Bid to oust Radnor board president fails in party-line vote
RADNOR » A motion by Commissioner Richard Booker on Monday to replace the president of the Radnor Township Board of Commissioners whose house was raided by county detectives and who had not come to the two meetings since failed 3-3 in a party line vote.
Just two days later, Commissioner Phil Ahr was charged with multiple counts of possessing child pornography.
But on Monday, Commissioner Don Curley said replacing Ahr, a Democrat, would allow the board to take care of township business but was not a punishment.
“It’s essential that we have a president and have a president as soon as possible,” said a Republican.
The three Democratic commissioners — John Nagle, James Higgins and Elaine Schaefer, the board’s vice president — disagreed.
Higgins said that under the law, Ahr has the “presumption of innocence” and had not been charged with anything.
“All we know is the county detectives under the aegis of the county District Attorney served a search warrant on his property,” said Higgins.
Ahr might not even be Curley, the one who is being investigated, Higgins said.
Schaefer said that it was “very upsetting” to learn that “one of our members is under investigation for a crime. However, it is important that we as a board and a community do not succumb to speculating and sensationalizing it. It’s unsettling that we don’t have a lot of facts. We need to make our decisions based on facts not on speculation, not on rumor. This investigation is under a sealed warrant and the county has chosen not to share information about that warrant. Not a single charge has been filed. We don’t know whether charges will be filed… I think it is inappropriate and unwise for us to act on that type of speculation … We will learn new facts in the next few weeks … It’s (premature) to remove him as president without new facts.”
During public comment, resident Dan Sherry Jr. called Higgins’ remarks “incredibly misleading” and noted that the township had issued a public statement saying that Ahr was under criminal investigation.
“Nothing in Mr. Booker’s motion says Commissioner Ahr is guilty of any crime ... It’s that Commissioner Ahr is being active being actively, criminally investigated and more importantly, Miss Schaefer, Mr. Ahr has not been here the last two weeks.”
And after William Spingler, a former Democratic commissioner, was convicted of two counts of indecent assault for fondling a 103-year-old year old mentally disabled woman in a nursing home, both Schaefer and Higgins opposed a motion at a June meeting to rescind any awards the township had given Spingler, Sherry said.
Leslie Morgan, another resident, asked whether Ahr is taking part in township business “behind the scenes.” She asked that the board assure her that there would be a special vote to remove Ahr if he were to be charged tomorrow. Radnor had gotten bad publicity from the Spingler incident that was even mentioned in British tabloids, she said.
Another resident, Christina Perrone, said that under the township charter the board cannot ask Ahr to step down unless he’s convicted.
“You can’t force him out,” said Perrone. “You have no right to do it.”
“It’s essential that we have a president and have a president as soon as possible.” — Board member and Republican Don Curley