Montco's Castor now special prosecutor in Centre County

BRUCE CASTOR Jr. is a busy guy who just got busier.

The Montgomery County commissioner, who also works as a private lawyer and is campaigning to be county district attorney, was sworn in Friday as a special deputy district attorney in Centre County. That's the home of Penn State University, for those of you who don't get out much.

Centre County District Attorney Stacy Parks Miller, who appointed Castor to the post, has fought allegations since last year of impropriety, including claims that she forged a judge's signature on a bail order and pressured her employees to campaign for her re-election while on county time. Castor has represented her on those matters.

Why would Castor, who lives in Lower Salford and works for the Ardmore-based law firm Rogers Castor, take cases from Happy Valley, too?

"Well, I'm not going out there doing traffic-ticket appeals," Castor said.

He'll be handling situations in which defense attorneys file motions to have the district attorney thrown off a case. It's about "Republican commissioners trying to score points by battling with a Democratic D.A.," Castor said, adding that the defense attorneys are "small-minded people going after an aggressive D.A."

Some of the folks who accused Parks Miller may fear losing potential clients, who would not want a lawyer whom the D.A. dislikes. Castor said that "they created a business problem for themselves."

The new job has raised eyebrows of critics who see a conflict of interest. But Castor and Parks Miller told the Centre Daily Times that they researched the arrangement and found no ethical problems. Castor told the paper that his new post is unpaid, although Parks Miller plans to pursue payment for him.

"If it wasn't a three-and-a-half-hour drive, it might even be fun," Castor told the Daily News yesterday. "But, really, I have to be out there anyway for my private practice sometimes," he said. Besides, he added, "It's just like being a good assistant D.A., you win a couple cases and you stop going to trial." He won two cases Friday.

Castor served as district attorney in Montgomery County from 2000 to 2008, when he became a county commissioner. He now hopes to be re-elected as Montgomery County district attorney to replace Risa Vetri Ferman, the county's first female D.A., who announced in January that she won't seek re-election and instead plans to run for Montgomery County judge.

Blog: phillyconfidential.com