Challenged Fawn supervisor accepts defeat as newcomers corner election ballot

A longtime Fawn supervisor says he accepts defeat, while a newcomer says she isn’t taking for granted that she’ll become a supervisor despite her and another newcomer cornering the ballot.

Paula Legge and Dan Selfridge Jr. defeated incumbent supervisor David Montanari in the race for two seats in Republican primary. Selfridge was first with 123 votes, while Legge was second with 118, only 15 votes ahead of Montanari, according official Allegheny County election results.

The Democratic race was decided by write-ins after Supervisor David Norris withdrew following a challenge to his nominating petition and residency. He dropped out before the challenge was heard.

The race was even closer on the Democratic ballot, on which Legge was first with 42 votes and Selfridge was second with 37, two votes ahead of Norris. Montanari received 20 Democratic write-in votes.

In November, Selfridge and Legge will appear on the ballot once, with Democratic/Republican under their names, a county spokeswoman said.

Montanari, who was seeking a fifth term, could not be reached for comment.

Although he withdrew from the primary, Norris said he did try to mount a write-in campaign to retain his supervisor seat.

“I thought I had a lot of people working for me; apparently not enough,” he said.

Norris said he chose to withdraw from the primary because he did not know the person who circulated his nominating petition was not a registered Democratic voter, which is required. He said he had proof that he did personally appear before the notary who notarized his petition and other documents, which also had been challenged.

On the question of residence, Norris said he spends half the year in Fawn and the other half at a winter home in Florida.

“People don’t understand the whole situation,” he said.

Norris said he was shocked Montanari was defeated.

“People don’t realize how much work Mr. Montanari did do,” he said.

Instead of staying in Fawn for the November election, Norris said he’ll go to Florida early.

“I was in there for the good of the township, and I didn’t have any agendas,” Norris said. “I think we were doing a pretty good job running the township. The citizens are going to find out what they lost.”

Selfridge, chief of Fawn Volunteer Fire Department No. 1 and a painting contractor, could not be reached. He previously said he teamed up to run for office with Legge to bring new leadership to the township, where he said residents told them they want change.

Despite winning both nominations, Legge said she isn’t taking for granted she’ll be elected in November and will still campaign.

“We’re thrilled,” she said. “I guess you can say the people have spoken.”