Category: Pa Courts

Johnny Doc, Kevin Doc And The Noble Pennsylvania Supreme Court

By Lowman S. Henry

Were you to travel from sea to shining sea you would be hard pressed to find a state appellate court whose reputation has been more besmirched than that of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. In recent years, justices have been forced to resign for, among other things, sending sexually and racially inappropriate emails, using public office for campaign purposes, and other activities unbecoming a justice on the state’s highest court.

The resignations of Justice Michael Eakin and Seamus McCaffery in what the media dubbed the “porngate” scandal, and that of Justice Joan Orie Melvin for using her court staff to run campaigns not only left the reputation of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in tatters, but it created an opportunity for Democrats to politicize the state judiciary at the highest level.

Multiple resignations resulted in the unusual situation of having three seats on the seven member bench up for election in 2015.  State Republicans were asleep at the switch as national Democrats, seeking ways to redraw congressional district maps, and their labor union allies poured millions into the race. They won all three seats and claimed partisan control of the court.

In the process, one justice in particular, Justice David N. Wecht, openly campaigned for the overturning of Pennsylvania’s congressional district map.  Candidate Wecht, violating judicial ethics by opining on a case that was likely to come before him, made it clear he felt the state’s congressional district map was unconstitutionally gerrymandered.

Once on the bench, Wecht and three of his fellow justices made judicial laughing stocks of themselves by tossing out the supposedly gerrymandered map and replacing it with an even more gerrymandered map designed to advantage Democrats – which it did.

The justices had clearly trampled on the legislature’s constitutional power to draw congressional district lines. Representative Chris Dush urged impeachment of the justices saying the ruling “blatantly and clearly contradicts the plain language of the Pennsylvania Constitution, (they) engaged in misbehavior in office . . . each is guilty of an impeachable offense warranting removal from office.”

Dush’s plea fell on deaf ears as the legislature lacked the political will to stand up for either its own powers or for the constitution.  Thus did every institution in the judicial spectrum fail the people of Penn’s Woods: the legal community did not call out Wecht for his inappropriate campaigning, the Supreme Court trampled the constitution in the gerrymandering case, and the legislature let them get away with it.

Just when you might think it couldn’t get any worse along comes Justice Kevin Dougherty.  Dougherty was one of the three justices that big labor and national Democrat money put on the court in 2015.  His brother is Philadelphia labor leader and political powerbroker extraordinaire John “Johnny Doc” Dougherty.

A few weeks ago Johnny Doc was indicted on a wide array of corruption and embezzlement charges. The federal action also ensnared Philadelphia City Councilman Bobby Henon and six others.  According to news reports Dougherty and Henon “orchestrated a long-running scheme to steal from the union, use the money improperly, and then attempt to cover up the misspent funds by falsifying federal documents.”  WHYY radio also revealed that Dougherty allegedly used union coffers as a “slush fund for thieves and fraudsters.”

The question now becomes does Justice Dougherty fall into that category? We do know millions in labor union dollars were spent on the justice’s campaign for the high court. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has already reported that prosecutors say Kevin Dougherty received home repairs and other benefits and allege they were paid for by his now-indicted brother. No such payments were listed by the justice on his required state financial disclosure forms.

To be clear, Justice Dougherty has not to date been accused of any crime.  But, as the investigation into his brother’s tangled web of union and political finances continues, and Johnny Doc ultimately stands trial, there is no doubt a dark cloud now hovers over the justice’s head, and by extension over the entire Supreme Court.

There is, unfortunately, no electoral remedy for the court’s current situation.  Both Dougherty and Wecht were elected to ten year terms meaning it will be 2025 before they stand for a retention vote.  Given the legislature’s unwillingness to act by impeachment, that means the justices will continue to have a major impact on hugely important matters – both legal and political – for years to come.

And that will cast a pall on every decision they render and continue to erode public confidence in both the judicial and legislative branches of our state government.

Mr. Henry is the chairman andCEO of the Lincoln Institute and host of the Lincoln Radio Journal.

Johnny Doc, Kevin Doc And The Noble Pennsylvania Supreme Court

Pa Judges Corrupt As Legislature

By Lowman S. Henry

The myth has been exposed.

The judicial branch of state government is no different than the legislative and executive branches. Too much power corrupts, and actions are motivated more by political interests than by the public interest.

That partisan politics pervades Pennsylvania’s statewide judiciary was laid bare by the recent re-gerrymandering of the commonwealth’s congressional districts. In what amounted to a flagrant violation of both the U.S. and Pennsylvania constitutions, a redistricting plan was forced upon voters by judicial fiat.

Under the guise of claims they were correcting an excessive gerrymander, the justices played their role in an elaborate nationwide scheme to force the redraw of district maps in key states. The collusion began at the national level, was put into place when massive labor union campaign donations financed a Democratic takeover of the high court in the 2015 elections, Left-leaning interest groups filed suit, and the justices then issued an unprecedented series of rulings culminating in the institution of a nicer looking, but more highly gerrymandered map favorable to Democrats.

Did the justices right a wrong, or did they overstep their authority? The Lincoln Institute of Public Opinion Research, Inc. conducts a semi-annual Keystone Business Climate Survey of business owners and chief executive officers. In the Spring 2018 survey conducted during the month of March a total of 61% said the court overstepped its authority, 22% think it righted a wrong.

Speaking of wrong, three seats on the state Supreme Court were open in 2015 because of mis-deeds that forced the resignation of three justices. One was convicted of using taxpayer-paid staff to campaign, one was accused of attempting to blackmail a fellow justice, and another viewed material on his office computer that was, shall we say, not suitable for work.

The judiciary’s carefully cultivated aura of superiority now lies in tatters on the courtroom floor. Using that aura, judges and justices have been given certain perks not afforded the other two branches of state government. They get ten year terms, making them unaccountable to voters. They run for retention rather than for re-election, a process that but once has resulted in jurists being retained.

Should judges and justices serve ten year terms, or should the length of those terms be reduced? Twenty-five percent of respondents to the Spring 2018 Keystone Business Climate Survey said they should continue to serve ten year terms. However, 67 percent think shorter terms are in order. Thirty-six percent supports giving judges and justices six year terms, 31 percent  think they should serve four year terms.

A similar margin supports doing away with retention elections. Seventy-two percent think judges and justices should stand for re-election, 21 percent say the current retention system should itself be retained.

Pennsylvania has three appellate courts the Supreme Court, the Commonwealth Court and the Superior Court. Judges and justices on these courts are currently elected by voters statewide. These elections are low profile with voters often going into the polls having little or no knowledge of the candidates or their qualifications.

Two potential reforms have been proposed. One is a so called “merit selection” process in which voters would have no say in the selection of judges and justices who would then be picked by power brokers in the other two branches of government. The other would be to elect appellate court jurists by region or by district such as we do with members of congress and the state legislature.

Merit selection received little support from the business owners and CEOs with only 12 percent favoring such a process. Twenty-three percent said we should continue to elect judges and justices in a statewide election. A solid majority, 58 percent  said they favor electing jurists by district.

The general trend of the Keystone Business Climate Survey results relative to the court was to support giving voters more say in holding appellate court judges and justices accountable. Those Supreme Court justices who staged the re-districting coup won’t stand for retention for eight years. The only accountability mechanism currently available is impeachment by a 46 percent to 32 percent margin survey respondents said the legislature should impeach the offending justices.

Although some members of the General Assembly have proposed doing just that it won’t happen. Why? Because such a move requires political courage; and political courage in Pennsylvania is about as rare as unicorns and purple squirrels.

Mr. Henry is Chairman CEO of the Lincoln Institute and host of the weekly Lincoln Radio Journal