McCaffery, Todd give Dems the high court

Democrats will soon control Pennsylvania's highest court, thanks to the victorious campaigns of a former Philadelphia judge who dispensed speedy justice to rowdy football fans in "Eagles Court" and a steelworker's daughter from western Pennsylvania.

The Supreme Court victories of state Superior Court judges Seamus McCaffery and Debra Todd will give the Democrats a one-seat majority in January, replacing the current one-seat Republican majority.

With returns from 98 percent of precincts, McCaffery won 30 percent of the statewide vote and Todd had 26 percent for a pair of open seats on the court.

Superior Court Judge Maureen Lally-Green attracted 24 percent while fellow Republican Mike Krancer, a Montgomery County lawyer and former chief judge of the state Environmental Hearing Board, had 19 percent.

The bald, motorcycle-riding McCaffery, 57, is a native of Ireland who served as a Philadelphia police officer for 19 years. After earning a law degree, he was elected to the city's Municipal Court, where he served for 10 years before moving up to the appellate court in 2003.

Todd, 50, of Butler County, spent 18 years working as a lawyer before she was elected to the appellate bench in 1999. In a phone interview early yesterday, she noted that she will be the first Democratic woman and the second woman overall to be elected to the high court.

"The message of having a woman's voice at the table resonated with the voters," she said.

The Republicans maintained control of Superior Court as three women from Pittsburgh won seats: lawyer Christine Donohue, a Democrat and Allegheny County Judge Cheryl Lynn Allen and lawyer Jackie Shogan, both Republicans.

With returns from 98 percent of the precincts in, Donohue had 19 percent of the vote; Allen and Shogan each had 17 percent.

Democratic Allegheny County Judge Ron Folino, who conceded yesterday morning after trailing in fourth place at 16 percent, called it "a big night for women."

"I think the voters in Pennsylvania are showing a preference in these type of races to elect women judges," Folino said.

Rounding out the pack were Philadelphia Common Pleas Judge John Younge, a Democrat, and Dauphin County Judge Bruce F. Bratton, a Republican, each with 15 percent. *