Charles A. Pascal, Jr.
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Charles A. Pascal, Jr., (Chuck Pascal) of Leechburg, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, was born December 24, 1963. An attorney, Pascal graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a Bachelor of Arts degree, and cum laude from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law with a Juris Doctor degree.
A progressive Democrat, Pascal served on the Leechburg Area School Board from 1987 to 2003. In that position, he was outspoken on several issues of statewide concern, including tax reform, equitable funding of public education, curriculum reform, reducing commercialism in schools, banning soft drinks in schools, and a number of other progressive issues. In 1990, he led an effort to shut down district schools for a day in protest of the lack of adequate state funding for education in then-Gov. Robert P. Casey's state budget. In 1995, he was elected as a vice president of the Pennsylvania School Boards Association.
He won a hard-fought Democratic primary election for Armstrong County commissioner in 1999, coming in second in a five-candidate race. However, he fell 285 votes short in the fall, losing to the three incumbent commissioners.
Pascal was elected to the Pennsylvania Democratic State Committee in 2002, and has not hesitated to take on party leaders on party affairs. In 2005, he sponsored a resolution at the State Committee which denounced the recently passed Pennsylvania legislative pay raise, which put him at odds with party legislative leaders who supported it, including Democratic State Chair Rep. T.J. Rooney.
Pascal currently is the Mayor of Leechburg, a position to which he was elected in 2005.
Pascal and two other individuals sued former Lieutenant Governor Robert Jubelirer in 2002 after Jubelirer ascended to the position when Mark Schweiker became governor. Jubelirer was serving simultaneously as Lieutenant Governor and a State Senator, and the suit sought to remove Jubelirer from one of the positions, citing separation of powers issues.
As an attorney, Pascal practices criminal defense and civil law. He made statewide news when he found a loophole in state law which called into question the validity of every parking ticket written in Pennsylvania. As a result, cities in Pennsylvania scurried to have their parking meters certified for accuracy, as was required by law.
Pascal was also the attorney in a case which received statewide attention (Kuznik v. Westmoreland County) in which he represented several citizens and State Senator Jim Ferlo challenging the purchase of electronic voting machines by counties without voter referendum as was required by the Pennsylvania Constitution.
Pascal also made news in Armstrong County when his former opponents in the county commissioners' race voted to raise their own pensions by 50% in 2003 as they were leaving office. Pascal filed suit on behalf of more than 50 plaintiffs challenging the action. As a result, the action of the commissioners was voided, saving Armstrong County taxpayers over $500,000.
As a Democratic Party leader, Pascal has criticized the positions of elected Democrats on many issues on which he feels those Democrats are not upholding Democratic "core values." He has been particularly critical of Democratic support for making it easier to turn off people's utilities in Pennsylvania, and making it possible to turn them off in the winter. In addition, he has criticized Democratic support for banning municipalities from creating their own WiFi networks and other telecommunications services.
Pascal is an assistant public defender in Armstrong County and also has a private practice of law. He has been the host of "Talk of the Town," on Family Life TV, a local cable television station in Kittanning.
He recently announced his candidacy for Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Armstrong County.
