning this scenario — then he is damaging the Democratic Party, which he claims to have loved for the three decades-plus he was in office.
Even the most ardent Democrat may think twice, though, before pulling the lever for a convicted criminal, even if it’s one they’ve voted for for much of their lives. Which would mean, after holding the seat for more than three decades, DeWeese may be delivering it to the GOP on a silver platter.
Of course there is a third option: DeWeese could do the right thing — for the voters of the 50th, for the Democratic Party, for himself — and simply remove himself from the ballot. Despite what he may want to wish, his conviction isn’t going to be appealed in time for him to keep his seat. This craziness needs to end.
There’s still some time for DeWeese to realize he’s chasing windmills. He can make the right decision and step aside and allow the voters a real election in November.
He can — for the first time since this whole scandal erupted — put his own interests behind those whom he represents.
If he doesn’t, it will be the final nail in the coffin of his once-impressive legacy.