Pennsylvania Judicial elections

Candidates for the jobs run TV ads paid for by lawyers that will later appear in front of them that sing their virtues and tear down the opponent. This is not a good way to select a judge.


Take the race for Commonwealth Court. Republican Anne Covey has an ad on the air attacking Kathryn Boockvar for doing something perfectly legal but Covey can't comply with simple campaign reporting rules.


From The Pennsylvania Progessive



Covey Continues to Violate Election Law



Commonwealth Court candidate Anne E. Covey, in her cycle 5 campaign finance report, continues to violate Pennsylvania election law. How could we elect someone to the bench who has contempt for the law? Not only does she refuse to even sign her reports but they continue to be notarized falsely. Perhaps she doesn't sign them and her treasurer doesn't get them properly notarized because of the inaccuracies within them.


Because Covey neglected to properly account for her finances her cycle 5 report continues to show an inaccurate picture of her campaign's finances. Voters have a right to know the state of every candidate's campaign finances and Covey has neglected to do so.

Tom Corbett gave her $5,000, Dominic Pileggi $2500, Jeff Piccola $1000, and tons of energy industry people and PAC's. Covey has accepted substantial funds ($9,000) from Marcellus shale gas drillers making one question her ability to impartially decide cases brought before Commonwealth Court regarding those issues. She also accepted $3000 from Vahan Gureghian who was written up quite unfavorably recently for his penchant to sue anyone who runs against his favored candidates. John Templeton, contributor to many extreme right wing causes, gave her $30,000.


Why isn't she capable of following simple instructions on her reports, such as address or signatures? Is she really this stupid?

I saw her attack ad against her opponent, a civil rights attorney. She accuses Ms. Bookvar of aiding convicted felons. I thought that once someone pays their debt to society they are free to assume their civil rights once again? Does Anne Covey not believe the Bill of Rights applies to every free citizen of the United States? If Covey doesn't understand the concept of civil rights can she properly perform the duties of a Judge which require her to take an oath to uphold those rights as enumerated in our constitution? This ad raises serious questions about her fitness for office.



CW court ad in SW PA slams Dem


"She has chosen to take the low road and violate the judicial ethics pledge," Boockvar told reporters. "She tried these same tactics with the law enforcement community, and I'm truly proud to say they endorsed me."
She noted that the 2009 House measure would have spent no additional tax dollars to provide the forms. Here's a fiscal note confirming that the bill wouldn't have a cost -- noting that the Department of Corrections at that time already provided voter-registration forms to released inmates as an agency policy.


Bookvar has a positive ad up. I won't post the nonsense from Covey.





Judges on Merit continues to make the case against electing appellate court judges and it's a good one. For the most part we don't know who these people are and trying to decide who to vote for based on TV ads paid for by lawyers is not a good decision process. I would take it further and require County Judge candidates to undergo a vetting process. I continue to ask could Michael Conahan have survived a background check?