Scranton Mayor Cognetti's Commission Appointee Sentenced to Prison During Her Congressional Race

A Pennsylvania Democratic congressional nominee faces scrutiny over a patronage appointment that ended in a federal sentence, a pattern voters and opposition researchers will likely examine...

Scranton, Pennsylvania Mayor Paige Cognetti, the Democratic nominee challenging incumbent Rep. Rob Bresnahan (R-Pa.) for Pennsylvania's 8th Congressional District seat, appointed Mike Villa to the city's Human Relations Commission, a body charged with adjudicating resident discrimination complaints, according to reporting by the New York Post published June 14, 2026. Villa was subsequently sentenced to 10 months in prison and 38 months of probation for trespassing committed while he was serving in that appointed role, according to the same report.

The Human Relations Commission functions as a quasi-judicial municipal body in Scranton. Appointees to such commissions are typically vetted by the appointing official's office. The Post report states that Villa had a prior criminal history at the time of his appointment, though the specific nature of those prior offenses, the date of appointment, and the precise trespassing conviction details were not fully specified in the available source material.

Cognetti is running in a competitive Pennsylvania congressional district. Rep. Rob Bresnahan (R-Pa.) currently holds the seat. The Bresnahan campaign had not issued a public statement that was independently verifiable at time of publication. The Cook Political Report's current rating for Pennsylvania's 8th District was not confirmed in the available source material and should be checked directly at cookpolitical.com for the most current competitive classification.

What remains unknown is the formal vetting process Cognetti's office used for Human Relations Commission appointments, whether Villa disclosed his prior criminal record during the appointment process, and whether any city ordinance required background checks for commission members. Scranton city personnel records and the commission's appointment documentation, obtainable via Pennsylvania Right-to-Know Law requests, would answer those questions. The Cognetti campaign's full response to the appointment, beyond what was reported by the New York Post, is also not confirmed in available public records at time of publication.