Andy Ostrowski, candidate for the 2014 Democratic Party nomination for Pennsylvania’s Eleventh Congressional District, will file a federal civil rights lawsuit against the City of Hazleton on Friday, March 7, alleging First Amendment freedom of speech violations. This filing action was taken on behalf of his petitioners and campaign. The Ostrowski for Congress campaign reported to the Independent Gazette on Wednesday, March 5, that a campaign volunteer, while collecting nomination signatures for Ostrowski in Hazleton, was approached by a Hazleton police officer who claimed that, according to a Hazleton ordinance, she needed to secure a $50 permit to engage in the petitioning. When the Ostrowski worker could not produce any such documentation the police officer allegedly proceeded to seize her petition and rip it up, destroying the more than 60 signatures it contained.

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