A judge kicked Lower Merion's school board president off the ballot after financial disclosure omissions

A Montgomery County judge on Monday ordered the president of the Lower Merion school board removed from the primary ballot, after a community member challenged her failure to answer financial disclosure questions.

In her nomination petition — required to be filed by candidates for elected office — Kerry Sautner did not respond to several mandatory questions, including whether she had received any gifts valued at more than $250, had any office, directorship, or employment in any business, or had financial interests in any legal entity in business for profit.

While she was given the chance to file an amended petition, it still had errors, said Christian Petrucci, a lawyer representing the community member who filed the challenge.

For instance, Sautner is the president and CEO of Eastern State Penitentiary, which leases property from Philadelphia. But she left a section blank about real estate interests involved with political subdivisions of the commonwealth, Petrucci said.

The point of the disclosure questions is “for the voter to ensure there’s no conflict of interest, or financial, pecuniary gain,” Petrucci said. He said the judge had given Sautner “every possible opportunity to spend time with the disclosure and fill it out properly.”

Sautner, who had been endorsed for reelection by the local Democratic Party, said lawyers for the party were reviewing the order from Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Carolyn Tornetta Carluccio and deciding “the next step.”

“I’m fully transparent, and I’m doing everything in good faith with the courts,” Sautner said.

In a motion for reconsideration filed Tuesday, Sautner’s lawyer, Robert Paul — the vice chair of the Democratic Committee of Lower Merion and Narberth — said the Philadelphia lease was “irrelevant,” as “no one claims she owns Eastern State and it is obvious she does not.”

He also said Sautner, who disclosed her personal debts, wasn’t required to disclose those of her spouse.

Four of the nine Lower Merion board seats are up for election this year; current board members were all elected as Democrats.

Petrucci, the secretary of the Republican Committee of Lower Merion and Narberth, said it was “coincidental” that he was a Republican.

The challenge to Sautner’s nomination petition was filed by Harshal Dear, a registered Democrat who said she is a district parent and had considered running for school board herself. But she was told by election officials that as a federal employee, she couldn’t seek partisan office — even though she had wanted to cross-file, appearing on both Democratic and Republican ballots.

Dear said she felt school boards across Pennsylvania had become “too political. They are trying to push a political agenda.” Asked what agenda she felt the Lower Merion school board had, Dear did not make any specific objections, but said she felt the board was not sufficiently “localized.”

Any voter may challenge a nominating petition, and challenges are heard by county judges before ballots are finalized. This year’s primary is May 20.

Dear, who also filed challenges against three other Democratic board candidates — including incumbent Anna Shurak — said that the “current national political election climate … has filtered down into local politics.” She said she wasn’t targeting particular candidates, but objected to the Democratic Party’s endorsement process, and said people shouldn’t “blindly vote along party lines.”

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While Dear withdrew two of her petitions, she lodged a similar objection to Shurak’s, citing incomplete financial disclosures.

“They’ve been on the board already. They’re not first timers who didn’t know how to fill out the form,” said Dear, who said she is an activist with a national organization focused on family court reform. “Why should we vote for you, if you’re attempting to hide very important information voters should know?”

Shurak was also given time to amend her petition; the judge has not yet ruled on that challenge, according to Petrucci, who said he is representing Dear pro bono.

Paul, who is also representing Shurak, declined to comment when reached by phone Monday. He did not respond to subsequent questions about their amended petitions.

Jeff Scott, the Democratic committee’s chair, said that “tenure on the board doesn’t change the complexity of the petition process, which often involves nuances.”

The Democratic committee endorsed four candidates, including Sautner and Shurak; there are five other Democratic candidates on the ballot. (Four of those other five are cross-filed as Republicans; none of the candidates endorsed by the Democratic Party are cross-filed.)

“We’re just assessing this,” Scott said, in response to a question about whether the party would endorse another candidate. “It’s premature to make any decisions about this at the moment.”