Judge battles evaluators over recommendation to state Supreme Court

Commonwealth Court Judge Anne Covey on Monday slammed the judicial-evaluation process of the Pennsylvania Bar Association as "unethical, unprofessional, and less than forthright," contending that she was being pressured to drop her run for the state Supreme Court.

Covey, of New Hope, said in a letter to association president Francis X. O'Connor that as a consequence of her treatment, Robert Morris, chairman of the Judicial Evaluation Commission, should resign.

"I will not be a victim and I will not remain silent regarding the unethical and unprofessional activities I experienced with the . . . JEC," Covey wrote. "I am not concerned solely about my rights and integrity, but also about those who may appear before the JEC in subsequent years."

The association is preparing recommendations on Supreme Court candidates for this year's election and is expected to release its findings shortly. A spokesman for Covey, Keith Naughton, said Covey was told recently that the evaluation panel would issue a finding of "not recommended" unless she agreed not to run.

Naughton said Covey, a former labor and employment lawyer with Blank Rome and a former member of the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board, intended to remain in the race.

Covey's remarks, unusual in their candid critique of the association's judicial evaluations, drew a response from state Supreme Court Justice Correale Stevens, who defended the process.

"Recent statements attacking the independent Pennsylvania Bar Association Judicial Evaluation Commission are misdirected," Stevens said in a statement Monday. "While the process might be frustrating when one does not receive a 'highly recommended' rating, casting aspersions on the integrity of the entire group of lawyers and nonlawyers who volunteer countless hours to assist the public in knowing more information about judicial candidates serves no purpose."

Neither the Bar Association's communications department nor O'Connor returned calls for comment.

Naughton said Covey's dispute with the association began several weeks ago, during her evaluation. She was interviewed by two commission representatives, who prepared reports, and then by the full commission.

In an unusual turn, Naughton said, the commission asked for a hurriedly scheduled follow-up interview over the phone without specifying a reason. Once the phone interview, which he called an "ambush," began, commission members grilled Covey on a judicial campaign ad on her behalf four years earlier, in her first run for Commonwealth Court.

The ad took her opponent, Kathryn Boockvar, to task over Boockvar's support for a state program to give voter registration forms to released prisoners.

Covey won that campaign after being recommended by the JEC. Naughton said the Boockvar campaign filed a complaint with the Bar Association about the ad.

"The JEC's attempt to color all of my qualifications for the Supreme Court by a single legal and accurate political advertisement is without any sense of balance, fairness or propriety," Covey wrote.