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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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State Rep.
Matthew H. Smith |
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Support grows for Smith’s merit selection legislation
MT. LEBANON, Apr. 23 – State Rep. Matt Smith, D-Allegheny, is using renewed interest in his merit selection legislation to urge house leaders to move the bill from the House Judiciary Committee.
Recently the idea of merit selection has been gaining steam. Gov. Rendell and several gubernatorial candidates have endorsed the idea.
Smith issued the following statement in reaction to the continued support for his proposal.
"I am grateful for Governor Rendell’s strong support of this measure. Pennsylvanians deserve to know that their interests are served and the best possible manner of selecting appellate court judges is being utilized. Recently, we have too frequently witnessed the impact of large sums of money being injected into statewide judicial races and the negative and corrosive effect this money has on the public’s opinion of the judicial process and judicial elections. Unfortunately, our current system leads to campaigns where the candidates are forced to engage in negative television ads, negative direct mail pieces, and the worst aspects of our electoral process. This is a major part of the overall reforms that must be implemented to make Pennsylvania government reflective of today’s world."
House Bills 1619 and 1621 would create a merit selection process for all statewide judicial appellate court positions. If passed into law, the legislation calls for the establishment of an appellate court nominating commission comprised of individuals appointed by the governor, legislature, public safety organizations, civic groups, unions, business organizations, law school deans, and other non-lawyer professionals. The governor would appoint judges from individuals selected by the nominating commission, and those appointees would then move to the senate for confirmation. Judges chosen by this method must be reappointed by the voters.
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