Montco D.A. sues over new ethics rules

Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman has become the second elected official to sue county commissioners over the restrictions in a month-old ethics policy.

Her suit, filed yesterday, contends that commissioners overstepped their authority by extending a ban on politics to 45 employees in her office, including every prosecutor except Ferman. The policy, she said, hit her office disproportionately.

"The ordinance does not affect any other county row office, including the county solicitor's office or public defender's office, in such a significant and encompassing manner," Ferman said in a statement.

Commissioners passed the policy April 2, barring 126 county employees in influential jobs from running for office, managing campaigns, or performing political fund-raising. Commissioners James R. Matthews, a Republican, and Joseph M. Hoeffel III, a Democrat, said the intent was to keep the appearance of political impropriety from tainting county decisions.

Just two weeks later, Sheriff John Durante sued to have the policy tossed out, contending that commissioners have no legal right to set rules for his employees - or those in any other row office. No court date has been set for that case.

Ferman's suit also argues that commissioners made a rule beyond their powers, and adds that the policy fails to meet Pennsylvania Supreme Court-set requirements for rules that restrict "fundamental rights" such as political activity.

Ferman and Durante are Republicans, as are a handful of current and former political candidates working for Ferman as prosecutors, but Hoeffel said he did not believe either lawsuit had partisan motivations.

"I think it is a refusal to change the old patronage ways of the county," he said. "It's a new day in Montgomery County. The government is bipartisan, and the row officers are held more than half by the Democrats. I think the old guard cannot adjust to change, but change has arrived."

The third commissioner, Republican Bruce L. Castor Jr., voted against the policy and predicted Ferman and Durante would win their challenges.

"It's a battle the county should not have been fighting in the first place," Castor said. "It's a power grab."