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3 Pa. governors push for merit selection of state appeals judges

Saying the reputation and independence of Pennsylvania's appeals courts are at stake, three former governors on Friday urged state legislators to pass a bill that would end the partisan election of judges on the state's three appeals courts.

Saying the reputation and independence of Pennsylvania's appeals courts are at stake, three former governors on Friday urged state legislators to pass a bill that would end the partisan election of judges on the state's three appeals courts.

The former governors - Tom Ridge, Mark Schweiker, and Ed Rendell - spoke for about 30 minutes in a statewide conference call to reporters, saying scandals involving justices on the state Supreme Court and the record $16 million donated to candidates running in last year's Supreme Court election underlined the need for change.

"Judges must be independent, and judicial independence is one of the hallmarks of our democracy," Rendell said. "Judges can't be independent if they have to raise that kind of money."

Rendell scoffed at those who advocate the status quo - judges running in partisan elections - compared with the federal system, where judges are appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate.

"Tell me about the scandals involving federal judges compared to state judges here in Pennsylvania," Rendell said. "It's almost nonexistent."

Pennsylvania is one of just seven states where all judges, from Supreme Court to magisterial district judges, run for office in partisan elections.

Schweiker cited recent polls that show 76 percent of Pennsylvanians believe judges are unduly influenced by politics and campaigning.

Ridge said "the time is right really to push this reform through the legislature."

There is bipartisan support for a bill pending in the state House, he added.

The conference call was hosted and moderated by Lynn Marks, executive director of Pennsylvanians for Modern Courts, a group that has long championed court reform and merit selection of judges.

Marks said the conference call followed a letter earlier this week to state House members in which the three former governors, joined by Gov. Wolf and former Govs. Tom Corbett and Dick Thornburgh, pushed for passage of a hybrid merit-selection and retention vote process for state Supreme Court justices and judges on Superior and Commonwealth Courts, the intermediate appeals courts between the county Common Pleas Courts and the state's high court.

In October, House Bill 1336 was approved by a bipartisan, 17-11 vote in the state House Judiciary and sent to the floor for a full House vote.

The bill proposes a hybrid system in which candidates would apply to a bipartisan commission, which would review their qualifications and recommend a short list to the governor.

The governor would have to nominate one of the recommended candidates. After Senate confirmation, a judge would serve a four-year term and then stand in a nonpartisan retention election for subsequent 10-year terms.

The bill would require changing the state constitution. It must be passed in two consecutive legislative sessions and then go before voters for approval.

Although the bill has been tabled since it was approved by the Judiciary Committee, Marks and the governors said they believe this has happened because of the budget impasse - and not because of covert opposition on the House floor.

"That's got to be job one," said Schweiker, referring to passage of a state budget. "There have been a lot of measures that have been slowed."

jslobodzian@phillynews.com

215-854-2985 @joeslobo

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