Luzerne County Controller Walter L. Griffith Jr. swatted away a primary election challenge Tuesday night, according to unofficial results.
Now he hopes to fend off criminal charges. The state attorney general's office charged Mr. Griffith on May 17 with illegally recording three conversations without the consent of at least eight people, arrest papers showed.
With 56 percent of the vote, Mr. Griffith defeated Karen Ceppa-Hirko in a landslide to win the Republican primary. Conyngham Twp. Tax Collector Michelle Bednar, with 58.5 percent of the vote, defeated veteran county officeholder Stephen A. Urban in the Democratic primary.
Absentee ballots counted late Tuesday night sent Republican Paul DeFabo to a 23-vote lead over Alex Milanes for the fifth and final spot on the party's Luzerne County Council slate.
Mr. Milanes had led by a single vote in ballots cast at the county's 189 polling places, erasing Mr. DeFabo's edge that persisted until the final seven precincts were counted. An official count will not be conducted until Friday at the county courthouse in Wilkes-Barre.
The race for county council set up Tuesday more like a game of musical chairs than a full-fledged primary.
The five Democratic candidates on the party's ballot - Eileen M. Sorokas, Michael Giamber, Renee Ciaruffoli Taffera, Richard Heffron and incumbent Vice Chairwoman Linda McClosky Houck - automatically secured nominations for the same number of spots on the 11-member council. An extra candidate on the Republican side meant one would be left standing without a chance at a seat.
Mr. DeFabo garnered a total 4,404 votes, according to the unofficial results. Mr. Milanes had 4,381.
The other Republicans Kathy Dobash, Sue Rossi and incumbents Eugene Kelleher and Harry Haas, avoided a down-to-the-wire finish, with more than 6,000 votes each.
The five candidates with the most votes in the upcoming general election in November win four-year terms. Each county council member is paid a part-time salary of $8,000 a year. The council chairman is paid $10,500 a year.