Pa. Election 2011, Congrats Tea Partyers

The Democrats broke a bit of a losing streak in state judicial races, yesterday, Nov. 8, when David Wecht handily beat Republican Vic Stabile to win a seat on State Superior Court, which is the 15-member body that is the intermediate appellate court for civil and criminal cases from county Common Pleas Courts.

There was a lot of ticket splitting, however. Republican Ann Covey appears to have beaten  Kathryn Boockvar in the race for Commonwealth Court, which is the nine-member body
that is the intermediate appellate court for issues involving taxation,
banking, insurance, utility regulation, eminent domain, election, labor
practices, elections, Department of Transportation matters, and liquor
licenses.


The unofficial tally in the Wecht race as of this morning was 1,012, 324 votes to 842,366.

Stabile, the party choice, had a chilly relation with the Tea Party who pushed his opponent Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge Paula Patrick in the primary election.

The unofficial tally in the Covey race  is 959,869 to 875,294.

Ms. Covey also had a Tea Party opponent in the primary, Philadelphia Common pleas Court Judge Paul P. Panepinto. Ms. Covey, however, reached out to conservatives, especially pro-lifers, and Ms.  Boockvar is an extreme liberal activist.

All state judges were retained with at least 70 percent of the vote. Republican campaign literature requested yes votes on retention.

One very ill omen for the Democrats in next year’s presidential races was the loss their bastion of Westmoreland County, with Republicans taking control of it for the first time since the 1950s.

Closer to home, Tea Partyers Lisa Esler and John Dougherty 3rd easily won seats on the Penn Delco School Board.

Democrats took control of Chester City with John Linder beating incumbent Republican Wendell Butler in the mayor’s race and Elizabeth Williams and Nafis Nichols winning council seats, giving the Dems control of the city for just the second time since the Civil War.

It is not as though the Republicans have done such a great job in that city.

Linder, a professor of social sciences at Delaware County Community College, took on  Dominic Pileggi in 2008 in an unsuccessful bid for a state senate seat. He has expressed support for school choice and scorn for the teachers union, which is one of the pollutants that has ruined the Democrat  Party.

And in Springfield, Republican Bob Layden was easily elected to complete the last two years of Jim Devenney‘s unexpired term as the township’s 6th Ward commissioner.

Candidates To Support In Montco

By Bob Guzzardi


Not only does Gordon Clement, MD, have superior qualifications for the job of Montgomery County coroner, he reminds us that one of the roles of coroner is to remember those people and families who have been left behind.

Clement is the child of immigrants who came to America because they wanted something better and were willing to work for it.

Expertise and skill are critical to getting a result but they are not enough. The patient, the client, the customer has to believe that you know what he or she needs. It is a lot more than skill, or expertise or a product. All are in the service of an individual with all his and her complexity. I have met Dr. Clement who is truly a gentle  man, compassionate and a super nice guy. Dr. Clement is exceptionally well qualified to be Montgomery County’s coroner.

Every Vote Counts
Dr. Clement is out meeting voters. In 2007, he lost by 586 out of 148,360 votes demonstrating that every vote counts. Coroner
Walter I. Hoffman (D). . .  74,473
Gordon S. Clement (R). . . 73,877

There were 153,133 votes cast for DA in that same election.

Another candidates for Montgomery County candidates to get behind is Moon Ahn, for clerk of  courts.

Ahn is a life-long Republican and a first generation immigrant.  Like many of our parents and grandparents, he and his family came to America because he wanted something better and was willing to work for it.

Will GOP Sup Court Candidate Unite 3rd Parties?

Pennsylvania’s big-government Green Party and the no-government Libertarian Party have a candidate to unite them namely Victor Stabile, the Republican nominee for state Superior Court judge.

Unfortunately for Stabile, the unity is to keep him off the bench.

Stabile easily beat Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge Paula Patrick, who had sought Tea Party support,  in the May 17 primary election to win the nomination for a seat on the 15-member Superior Court which is the intermediate appellate court for civil and criminal cases from county Common Pleas Courts.

He faces Democrat David Wecht in November.

Stabile, who has been a managing partner with the law firm Dilworth Paxon LLP since 1992, was the hired gun who led a failed attempt to keep the Libertarians off the ballot in the 2008 presidential race and has boasted about being successful in keeping the Greens and Libertarians off the ballot in the 2010 state races.

Meanwhile in the Commonwealth Court race, the Department of State awaits the official county tallies to determine if the margin of victory by activist attorney Kathryn Boockvar over Barbara Ernsberger is enough to avoid an automatic recount to determine the Democrat candidate. Unofficial totals have Ms. Boockvar beating Ms. Ernsberger by 3,258 votes out of 615,308 cast which would put her above the half of one percent threshold for the automatic recount.

The winning Democrat will face Republican Anne Covey, who was strongly endorsed by conservative groups and easily beat Philadelphia Common Pleas Court judge Paul P. Panepinto.

Commonwealth Court is a nine-member body
that is the intermediate appellate court for issues involving taxation,
banking, insurance, utility regulation, eminent domain, election, labor
practices, elections, Department of Transportation matters, and liquor
licenses.

Hat tip GrassrootsPa.Com



Insurgents Fall In GOP State Races; Dem Battle Close

The Philadelphia Common Pleas Court judges who actively sought Tea Party support fell handily  to the endorsed candidates in the Republican Primary state judicial races.

With 97 percent of the returns tallied, Paula Patrick was trailing Harrisburg attorney Vic Stabile  361,772 votes  to 190,231 in the Superior Court race, while Paul Panepinto had 167,455 votes to Anne Covey’s 386,751 in the Commonwealth Court race.

The 15-member Superior Court is the intermediate appellate court for civil and criminal cases from county Common Pleas Courts. The nine-member Commonwealth Court is the
intermediate appellate court for issues involving taxation, banking,
insurance, utility regulation, eminent domain, election, labor
practices, elections, Department of Transportation matters, and liquor
licenses
.

On the Democrat side, party-endorsed Kathryn Boockvar, a private attorney known for her work with activist groups, was leading Barbara Behrend Ernsberger 300,389 votes to 297,635 to be the Commonwealth Court candidate.

On some local notes, incumbent Springfield (Delco) 6th Ward Commissioner Bob Layden appears to have held off a challenge from former commissioner Jim Devenney, who resigned after a minor scandal involving family memberships to the township swim club. The unofficial tally is 437 to 396.

And Tea Party activists Lisa Esler and John Dougherty 3rd will be on both party ballots in this November’s Penn Delco School Board race. Elections are being held for five seats. Cross filing is allowed in Pennsylvania school board races which means that in this fall’s race ticket totals will be combined to determine the winners.

Mrs. Esler had the most votes of six candidates on the Democrat side with 424, and had the third highest tally out of seven candidates on the GOP side with 1,239.

Dougherty had the most votes on the GOP side with 1,534 and the second highest total on the Democrat side with 377.

The candidates who won on both tickets — additionally Kevin Tinsley and Kimberly Robinson — while having a significant advantage do not have a guaranteed victory. Lewis Boughner appears to have failed to win on the Democrat ticket while James S. Porter 2nd appears to have failed to win on the Republican one, so there will be six people seeking five seats. It is in the realm of possibility that a person appearing on just one ballot will be among the top five votegetters.

In Newtown, embattled supervisor Linda Houldin was crushed 1,732 votes to 480 votes  in her GOP primary by former Marple Newtown School Director Edward C. Partridge. Partridge had sought Tea Party support.

GOP Endorses Appellate Judges 2011

GOP Endorses Appellate Judges 2011 — The Republican Party of Pennsylvania, today at its annual Winter Meeting, endorsed Vic Stabile of Cumberland County for state Superior Court and Anne Covey of Bucks County for Commonwealth Court.

Judges to these bodies are chosen in state-wide elections.

The GOP won all races during the last state-wide judicial election.

Vic Stabile  is a partner with Dilworth, Paxton, LLP in Harrisburg, where he practices complex civil and commercial litigation. He and his family live  in Carlisle.

Anne Covey owns Covey & Associates P.C. which specializes in labor and employment law. She was appointed by Governor Mark Schweiker in 2002 as the first female member of the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board. She lives in New Hope with her family.

The nine-judge Commonwealth Court hears appeals from final orders of certain state agencies and certain designated cases from the Courts of Common Pleas involving public sector legal questions. It also functions as a trial court in some civil actions by or against the Commonwealth government and cases regarding statewide elections.

The 15-judge Superior Court hears appeals from common pleas courts.

Decisions from both can be appealed to the state Supreme Court.

GOP Endorses Appellate Judges 2011