Amidst a months-long legal battle in Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court, Lackawanna County will hold its special election on Nov. 4 to fill the empty seat of former county commissioner Matt McGloin.
Known most notably for his Penn State Football career, McGloin was elected in 2024 to the board of commissioners, but resigned in February of this year to take a job with Boston College, a position he also later left.
After his resignation, one of the county’s other two full-time commissioners, Bill Gaughan (D), led the charge for a special election to take place–one of 11 total special elections to fill various roles in the county.
After the special election was upheld in the courts in August, Gaughan and Judge Terrence Nealon voted in favor of holding it. County commissioner Chris Chernak, the third member of the board of elections abstained from the vote.
However, Chermak (R) abstained from the vote in August. On Oct. 22, county judge James Gibbons swore Sacco into the interim commissioner position.
Sacco, a former administrative officer with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania resigned from her position with the state to take the county job, a less than two week term.
But now, with the special election less than a week away, Sacco’s position, although meant to be short, has been met with disdain from Lackawanna County residents.
Just two days after being sworn in on Oct. 24, Sacco and Chernak made an announcement for a reorganization meeting, a formality that usually only occurs after a new commissioner is elected.
Now four days after Sacco’s swearing in, on Oct. 26 in front of a packed crowd, the board of commissioners met for the first time with three members, the first time since McGloin’s resignation earlier this year.
Sacco and Chermak brought forth a motion to oust Gaughan from his position as the head of the board, which was met by boos by the crowd in attendance.
Sacco then named herself the head of the board, with Chermak naming himself vice-chair. In a span of about a week, Sacco went from being an administrator with the state, to now the head of the board of commissioners of one of Pennsylvania’s most populous counties.
At the meeting, Gaughan said to Sacco, “Are you going to recognize the results of the special election for commissioner and vacate your seat once a commissioner has been elected, regardless of who it is?”
Sacco replied, “No comment at this time.”
This comment by Sacco was met with another rain of boos across the crowd in Monday’s meeting.
After the demotion of Gaughan to minority leader of the board, Sacco took to social media.
“As a woman with a wide breadth of professional experience, I am used to dealing with big, fragile male egos like Bill [Gaughan] and I truly feel sorry for him and everyone that has to deal with him,” she said.
“His baseless litigation against our own party cost taxpayers untold sums of money and wasted precious months that could have been better spent refining our budget and fixing the rushed reassessment.”
The litigation in question is the months-long legal battle to have a special election held in the first place.
In the special election, three Lackawanna County locals, Thom Welby (D), Chet Merli (R), Michael Cappellini (I) are running for the seat now filled for the time being by Sacco.
During Sacco’s term as well, she named on Oct. 24 her personal attorney, Paul J. Walker, as the new county’s solicitor.
According to an Oct. 27 press release by Lackawanna County, “Walker will also serve as the solicitor for the county pension and salary boards.
“The solicitor is the chief legal officer of the county government, responsible for providing legal advice to the board of commissioners, drafting ordinances and resolutions, and advising department heads on legal matters.”
The easy part for Lackawanna County is the special election on Nov. 4. But after that, it’s unclear at this time if Sacco will vacate her interim position. As for now, residents of the county have more questions than answers.
Attempts to reach Sacco, Chermak or Welby were unsuccessful by the time of publication.
