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Election 2009: State Judicial race

October 30, 2009

GOP sees Panella linked to scandal

Democrats brush off the claim as a candidate’s last-minute political posturing.

By Bill O'Boyle boboyle@timesleader.com
Staff Writer
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WILKES-BARRE – The Republican Party of Pennsylvania sent its executive director and its spokesman to Wilkes-Barre on Wednesday to campaign on behalf of a state Supreme Court candidate, linking her Democratic opponent to the Luzerne County judicial scandal.

The state GOP recently released a new statewide ad on behalf of Judge Joan Orie Melvin. State GOP Executive Director Luke Bernstein and GOP spokesman Mike Barley said Orie Melvin’s opponent, Judge Jack Panella, has ties to the Luzerne County “Cash for Kids” judicial scandal and that Panella could have worked to stop “Pennsylvania children from being harmed by corrupt judges in Luzerne County and chose not to.”

Dan Fee, spokesman for Panella, said the Republican charges are untrue and voters should be cautious.

Terry Casey, chairman of the county Republican Committee, introduced Bernstein and Barley at a press conference to rally support for Orie Melvin, who is running against Panella for the state’s highest court.

Orie Melvin, 53, and Panella, 54, sit on the state Superior Court.

Bernstein said Panella was a member of the Judicial Conduct Board in 2006 when a complaint was filed against former Luzerne County Judge Michael Conahan, and Panella and the other members of the 12-member panel “chose not to charge this corrupt judge.”

Barley said there’s “no doubt that Jack Panella saw the 2006 complaint that was filed against Conahan. He added, “If Panella didn’t see the complaint, then he wasn’t doing his job.”

Fee said the GOP’s tactics on behalf of Orie Melvin should “raise a red flag” for every voter.

“Judge Orie Melvin knows the charges she’s making are false,” Fee said. “Her hometown newspaper even said they are without justification, but she continues to make them.”

Fee said the issue at hand for voters “is simple.”

“Should you believe the United States attorney prosecuting the judges who has said Judge Panella and the Judicial Conduct Board did the right thing handling the complaint or should you believe a political candidate in the final days of her campaign?” Fee asked.

State Supreme Court justices are currently paid $186,450. Panella, of Easton, and Orie Melvin, of Wexford, are competing for a 10-year term.

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