Their names won't be on the ballot, but no one will have more impact on the Nov. 3 judicial election than former Luzerne County president judges Michael T. Conahan and Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. Their arrest on racketeering charges in a still-unspooling federal corruption probe has, fairly or unfairly, framed the race for four seats on the county bench.In any other year, incumbent judges Peter Paul Olszewski Jr. and Thomas F. Burke Jr. would cruise to easy victories for their second 10-year terms. Now they face the toughest campaigns of their careers.
Judges running in unopposed, yes/no retention races typically concentrate on generalities about fairness, legal expertise and experience. But Olszewski and Burke face hard and detailed questions about their relationships with Conahan and Ciavarella and what they knew, or why they didn't know, about the two former president judges' alleged "kids-for-cash" scheme.
A federal grand jury alleged that Conahan and Ciavarella illegally pocketed $2.8 million for directing county contracts and juvenile detainees to two for-profit detention centers.
| The Republican Party's campaign theme -- that the corruption scandal is a symptom of longtime one-party Democratic rule in the county - could resonate with independents and disaffected Democrats. Conahan, Ciavarella and the five other elected officials charged in the probe are registered Democrats. |
In the May primaries for two open seats on the bench, the only incumbent in the race, Joseph J. Musto, who was appointed as an interim judge after Conahan's retirement in 2008, finished fourth out of field of 17 and failed to secure either party's nomination.
Voter turnout may prove to be pivotal on Nov. 3. Only the most committed voters make it to the polls in municipal elections, which lack the drawing power of presidential or gubernatorial races. Those voters tend to have strong party identification, which in Luzerne County tends to help Democrats, who hold a 2-1 registration edge. A typically light municipal election turnout -- 29 percent of registered voters cast ballots in the last similar election in 2005 -- would probably help Olszewski, a registered Democrat.
It could also help Burke, a Republican with a history for attracting Democratic votes. Burke captured second place in the 1999 Democratic primary, beating two registered Democrats in a four-way race for nomination to two open seats on the bench. Olszewski was the top vote-getter in that primary.
But 2009 is not 1999 or 2005. Public anger over the kids-for-cash scandal and the broader federal corruption probe could drive up voter turnout and draw angry independent voters looking to punish anyone associated with the county bench.
How a larger turnout would impact the other judicial contest -- a three-way race for two open seats on the bench - is more complicated to predict. All three candidates -- Republican nominee Richard Hughes, Democratic nominee Tina Polachek Gartley and Democrat William Amesbury, who has both parties' nominations -- have painted themselves as reformers.
The Republican Party's campaign theme -- that the corruption scandal is a symptom of longtime one-party Democratic rule in the county - could resonate with independents and disaffected Democrats. Conahan, Ciavarella and the five other elected officials charged in the probe are registered Democrats.
One of the open seats being contested on Nov. 3 now belongs to President Judge Chester B. Muroski, who was selected by his colleagues to replace Ciavarella as top judge in February, but must resign at the end of the year, when he reaches the mandatory retirement age of 70. The newly constituted court will elect a new president judge to a five-year term in January.
No matter what the outcome on Nov. 3, voters will have several other opportunities in the coming years to remake the 10-member county bench, which has two current vacancies. The governor has yet to name a short-term replacement for Ciavarella, who resigned in March, pending an open race for that seat in 2011 or 2012. The seat formerly held by Ann Lokuta, who is fighting her removal from the bench by the state Court of Judicial Discipline for her allegedly abusive treatment toward court staffers and attorneys, remains empty because of her appeal. Even if she were to regain her seat, Lokuta would face a retention election in 2011.
Judge Hugh Mundy will reach retirement age next year, leaving another seat up for grabs. Judge Joseph M. Augello faces a retention election in 2011.
And still hanging over the county bench is the ongoing probe by federal investigators. A federal grand jury has subpoenaed records connected to auto insurance cases, which have been the subject of rumored judge-shopping and case fixing. An aide to Judge Michael T. Toole testified before a federal grand jury earlier this year amid reports that Toole's finances are being examined.
The only certainty is that this election will not end the turnover, and the turmoil, on the court.