Alan Kennedy-Shaffer, left, with former Harrisburg receiver David Unkovic at a Harrisburg Hope forum at the Midtown Scholar Bookstore in 2011.
Harrisburg City Council candidate Alan Kennedy-Shaffer faces two challenges to his bid for office that, if successful, would strike him from the ballot in the May Democratic party primary.
The challengers filed their complaints with the Dauphin County court this week, alleging that Kennedy-Shaffer, a notary public, improperly certified his nominating petitions with his own notarial seal.
The challengers are David L. Smith, of the 2600-block of Lexington Street, and Jan Prosseda, of the 2800-block of N. 2nd Street, both registered Democrats, according to court filings.
Candidate nominating petitions contain a section in which the person circulating the petition must attest to its legitimacy in the presence of a notary.
In their complaints, Smith and Prosseda claim that Kennedy-Shaffer acted as the notary on the affidavits for 11 of the 12 petitions he filed to get on the ballot.
Doing so, they allege, was a violation of state law, which states that a notary public cannot act in an official capacity on transactions in which he or she is “directly or pecuniarily interested.”
The challenged petitions contain a total of 243 signatures. A twelfth petition, which was stamped by a notary other than Kennedy-Shaffer, contains an additional six signatures. A candidate needs 100 signatures to get on the ballot.
Destini Hodges, a running mate of Kennedy-Shaffer’s, circulated some of the challenged petitions, as did Stanley Gruen, who recently applied unsuccessfully with Kennedy-Shaffer for a zoning variance to open a distillery in Midtown.
In a separate section of the petitions, called a “candidate’s affidavit,” Kennedy-Shaffer did obtain the seal of an independent notary.
A hearing on the petition challenges has been scheduled for Friday, March 27 before Judge Scott A. Evans.
Reached late Friday, Kennedy-Shaffer said he had not yet received copies of the challenges, but that he was aware of them and “optimistic Judge Evans will let the voters decide who will best represent them on City Council.”
Kennedy-Shaffer, an attorney and a former employee at the state Liquor Control Board, is one of 12 Democratic candidates running for City Council in this year’s primary.
He is the founder of Harrisburg Hope, a grassroots political organization that has hosted candidates’ nights, debates and other public events since early 2011. In 2014, he failed in a bid for chairman of the Dauphin County Democratic Committee.
The primary election is scheduled for May 19.
