The Commonwealth Court hearing on the Critz campaign's challenge of fellow Democrat Jason Altmire's 12th congressional district nomination petitions has been set: it will be held in Pittsburgh at 9:30 a.m., Friday, March 2, in the court's chamber on Grant Street.

The Altmire campaign has said nothing about the suit since issuing a no-comment Tuesday night.

UPDATE 1:20 PM: Altmire's campaign manager Angela Ruslander released a statement calling the petition challenge "a desperate attack from a desperate campaign" and "a despicable act."

In full:

"After reviewing the baseless challenge to my campaign's nominating petitions, the facts are as clear today as they were when the petitions were filed -- we have met the required threshold of 1000 valid signatures to appear on the primary ballot. We knew this when my campaign filed the petitions, and we know it now after reviewing the politically motivated complaint filed by my challenger from Johnstown.

Make no mistake, this challenge is a desperate attack from a desperate campaign. Trailing by double-digits even in his own polling and at 2-1 disadvantage in campaign funding, Mark Critz has now lowered himself to try to win an election by invalidating the legitimate signatures of voters, including many of his own current constituents. This is a despicable act designed to disenfranchise the new 12th district voters by denying them the opportunity to simply have a choice on the ballot."

UPDATE 3PM: Critz campaign manager Mike Mikus responds:

“The problem with Washington is that too many politicians like Jason Altmire have a sense of entitlement. Everyone knows the rules to get on the ballot and those rules even apply to Members of Congress like Jason Altmire.

The evidence shows that petitions were likely forged and petitions were circulated by ineligible circulators, among other violations. Instead of issuing over the top public statements, perhaps Congressman Altmire should be explaining why his campaign failed to follow the law.”

Here's Laura Olson's full story on the latest delay in producing new state House and Senate maps.

Which reminds us, Democrats are trying to move fast in their state Supreme Court suit trying to force the House Speaker to call special elections for six vacant House seats (under 2001 lines).

Just hours after House Speaker Sam Smith's lawyers filed their response in opposition to the suit, lawyers in Philadelphia swiftly filed an answer -- the 60-day deadline needed to call elections before the April 24 primary is tomorrow, after all.

The state Constitution -- and the court's King's Bench powers -- should override any statutory authority allowing Smith to hold off calling elections until new maps are approved, the Democratic response says. It's below:

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Here's a better PR idea for VisitPittsburgh -- Brian O'Neill sifts through the Liquor Control Board's latest sales statistics and finds Allegheny County atop many of the state's sales categories:

• Vodka outsells every other spirit in Pennsylvania. That's also true in Allegheny County, but the region that launched the Whiskey Rebellion hasn't entirely forgotten its roots. The lip-smacking liquid legacy of our Scots-Irish ancestors still flows most freely here. No other county dropped more money on whiskey than Allegheny ($29.5 million), and Greene County is where it represents the highest percentage of sales (29 percent).

• That said, Pittsburgh isn't just a shot-and-beer town anymore. No county sells more table wine than Allegheny (almost $82 million worth), and Pittsburghers go for box wine the way they used to go for box springs at the Kaufmann's warehouse sales. Allegheny County bought $9.3 million worth of box wine, and Philadelphia only $5 million.

Lawyers for House Speaker Sam Smith, R-Punxsutawney, responded today in opposition to the suit before the Supreme Court trying to force him into calling special elections (under 2001 lines) in six districts largely benefiting Democrats. (One of them being the 22nd District in the South Hills.)

Smith responded that the Supremes don't have jurisdiction over the matter, and that he has the legal ability to hold off on specials until new maps are finalized, despite the Supremes' rejection of the old maps.

Democrats want the special elections held on the scheduled April 24th primary, which would require an elections writ from Smith by Friday. Delaying the elections would deprive some 350,000 taxpayers of representation, they argue, and holding separate elections for the seats would cost budget-strapped counties too much money. (One of them is Allegheny County, home to Controller Chelsa Wagner's empty 22nd District in the South Hills, which was supposed to be shifted to Lehigh County. Doing a separate special for the seat would cost more than $500,000 according to chief exec Rich Fitzgerald, a Democrat.)

Smith countered that holding off on an election would be more fiscally responsible:

Given the significant cost of holding any election, including a special election, it is prudent for the Speaker to determine whether he would be calling a special election for a district that would, only a handful of months later, materialize in a completely different part of the Commonwealth (and therefore serve a different set of voters).

His response also argues that the April 24th primary may still be moved back, though Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, a fellow Republican, today said that probably wasn't possible.

Smith's response is below.

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