Keep these judges: Voters should give them new 10-year terms
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You probably haven't seen or heard them in TV commercials or radio spots. Judicial retention elections typically take a back seat to other races.
It's equally rare for a judge to lose a retention vote. Russell Nigro became the first state Supreme Court justice to lose one when, in 2005, voters lashed out in anger over state pay raises.
This year, there's been no widespread issue touching the re-election attempts by judges on the state Supreme, Superior and Commonwealth courts. Likewise, no scandals or dissatisfaction is apparent among the seven Allegheny County Common Pleas judges seeking another 10-year term.
That doesn't mean every plaintiff or defendant who has appeared before them has been satisfied with the outcome, but it suggests that in the aggregate, these men and women have been satisfactorily performing the duties for which they were elected.
All of the candidates have been recommended by the state or county bar associations, whose members are most familiar with the performance of the judges on the bench. Most also won endorsement from this newspaper, either when they ran for their first terms or when they previously sought retention.
In next Tuesday's election, the Post-Gazette recommends a "yes" vote to retain the following judges for 10-year terms:
Supreme Court Justice J. Michael Eakin;
Superior Court Judges John T. Bender and Mary Jane Bowes;
Commonwealth Court Judges Renee Cohn Jubelirer, Mary Hannah Leavitt and Robin Simpson;
Allegheny County Common Pleas Judges David R. Cashman, Guido A. DeAngelis, Michael A. Della Vecchia, Kathleen A. Durkin and Randal B. Todd.
First Published November 4, 2011 12:00 am
