On January 24, 2008, the Pennsylvania Commonwealth re-did its January 24, 2007 order, in the matter of how much money Carl Romanelli is supposed to pay to the people who challenged his 2006 Green Party petition. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on November 20, 2007, had told the Commonwealth Court Judge to amend his order. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court wanted “an assessment of costs referenced by category and amount assessed as well as a statement of rationale behind the imposition of these costs.”

The amended Commonwealth Court order merely reiterates everything that was in the original order. Now it will go back to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to see if the amended order is good enough for the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

One of the ironies in this case is that the Commonwealth Court Judge, James R. Kelley, is being represented in an entirely different matter by the same attorney who is representing Carl Romanelli. In other words, the attorney for the judge is also the attorney for someone who has a case before that judge! It had been thought that Judge Kelley would recuse himself from this latest action, but he did not.