How to choose your candidate for Allegheny County Common Pleas Court

The primary field of 39 candidates for Allegheny County Common Pleas Court judge has been cut by more than half as 18 people are running for 10 seats on the bench in Tuesday’s election.

With that many candidates, trying to figure out who to vote for can be as much about name recognition as it is about qualifications.

But there are resources available to make the decision easier, and experts say voters ought to take advantage of them. Among them, the Allegheny County Bar Association’s judicial candidate ratings.

Each election cycle, the bar’s 24-member judiciary committee evaluates candidates for the courts. Ratings given include highly recommended, recommended, not recommended at this time and unqualified.

The ratings process is an involved one, said Allegheny County Bar Association President Joseph R. Williams.

First, candidates fill out an extensive questionnaire in which they provide their work experience, cases of significance, contact information for clients and colleagues and some personal information — all of which can be investigated by the committee. Two members then conduct a pre-screening review with the applicant, who then goes on to be questioned by the full panel.

The committee deliberates and votes, and the majority wins, although to be rated highly recommended, there must be a two-thirds majority.

Providing the ratings, Williams said, is an essential service for the organization.

“The bar association cares about the success of our local court system and the impact that it has on our community,” he said. “We believe we have insight your average voter might not have.”

Deborah Gross, the president and CEO for Pennsylvanians for Modern Courts, previously sat on the Philadelphia Bar Association’s judicial ratings committee doing similar work.

“People don’t want to do research, (but) you need to really do that research,” she said.

Even though it might be time-consuming, Gross said, it’s important.

“Judges have a greater impact on somebody’s life than any other branch of government,” she said.

National politics often get the most attention from the public, said Scott Boddery, a political science professor at Gettysburg College. He doesn’t think that should be the case.

“Really, at the end of the day, policy happens at the local level,” he said. “They’re the ones pushing and driving the policy that matters to folks in their hometowns.”

And those include judicial races.

Boddery acknowledged it can be tough for the public to keep up with the many candidates running in the court system.

“Having a well-informed electorate in judicial elections is difficult to do,” he said.

Boddery said voters willing to do their own research should look for someone willing to give the parties before them a fair shake.

Gross said temperament is also important.

“I am looking for a judge who will listen, who is open-minded, who doesn’t come in with a predetermined position and who has empathy,” she said.

Voters should want judges who don’t see themselves as “better than — that they know from where they’ve come,” she said.

Voters should also look for candidates who are committed to the legal profession, Williams said.

“We, as lawyers, have an obligation to preserving the public’s image of what we do,” he said.

There are 6,000 attorneys in Allegheny County, Williams said, and reputation is important.

In judicial candidates, he said, he is looking for someone known to have integrity in both their personal and professional lives.

Williams and Gross said voters should also look at community involvement.

“It should show empathy, compassion, caring — that they’re not just doing something with expectation for a benefit; that they’re not selfish, but selfless,” Gross said.

“Those candidates will be more in tune with the litigants who come before them,” Williams said.

Gross said it’s important to ensure that candidates for the bench are financially stable — that they’re not just looking for a big salary. In Pennsylvania, Common Pleas judges are elected to 10-year terms, and the annual salary is nearly $190,000 per year

“The people we put in these positions have a lot of power,” Williams said. “These are people who are going to decide how often you see your kids if you get divorced.

“None of us know when life is going to take us before the court. You have to vote today as if you have a reason.”