The Philadelphia Inquirer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Page B08

THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER Tuesday, February 26, 2008 Pa. Democrats want Nader to settle old legal debts NADER from Bl Smith, representing a group of Democratic voters, filed suit, alleging that many of the required petition signatures Nader had submitted in Pennsylvania were fraudulent. Commonwealth Court agreed and, in a decision upheld by the state Supreme Court, found that only 37 percent of the 51,273 signatures were valid. Commonwealth Court Judge James Gardner Colins, elected as a Democrat, called the petition "the most deceitful and fraudulent exercise ever perpetrated on this court." In January 2005, Common wealth Court ordered Nader and his running mate, Peter Camejo, to pay the Reed Smith firm $81,102 in costs for copying and expert witnesses. Camejo settled with the firm for $20,000.

The firm last summer placed a freeze on Nader's personal bank accounts in Washington, where Nader lives, seeking to obtain the remaining $61,000 in court costs. Reed Smith says it wants to recover what's owed by the losing party: the costs for transcripts and fees for experts in handwriting analysis. Nader maintains that the imposition of court fees in a case such as his are akin to a "poll tax" and constitute a civil rights violation. "Candidates' rights are a lot like voters' rights 50 years ago," Nader said. Nader alleges that his case represented the first time in U.S.

history that a court assessed a post-election penalty against a candidate defending his right to be on the ballot. Pennsylvania Democratic Party officials say Nader is trying to apply his own standard to the law. "The bottom line is he fraudulently tried to obtain access to the Pennsylvania ballot," said Democratic Party chairman T.J. Rooney. "He should satisfy his outstanding obligations before trying to do it again." Gregory Harvey, a lawyer with Montgomery, McCrack-en, Walker Rhoads, which also represented the plaintiffs, said candidates should not be exempt from paying court costs if they lose.

"It has been the rule that the losing side in such a case pay the costs of transcribing," he said. Harvey said that because the Nader campaign had presented so many invalid signa tures, it cost $25,000 for handwriting analysis fees. Rooney said the party was not trying to keep third-party or independent candidates off the ballot. "This is not an attempt to squash third-party candidates, but to hold Ralph Nader accountable," Rooney said. It will be easier for Nader to get on the ballot this year, however.

Under state law, the minimum number of signatures required is based on a percentage of the number of ballots cast in the last statewide election. Because 2007 was an off year, and turnout was low, Nader has to come up with only half as many signatures as in 2004. This time, according to a spokesman for the Department of State, that figure is 2 percent of the votes cast in the Supreme Court election held last November, or 24,666 signatures. The deadline for third-party candidates to submit their petitions is Aug. 1.

Contact staff writer Amy Worden at 717-783-2584 or awordenphillynews.com. B8 www.philly.com gym CLEM MURRAY Inquirer Staff Photographer A homicide detective inspects the body of a man shot and killed by Philadelphia plainclothes police officers in the Francisville section. Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey said the man had a gun drawn when two officers approached him. Metropolitan Area News in Brief Parking Authority approves fare increase for taxis The Philadelphia Parking Authority, which regulates taxis, approved a fare increase yesterday to go into effect this summer.

It will still cost $2.70 at the beginning of a cab ride, what is known as the "flag drop." But the fare will be $2.30 per mile after that, up from $2.10 now. The charge for waiting time is going up, too. The new rates are set to go into effect June 2. The head of the authority's Taxi and Limousine Division says it works out to an average 8 percent increase. AP Lake Nockamixon water release is March 15-16 The annual spring release of water from Lake Nockamixon into the Tohickon Creek in Bucks County, providing class 3 and 4 rapids for Whitewater and boating enthusiasts, will be March 15 and 16, the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources said yesterday.

The release from the Nockamixon State Park dam will provide boating water downstream at Ralph Stover State Park from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day. The release draws kayakers and canoeists from throughout the Northeastern United States. Most launch their craft at Ralph Stover State Park, near Pipersville, and travel four miles along the Tohickon Creek to its junction with the Delaware River at Point Pleasant.

Officials caution that appropriate boating skills are required. Boaters should use only craft designed for this type of water and wear appropriate personal flotation devices. The department plans another release from Lake Nockamixon during the first weekend in November. Inquirer staff Pa. soldier promoted after his death in Iraq DOUGLASSVILLE, Pa.

A soldier from Southeastern Pennsylvania who was killed this month in Iraq has been posthumously promoted. Capt. Nathan Raudenbush, 25, died Feb. 20 in southern Baghdad when the humvee he was in was destroyed by a roadside bomb. He was an Army first lieutenant at the time of his death, and was later elevated to captain.

"That is Army policy for anyone who is promotable," Kevin Larson, spokesman for Fort Stewart in Georgia, where Raudenbush was stationed, said yesterday. Raudenbush was a 2001 graduate of Spring-Ford High School in Royersford. He participated in ROTC as a freshman at Widener University. His parents, Brian and Mary Raudenbush, live in Douglassville, Berks County. Raudenbush was a tank commander with the Third Infantry Division, according to the Defense Department.

He was sent to Iraq in September. He is survived his wife, Casey, and their 20-month-old son, Jackson, of Port Wentworth, Ga. AP Suspect in collar-bomb death to be evaluated ERIE A woman accused of planning a bank robbery that ended in the collar-bomb death of a pizza deliveryman will go to New York for a psychiatric evaluation to determine whether she is mentally competent to stand trial. U.S. District Judge Sean McLaughlin last week granted the government's request for Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong, 58, to be transferred to the New York Metropolitan Correctional Center.

She was indicted in July along with Kenneth Barnes, 54, in connection with the August 2003 robbery of a PNC Bank in Summit Township. Both have pleaded not guilty. Deliveryman Brian Wells, 46, told police he had been forced at gunpoint to wear a bomb around his neck and rob the bank. As officers waited for the bomb squad, the device exploded, killing Wells. AP Shooting CLEM MURRAY Inquirer Staff Photographer Ramsey surveys the scene of the fatal shooting in North Philadelphia.

Mayor Nutter has tasked Ramsey to review the department's use of deadly force. ft MILES Temple University MmOMERYm CBC. MOORE AVE. OXFORD ST. 12 Continued from Bl Police said officers of the Criminal Intelligence Unit, Gang Enforcement then saw Styles drive off in a Toyota.

Two plainclothes officers, whose names were not released, followed Styles to 16th and Swain, where he had stopped his car, police said. The officers got out of their vehicle and tried to approach the suspect, who got out of his Toyota. "He turns on them with a gun in his hand," Vanore said. One of the officers fired a single shot. Police said they had recovered a small-caliber semiautomatic gun that Styles was carrying.

No other details were released yesterday, including whether Styles got out of his car first. The Rev. Michael Dinkins said he was driving his van on 16th near Swain when he heard a single shot. Dinkins said he then saw the body of a man dressed in camouflage on the ground with a semiautomatic handgun near his side. The officers involved will be routinely removed from street duty while separate investigations are conducted by the Homicide and Internal Affairs Units.

Styles' death is the fourth this year in a police-involved shooting. The first to die was 33-year-old Joseph Abebe, fatally wounded early on Jan. 1 by police responding to a report of shots fired near a home in East Germantown where the New Year was being celebrated. He died several days later. The second death was that of Timothy J.

Goode, 24, of the Northwood section of Northeast Philadelphia and a grand-nephew of former Mayor W. Wilson Goode. Goode was shot by an undercover officer during a drug sting in Germantown about 9:30 p.m. Jan 11. Police said Goode was being followed by police, and at one point turned and aimed a gun at officers.

Person si THOMPSON ST. Ward ave. Girard College GIRARD AVE. to Commentary By Annette John-Hall Revealing truths in a film about life on the down low POP. 11 a.m.

and beat one of the residents while demanding money. The attackers forced two women into a van and drove to Cheltenham Avenue, where one of the women was able to escape and call police. Authorities then spotted the van near Ivy Hill Cemetery and saw two men jump out. One of the men ran through the cemetery toward Montgomery County but was confronted by a Philadelphia officer who fired a shot at him. He was not hit but was taken into custody.

The other suspect was also taken into custody inside city limits, Vanore said. Detectives were sorting through evidence late yesterday afternoon, but it appeared that both men involved with the initial robbery and abduction were in custody. Their names were not released. Police said there have been 17 incidents this year in which officers fired their weapons. Seven of those involved dogs, police said.

In 2006, 20 civilians were killed by police, more than in any other year since 1980. Last year, the number of fatal officer-involved shootings was 15. SWAIN ST. FAIRMOUNT AVE. out judgment.

She and her team work hard to forge trust with the community. They don't expect people to flock to the RV right away. Sometimes they park in the same spot for weeks at a time. Unlike Cover, in selected theaters, Shein's screening prompts real-life action to take responsibility for yourself and the one you love. DECEIT from Bl sex with other men.

But, she warns, we shouldn't be so quick to condemn men. It takes two to tango, and plenty of women are dancing without protection. "Unfortunately, we're seeing a spike in African American women and younger people in HIV cases," says Shein, who believes that a lack of self-esteem is a culprit. "Women don't have enough of an inner core to say, 'I don't care, use a Shein says all testing is done respectfully and with Ml KRN0N ST GREEN ST. SOURCES: ESRI; GDT Several hours later, officers shot and killed a North Philadelphia man outside a bar on the 2400 block of Clifford Street.

Police said two officers were trying to disperse a crowd outside the bar when one officer saw Trevar Cephas, 21, of the 2100 block of North 23d Street, pull a gun from his waistband. The officer ordered Cephas to drop his gun, but Cephas moved to raise it, police said. He was shot once in the stomach and The Philadelphia Inquirer was pronounced dead at Temple University Hospital. Also yesterday, police fired at a kidnapping suspect in the Cedarbrook section of Northwest Philadelphia. That incident began when police responded to a report of a home invasion in which a woman was abducted from a residence in the 900 block of Slocum Street in Stenton, Van-ore said.

Vanore said at least two men entered the home about Contact columnist Annette John-Hall at 215-854-4986 or ajohnhallphillynews.com. To read her recent work: http:go.philly.comannette. Contact staff writer Vernon Clark at 215-854-5717 or vclarkphillynews.com. Set-to over Democrats' TV debate leaves 1 man hospitalized, 1 jailed particular, has generated a lot of passion," Ferman said, "but this is one of the most unusual expressions of political passion I have ever seen." Rodham Clinton. It ended with Obama supporter Sean Shurelds being taken to Hahnemann University Hospital with stab wounds that were allegedly inflicted by his brother-in-law, Clinton backer Jose Ortiz.

"Mr. Shurelds was complaining that Clinton was By Nancy Petersen INQUIRER STAFF WRITER Maybe the Democratic debates should come with an rating. Things turned violent in a Montgomery County home during a televised debate in Texas between candidates Barack Obama and Hillary trashing Obama," Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman said. "Ortiz said that Barack was not a realist." Ferman said that on Thursday, Shurelds started choking Ortiz from behind in a Collegeville home. At some point, she said, Ortiz grabbed a kitchen knife and plunged it into Shurelds' stomach.

When Upper Providence police arrived, they found Shurelds bleeding heavily, she said. He was admitted to Hahnemann University Hospital in critical condition, but has since been upgraded to stable, Ferman said. Hospital officials did not return calls yesterday. Ortiz, who celebrated his 28th birthday on Saturday, was held in Montgomery County prison on $20,000 bail. "I certainly understand that politics, and this race in Contact staff writer Nancy Petersen at 610-701-7602 or npetersenphillynews.com..