Federal lawsuit alleges East Union threatened charges against candidate’s wife for audiotape

SHEPPTON – A federal lawsuit filed earlier this month alleges East Union Township officials threatened to file wiretapping charges for an audiotape recording of public officials in a public place by a supervisors candidate’s wife.

Stefan Gerneth and Amy Austra-Gerneth filed the lawsuit May 8 against East Union Township and Donald G. Karpowich, the township’s solicitor, in federal court alleging first amendment violations.

According to the complaint, the incident in question happened at the May 5 regular meeting of the East Union Township board of supervisors.

Gerneth, Austra-Gerneth, and an attorney representing New Leaf Energy were present at the meeting, the latter to obtain signatures on the final development plan for a solar farm on the Austra property in Phinneyville, previously approved by the board.

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The complaint alleges the signatures were delayed “purposefully… in order to create a campaign issue in the forthcoming Municipal Primary.”

Supervisors approved the plan at the February meeting and at the March meeting, when signatures were requested, Karpowich, instead began to cross-examine Brandt and another company representative on the recent sale, according to prior Sentinel reporting.

Gerneth and Austra-Gerneth regularly attend the meetings and record them with an audio recorder, according to the complaint, and were doing so on May 5.

Gerneth had to leave and Austra-Gerneth remained with the New Leaf attorney, waiting for at least ten minutes after the meeting for plans to be signed.

Karpowich, the complaint says, saw Austra-Gerneth holding the recorder and that it was still open and “asserted that she was violating the Wiretapping and Electronic Surveillance Control Act” and directed her to turn off the audio recorder.

She did, and Karpowich then asked township Supervisors Chairman Kyle Mummey, whom Gerneth was running against in the primary, if he wanted to press charges. He did, and East Union Township Police were directed “to use a WESCA violation as a pretext to commence a criminal action by complaint against Austra-Gerneth for exercising her First Amendment rights and in order to chill future efforts to record public officials in public spaces of the Township.”

Police obtained a search warrant for the audio recorder and it was served May 6.

The public meeting room at the township building, the complaint asserts, has no legitimate expectation of privacy when it is open to the public and not used as a polling place.

In a filing, Karpowich asserts that Gerneth and Austra-Gerneth only had the right to tape the meeting itself and nothing before and after.

He believes that, for the question “Does The First Amendment Guarantee An Individual The Right To Record Individuals Present Before A Public Meeting Begins And After It Concludes,” the court should rule “No.”

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