Tomorrow voters in Allegheny County will face a ballot that includes 27 candidates for seven seats on the Court of Common Pleas. If you're like most voters, you will not know even one candidate personally. The fortunate few among us will know one or two of the candidates, even if just through a friend or by reputation.

		Jim Carroll is president of the Allegheny County Bar Association.

The difficulty posed by this unfortunate situation becomes even more troubling when the importance of these choices is considered. Judges of Court of Common Pleas are asked to resolve the most difficult issues faced by county citizens: divorce and custody, disputes between landlords and tenants, who is responsible for an automobile accident, who will inherit from an estate, how zoning laws are applied as well as all aspects of criminal justice including setting bail, presiding over trials and sentencing those found guilty. Nearly 20 percent of all Common Pleas judges will be elected this year.

Judges are paid $130,591 a year and serve 10-year terms. However, after serving 10 years, judges only face a retention election. Since no county judge has ever lost a retention election, the elections for judges are essentially for lifetime positions.

Rarely, if ever, do voters face elections where the stakes are so high and the level of information about the candidates is so low. However, there is help.

For over 40 years the Bar Association has rated candidates for the Court of Common Pleas. These ratings are the result of hundreds of hours of work by our Judiciary Committee, composed of 24 members of the Bar Association elected by the association's 6,500 members.

Each candidate for judicial office is invited to fill out a detailed application which is submitted to the committee together with writing samples. Each candidate is then interviewed by one or two committee members who do in-depth research on the candidate. Thereafter, the candidate appears before the full committee to provide input and to answer the committee's questions.

The committee then rates the candidate. The ratings available to the committee are these four:

Highly recommended: The candidate: 1) exhibits pre-eminence in the law by way of outstanding legal ability and a wide range of experience, either in a specialized field of law or a more varied practice, and has a reputation in the legal community as standing at the top of his or her profession; 2) possesses the highest reputation for integrity and temperament; 3) exhibits outstanding citizenship by way of community and professional contributions; and 4) is an exceptional individual who will enhance or has enhanced the competence, dignity and public perception of the bench.

The 11 candidates in this category are: Tony Basinski, Edward Borkowski, Chuck Evans, Kathryn Hens-Greco, Beth Lazzara, James Mahood, Anthony M. Mariani, Jack McVay, Jon Pushinsky, Roger Wise and Dwayne D. Woodruff.

Recommended: The candidate possesses the highest reputation for integrity and the legal ability, experience and temperament to excel as a judge of the court for which he or she is a candidate.

There are 10 candidates in this category: Frank Cecchetti, Dan Cusick, David Joseph DeFazio, Alan Hertzberg, Patricia A. McCullough, Michael E. McCarthy, Jacqueline R. Morrow, Sumner L. Parker, William T. Simmons and Wrenna Leigh Watson.

Not recommended at this time: The candidate's legal ability, experience and reputation indicate that, at some future time in his or her legal career, he or she may have the potential to excel as a judge, but the candidate is not yet at that stage.

Four candidates are in this category: Kelly Eileen Bigley, Tom Flaherty, Kathleen Miskovich and Douglas Walgren.

Unqualified: The candidate does not now possess and is not likely to acquire the ability, reputation, or temperament necessary for a judicial position. The Bar Association gave two candidates this rating: Stephen Begler and Robert Downey Jr.

The ratings of all of the candidates can also be found at the Bar Association's Web site, www.acba.org. Voters are also welcome to call our office for more information: 412-261-6161.