DN Editorial: Bloom-in' shame: If ever there was a reason to pass SB334 - and fast - this is it

WHEN the state House Judiciary Committee comes to town on Friday to hold a hearing on Senate Bill 334 to abolish Traffic Court, and put Municipal Court in charge of traffic violations, it should consider the candidacy of Warren Bloom.

Unless SB334 is quickly passed and signed into law, Bloom is poised to win the crowded Democratic primary on May 21 and take the bench as one of three new Traffic Court judges. Why?

Because in a drawing held Wednesday for ballot position among the 41 Traffic Court candidates -you read that right, there are 41, although 23 are facing legal challenges to their candidacy - Bloom won the No. 1 spot. In a race where voters don't have a clue who the candidates are, being the first name on the ballot is a formidable advantage.

Bloom said it was not luck, but the hand of the Lord that made him No. 1. "I believe God put me there," he said.

Bloom may have God on his side, but he is no angel. For starters, the 61-year-old part-time minister is a chronic tax deadbeat. At one point, he owed the city nearly $20,000 in back business taxes from his days as a writ server. He says that his employer forgot to take out taxes. He says that he has a payment arrangement, though the two cases involved are listed in court records as active.

He also currently owes $1,500 in back real-estate taxes on the West Powelton home he shares with his mother. City records confirm his claim that he has a payment arrangement for those, too.

Then there is the matter of his 1992 conviction for indecent assault and corrupting a minor, whom Bloom said was a 16-year-old cousin. Court records indicate that she was 14. He was 39. Bloom pleaded no contest in a plea agreement and got probation.

Bloom said that Traffic Court is being subjected to a partisan attack by Republicans, who are taking advantage of the scandal surrounding the indictment of current and former Traffic Court judges in a ticket-fixing scheme.

Bloom said that the "rape and pillage" of the court by the indicted judges had given the Republicans an excuse to act in a way that does not "protect the citizens and their rights." Bloom wants to be the man who preserves "the people's court."

Thanks, Mr. Bloom, but we, the people, will take a pass.

For starters, it was everyday people who got the shaft in Traffic Court, while the politically connected were given "considerations" by the judges. That's the way the court worked, day in and day out, in case after case.

Second, the Republicans didn't indict those judges, the U.S. Attorney's Office did, after an FBI investigation. Republicans in the Legislature sponsored the legislation to fold the court's operations into Municipal Court, but the bill has had broad bipartisan support.

The three vacancies now scheduled for the primary election would disappear if the House and Senate can agree on the bill and Gov. Corbett signs it before the November election.

If not, the newly elected judges, which likely include Bloom, will keep their jobs and $91,000 salaries for six years.

Please God, speed SB334 on its way, so the House passes it and the governor signs it.