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?

Pennsylvania Judicial elections

As usual the elections for the PA Superior and Commonwealth courts are flying under the radar along with the retention question for 6 members of the 3 state appellate courts. It's one of those things that I've seen a tidbit about here and there that didn't register until I took a look at the Luzerne County sample ballot tonight, thanks Lenny. PMC has a rundown of all the candidates.

One seat is up for the Superior Court and the candidates are Republican Vic Stabile and Democrat David Wecht. Commonwealth Court nominees are Ann Covey (R) and Kathryn Boockvar (D) competing for the open spot.


I don't pay much attention to the statewide Judge races because the candidates run on their bio's and promise to be tough on crime with an emphasis on locking up all the drug dealers. But then every politician promises to lock up all the druggies and we all know that policy has worked out well over the past 40 years. More drugs, more crime and a record number of people in prison. Drug addiction should not be treated as a law enforcement issue but a public health problem but that will require a change in federal law. Their campaigns are financed by the lawyers that will appear before them but they assure us that that will not influence their rulings. What a bunch of hooey.



Pennsylvanians for Modern Courts make a good case for scrapping the present system and going with merit selection of Judges. Their blog JudgesOnMerit.org documents the problems with electing appellate Judges and suggests improvements to the process.

In the 2009 contest for PA Supreme Court Justice we elected Joan Orie Melvin who is now in a lot of hot water along with her sister.

I'm willing to go further and go with merit selection for county judges. Do you think Michael Conahan could have survived a background check?

Vote no on retention.

I have never voted to retain a Judge as I think that elections for the offices are pointless in the first place. Very few people have lost the question but in recent years Russell Nigro and
Peter Paul Olszewski Jr. have been tossed by the voters.


This coming November we will be asked to decide if 6 people should continue in their positions.
There is not a big controversy this time such as the midnight pay raise or the kids for cash scandal so they will probably be retained.


•Justice J. Michael Eakin, Supreme Court of Pennsylvania –
•Judge John T. Bender, Superior Court of Pennsylvania -
•Judge Mary Jane Bowes, Superior Court of Pennsylvania
•Judge Renée Cohn Jubelirer, Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania –
•Judge Mary Hannah Leavitt, Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania –
•Judge Robert E. Simpson Jr., Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania –

They have all been recomended by the PA Bar Association.

I'm still voting NO.

The other court races

With all the attention on the six seats open for the Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas and the new county council the spots up for grabs on the state appellate courts have been overlooked.

The candidates are:

JUDGE OF THE COMMONWEALTH COURT

Vote for 1 for a 10 year term

Paul P. Panepinto (R)

Anne Covey (R)

Kathryn Boockvar (D)

Barbara Behrend Ernsberger (D)


JUDGE OF THE SUPERIOR COURT

Vote for 1 for a 10 year term

Vic Stabile (R)

Paula A. Patrick (R)

David N. Wecht (D)


To save my time I'm not providing links to their websites, Facebook, etc. You can google them if you are interested but I will bet that you are not that interested.


I don't pay much attention to the statewide Judge races because the candidates run on their bio's and promise to be tough on crime with an emphasis on locking up all the drug dealers. But then every politician promises to lock up all the druggies and we all know that policy has worked out well over the past 50 years. Their campaigns are financed by the lawyers that will appear before them but they assure us that that will not influence their rulings. What a bunch of hooey.



Pennsylvanians for Modern Courts make a good case for scrapping the present system and going with merit selection of Judges. Their blog JudgesOnMerit.org documents the problems with electing appellate Judges.

I'm willing to go further and go with merit selection for county judges. Do you think Michael Conahan could have survived a background check?

In the 2009 contest for PA Supreme Court Justice we elected Joan Orie Melvin who is now in a lot of hot water along with her sister despite the assurance from a local high ranking GOP operative that said "she is an honarable person."

There has to be a better way.