24 candidates file to run for six judgeships

HARRISBURG - Twenty-four candidates filed papers to run for six open seats on Pennsylvania's appellate courts, according to a list posted yesterday on the Department of State Web site.

At stake in this year's statewide election are one seat on the state Supreme Court, three on Superior Court, and two on Commonwealth Court. Tuesday was the deadline for party candidates to file nominating petitions.

Most of the candidates will compete for the party nominations in the May 19 primary, but some are unopposed. In the latter category is Superior Court Judge Jack Panella of Northampton County, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for Supreme Court.

Also unopposed in the primary are all three Republican candidates for Superior Court: Allegheny County Court Judge Judith Olson, Pittsburgh lawyer Templeton Smith Jr., and Tioga County lawyer Sallie Updyke Mundy.

Those four were among 12 candidates endorsed by the Democratic and Republican state committees.

Democrats also endorsed Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judges Anne E. Lazarus and John Milton Younge and Allegheny County Court Judge Robert J. Colville for Superior Court. They endorsed Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge James Lynn and Pittsburgh lawyer Daniel K. Bricmont for Commonwealth Court in what is shaping up as a seven-way primary race.

Republicans tapped Superior Court Judge Joan Orie Melvin for elevation to the Supreme Court. The GOP also supports Commonwealth Court candidates Alfonso Frioni Jr., a commissioner on the Pennsylvania Workers' Compensation Appeals Board from Pittsburgh, and Kevin Brobson, a Harrisburg lawyer.

Melvin faces a hotly contested primary featuring three judges who competed against her for the party's endorsement last month. They are fellow Superior Court Judges Cheryl Allen and Jacqueline Shogan - who, like Melvin, are both from southwestern Pennsylvania - and Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge Paul Panepinto.

The endorsed GOP candidates for Commonwealth Court are opposed by Pittsburgh lawyer Patricia A. McCullough for the party's nomination.

On the Democratic side, three unendorsed candidates also are vying for nomination to the Superior Court: Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge Paula A. Patrick, Allegheny County prosecutor Kevin F. McCarthy, and Lackawanna County Court Judge Tom Munley.

The unendorsed Democratic candidates for Commonwealth Court are Monroeville lawyer Michelle H. Lally, Philadelphia lawyer Stephen G. Pollock and Pittsburgh lawyers Linda S. Judson, Michael Sherman, and Barbara Jo Ernsberger.

To see judicial ratings from the Pennsylvania Bar Association, go to http://go.philly.com/pabar.

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