The month since Lackawanna County Commissioner Matt McGloin left office has been consequential, marked by battles both political and legal over how to fill the Democrat’s vacant seat and who should fill it for the better part of the next three years.
It’s been a month rich with acrimony and accusations — a month that’s featured a frustrated commissioner’s press conference, a closed-door county Democratic Committee meeting, a controversial replacement process, a court order that reset that process and another court order that paused it pending an ongoing legal challenge that itself is a source of controversy.
Here’s what’s happened so far:
Feb. 19: McGloin leaves a commissioners meeting early amid rampant rumors that he plans to resign, dodging questions by eluding pursuing reporters.
Feb. 21: McGloin submits a letter of resignation to county Chief of Staff Brian Jeffers noting he’ll resign effective Feb. 24. The pending resignation triggers a replacement process under the county’s Home Rule Charter that gives the Lackawanna County Democratic Party’s executive committee five days from the date of the vacancy to provide a list of three potential appointees for consideration by the judges of the county Court of Common Pleas, who can appoint McGloin’s successor from that short list. That process will later be challenged in court.
Feb. 24: Democratic Commissioner Bill Gaughan holds a press conference at the county government center in downtown Scranton to introduce Dunmore Mayor Mark “Max” Conway Jr. as his preferred choice to succeed McGloin, calling on county Democratic Party Chairman Chris Patrick, Democratic state Sen. Marty Flynn and the party’s executive committee to honor his selection. Gaughan also accuses Patrick of refusing to provide the names of 10 members Patrick appointed to the 31-member executive committee. Patrick denies refusing to disclose the names, which he provides later that day, but acknowledges telling Gaughan he was considering withholding them to prevent Gaughan from pressuring or harassing those committee members. Patrick also issues a statement accusing Gaughan of attempting to strong-arm him, control the process and influence the county judges, with Gaughan calling the latter charge “outrageous” and a “bold-faced lie.” It’s the first public volley in a battle between Gaughan and Patrick over the appointment process. That afternoon, ESPN’s Pete Thamel reports that McGloin, a former Penn State and NFL quarterback, is returning to college football as an offensive analyst at Boston College.
Dunmore Mayor Max Conway speaks during a press conference in the Commissioners Conference Room at the Government Center in Scranton Monday, Feb. 24, 2025. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Feb. 26: ESPN reports that McGloin resigned at Boston College for family reasons and McGloin issues a statement confirming that reporting. The Boston College resignation prompts questions of whether McGloin might try to reclaim his commissioner seat, though McGloin gives no indication he plans to return to county government.
Feb. 27: The county Democratic Party’s executive committee holds a closed-door meeting to vote on which three candidates from a pool of 18 applicants should be advanced to the judges for potential appointment. Party leaders who used a scoring rubric to shrink the pool of candidates from 18 to three put the three highest-scoring candidates before the executive committee for a vote. The committee votes to advance those three — former county economic development Director Brenda Sacco, Olyphant Borough Council President James Baldan and Scranton School Director Robert J. Casey — for consideration by the county judges.
Feb. 28: Patrick provides the three names to the county court as Gaughan blasts the party’s process for lacking transparency. Patrick does not disclose the names of all 18 applicants or details on the scoring rubric party leaders used. County solicitor Donald Frederickson tells the newspaper that McGloin is still a commissioner and there’s no vacancy to fill until Gaughan and Republican Commissioner Chris Chermak accept his resignation at a formal meeting, reiterating a legal opinion he expressed in writing to the county court the day prior. Court Administrator Frank Castellano confirms the court will take no action on replacing McGloin until his fellow commissioners accept his resignation at such a meeting. Frederickson’s Feb. 27 memo also advises the court of a conflict between the Home Rule Charter and a procedure adopted by the state Supreme Court in 2019, four years after the last commissioner vacancy occurred in Lackawanna County. That procedure, set forth in Rule 1908 of the Pennsylvania Rules of Judicial Administration, involves the county court alone, not the county Democratic Committee, Frederickson said. It’s the first public reference to Rule 1908 in the context of the McGloin vacancy.
March 4: McGloin explains why he left the Boston College job in an interview with Times-Tribune columnist Chris Kelly, his first interview since stepping down as commissioner. He confirms he won’t try to return to his commissioner post.
March 5: Commissioners Gaughan and Chermak accept McGloin’s resignation at the first commissioners meeting since he resigned. Gaughan again objects to the process employed to name McGloin’s successor, which “threatens to turn the county over to a small group of politicos” and deprives the court “of its statutory duty and authority to oversee the application and selection process and to conduct the process openly and transparently,” he says. Gaughan notes the “tainted” process “invites further challenges.” Chermak says the county must “move past this moment and refocus on the real work ahead.” Castellano, the court administrator, says the court will issue an order the next day setting forth its directives regarding the replacement process.
Lackawanna County Commissioner Bill Gaughan speaks during the public meeting held in the commissioners’ board room in The Government Center Wednesday, March 5, 2025. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
March 6: A court order signed by President Judge Trish Corbett maintains but resets the clock on the Home Rule Charter process, giving the county Democratic Committee five days from the date of the order to provide the names of three potential appointees for the court’s consideration. The order notes the court will conduct interviews with the three candidates in accordance with Pennsylvania Rule of Judicial Administration 1908, the rule Frederickson referenced in his Feb. 27 memo.
March 7: Patrick resubmits to the court the same three candidates the county Democratic Party’s executive committee originally voted to advance: Sacco, Baldan and Casey. Gaughan later criticizes the move as a missed opportunity to conduct a more open and transparent process.
March 17: Corbett resigns as county president judge and is replaced in that role by Judge James Gibbons. Her resignation precedes her planned retirement at the end of the month and is unrelated to the drama over replacing McGloin. Shortly after Gibbons takes the oath of office as president judge, Frederickson and attorneys with the Scranton law firm Myers, Brier & Kelly file a petition on behalf of Gaughan and the county asking the county court to amend the March 6 order on the replacement process. By maintaining the Home Rule Charter’s replacement process involving the county Democratic Committee, the March 6 court order violates Pennsylvania Rule of Judicial Administration 1908, Gaughan contends. When filling a vacancy on a board of commissioners, Rule 1908 states that the county court “shall receive applications from any interested candidates for the position” pursuant to a deadline established by the court. It does not task any political party with playing a role in that process. Gaughan’s petition asks the court to declare that Rule 1908 governs the process of filling a vacancy on the board of commissioners, declare that any interested and eligible Democratic candidates may submit an application to the court and establish a deadline for the receipt of those applications.
March 18: Chermak tells the newspaper the county shouldn’t be involved in and taxpayers shouldn’t fund Gaughan’s legal action. “This is not a county issue,” he says. “This is a Bill Gaughan issue, so I’m not authorizing it and I didn’t authorize this from the start.” Frederickson and Gaughan defend the petition and the county’s involvement. Frederickson contends section 13302 of the Pennsylvania County Code gives a county solicitor the right to commence litigation in matters involving the county’s interest. The appointment process and the question of what should determine it, the Home Rule Charter or Rule 1908, constitutes such a matter, he said. Regarding Myers, Brier & Kelly, Frederickson says the firm’s participation in the legal action is covered by a contract commissioners approved last year.
Commissioner Chris Chermak listens to public comments during the Lackawanna County commissioners meeting at the Lackawanna County Government Center in Scranton on Wednesday, March 19, 2025. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
March 19: President Judge Gibbons pauses the process of replacing McGloin, staying the March 6 court order Gaughan and the county challenged in court. Gibbons’ rule to show cause gives the county Democratic Committee until April 7 to answer as to why the relief sought by Gaughan and the county shouldn’t be granted. Commissioners hold their regularly scheduled meeting shortly after Gibbons issues his order. The meeting features discussion between Frederickson and minority solicitor Paul LaBelle, who disagree as to whether Chermak’s authorization was necessary for Frederickson to commence legal action on behalf of Gaughan and the county. The court postpones planned interviews with Sacco, Baldan and Casey.
March 20: The newspaper reports for the first time details of the scoring rubric county Democratic Party leaders used in the now-paused process that advanced Sacco, Baldan and Casey to the judges. The rubric included points for government, professional and economic development experience, experience developing or helping to develop budgets, educational background and experience working for or with the county Democratic Committee. Patrick provided those details earlier in the week but again declined to release the names of all 18 applicants.
March 21: Gibbons issues an order noting a panel of three senior county judges will handle proceedings in the legal action brought by Gaughan and the county. The panel includes Senior Judges Carmen D. Minora, Robert A. Mazzoni and Vito P. Geroulo.
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