Former House speaker Bill DeWeese is showing again that it's all about serving his ego, not the public.
That seems to be the only explanation why the convicted former state representative is fighting his own party to remain on the ballot for another term even though he is ineligible to hold public office because of his conviction on corruption charges.
DeWeese, a Democrat who represented Greene County, resigned from the General Assembly on April 24, the day he was sentenced to 2 to five years in state prison for his conviction of five felonies, including using state workers and resources for political campaigns.
Because his conviction wasn't considered official until he was sentenced, DeWeese filed petitions for another House term on the Democratic primary ballot, where he was unopposed, and received enough votes to win a spot on the general election ballot.
But unless DeWeese's appeal is successful, he won't be able to serve, even if he wins re-election in November.
For that reason, state Democratic leaders are asking a Commonwealth Court judge to pull DeWeese's name from the ballot, which would allow them to provide a replacement candidate.
DeWeese's attorney told the judge if DeWeese's appeals fail and he wins election in November, the state could schedule a special election to fill his seat next year.
That would leave his district constituents without a state representative even longer, which isn't in their interests, and result in extra cost in holding a special election, hardly a favor to taxpayers.
DeWeese could have avoided all of this by resigning earlier from his House seat and stopping efforts to get re-elected. Of course, that would have required putting the public before himself - something he seems incapable of doing.
We could ask: Has he no shame - but his actions make the answer obviously apparent.
