The nearly $8 million in campaign donations generated by last year's state Supreme Court races show that judicial independence is at risk, and polls show people are concerned, said Lynn Marks of Pennsylvanians for Modern Courts.

"I'm not saying that any of these judges are influenced, but the perception out there is staggering," Marks said at an event in the Capitol Rotunda attended by a smattering of lawmakers and others who want the legislature to begin the two-year process to amend the state constitution.

"Change is always a difficult thing, but change in Pennsylvania is a task worthy of the deities," said Rep. David Steil (R., Bucks).

Proponents will face opposition from some lawmakers reluctant to take away voters' right to choose, including Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi (R., Delaware).

The coalition said bills were about to be introduced in both chambers, mirroring a merit-selection proposal endorsed last year by Democratic Gov. Rendell, a former Philadelphia district attorney and the husband of a federal judge.

Pennsylvania is one of six states that elect all judges in partisan elections.

The proposed legislation would create a 14-member public commission to screen applicants for a list of potential nominees for the governor to consider. The governor would submit a choice from that list to the Senate, and judges who are confirmed would face an up-or-down retention election four years later and every decade afterward.

The group proposes merit selection for Supreme Court justices and judges on the Superior and Commonwealth Courts. County judges would remain elected.

Critics of the current system say it requires judges to take donations from the lawyers and entities that appear before them, and that elections can be subject to random elements such as ballot position and a bias for or against a candidate's home town.

Russ Diamond, a political activist who organized the PACleanSweep grass-roots effort and a current candidate for state representative in Lebanon County, said he opposes merit selection because the people on the commission recommending names to the governor would themselves be subject to a politicized appointment process.

The League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Bar Association have endorsed merit selection.