Political candidates take note: It is important to read the instructions before filing your nominating papers.

On Tue., March 25, Common Pleas Court Judge Pamela Pryor Dembe ruled that First District Council candidate Vernon Anastasio’s nominating petitions be set aside because he incorrectly filled out the financial statement that accompanied his petitions. Therefore, Anastasio’s name cannot appear on the election ballot in the May Democratic primary election.

As reported in Political Notebook last week, Sarah DeRose, a registered Democratic voter in the First District, objected to Anastasio's financial interest statement because she claimed it was false. She filed in court on Tue., March 18, to remove him from the ballot.

Anastasio declared that he earned no income during 2002. He was, however, employed by both the city and state last year.

Anastasio said it was a mistake and he thought the income question on the financial statement pertained to that moment in time, which was on March 11, 2003, when he filed his paperwork. (March 11 was the deadline to file nominating petitions.)

Anastasio said he was unemployed on March 11. He had resigned his latest position as Chief of Staff to State Rep. Babette Josephs on Feb. 18 to run for the Council seat.

Anastasio accused his opponent, incumbent Councilman Frank DiCicco, of being behind the court filing.

On the same day as the DeRose filing, Anastasio filed an amended financial statement with the Department of Records and then tried to file that statement with City Commissioner Marge Tartaglione's office. The City Commissioner's office rejected the new statement. Anastasio filed a motion to require the Commissioner's office to accept his amendments.

Attorneys Ralph Teti and Sharon Suleta represented DeRose Tuesday in election court before Judge Dembe.

In opening remarks, Quinn asked the court for a continuance since he had only been retained the night before.

"Not a chance," said Dembe, citing that election matters need to be heard expeditiously.

Teti argued that Anastasio's financial statement was "not filed in accordance with the law" and therefore should be set aside.

He produced two witnesses, the first from the city's personnel office confirming that Anastasio had worked for the city -- in 1994 for City Council and then as a Human Relations Commission supervisor until 2002. The other witness was from the State House Democratic Caucus personnel department confirming that Anastasio was employed by State Rep. Babette Josephs from July 10, 2002, until Feb. 18, 2003.

Silverstein argued that Anastasio was not trying to hide the fact that he was employed last year and that Anastasio had corrected his financial form. He also argued that DeRose was not present at court and that the burden of proof was hers.

Dembe ruled against Silverstein, who then annoyed the judge by taking a call on his cell phone during the hearing.

Teti brought Anastasio to the stand and questioned him on his ability to fill out forms, such as the financial disclosure statement in question.

Teti later quoted the section of the Pennsylvania Ethics Act requiring a candidate for public office to file a statement of financial interest with his or her nominating petitions and that failure to do so is considered a "fatal defect" to the petitions.

"The case law is clear," said Teti. "The instructions are clear and filing a false affidavit is not an excuse."

Quinn argued that Anastasio made a harmless mistake and that his employment was public record. "The voters should choose," he said. He added that often election cases are liberally construed.

Dembe did not buy this argument and made her ruling that Anastasio's petitions be set aside.

Anastasio plans to appeal to the Commonwealth Court and has retained noted attorney George Bochetto.

"It's a dirty trick by DiCicco," said Anastasio. "I will take my case out of the political, sick and twisted system of City Hall."

He alleged Dembe was biased because, he claimed, she is aligned with State Sen. Vincent Fumo, an ally of DiCicco.

"I can understand that candidates can sometimes get emotional," said Dembe, when reached later that day. "I cannot comment on the case because it is under appeal. But I do know a lot about election law and this is an unusual case," she added.

"The judge's decision had nothing to do with Sen. Fumo," said Fumo's spokesperson, Gary Tuma. "Anastasio was thrown off the ballot because of a fraudulent financial statement."

"I am asking the Councilman to release his tax statements for the last five years," said Anastasio. "I am releasing mine; let the voters see. Where does he get his money and who does he answer to?"

"What happened today was that a judge upheld the election code," said DiCicco, who did not attend the hearing. "The election code lays out what a potential candidate must do to be placed on the ballot. The judge found that my erstwhile opponent did not follow rules and applied the law accordingly," he said.

"He can still do that because he has appellate rights," said Deputy City Commissioner and election-law attorney Edward V. Schulgen.