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By Andrew M. Seder aseder@timesleader.com
Times Leader Staff Writer
Andrew M. Seder on Facebook   |   @TLAndrewSeder on Twitter

The Luzerne County Courthouse celebrated its centennial in 2009. It should have been a time of commemoration and joy. Instead the dome was shaken by allegations against and arrests of officials including three judges and a commissioner.

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Luzerne County President Judge Chester Muroski testifies Wednesday at the first hearing of the Interbranch Commission on Juvenile Justice held in Harrisburg. The next hearing will be held on Nov. 9 at the East Mountain Inn, Plains Township.

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The year was barely a month old when the county’s president judge and his predecessor were indicted by federal officials for their role in an alleged cash-for-kids scandal.

The year ended with another judge being charged by federal officials for honest services fraud and tax evasion and county voters deciding not to retain another judge.

As the corruption probe ensnared 23 people to date, Judge Chester B. Muroski became the public face of the courthouse and the man tabbed to revive public trust. The judge, who was first sworn into office in 1982, emerged from the shadows and into the limelight.

In what was Muroski’s final year on the bench as a full-time judge, Judge Joseph Augello said other people would have seen that as “a time to wind down. Instead he ratcheted it up.”

“He’s certainly contributed a steady and experienced hand in a time of unprecedented upheaval,” Augello added.

His yeoman’s job has been noted in and out of the courthouse and has earned him the honor of The Times Leader’s Person of the Year for 2009. It’s the first year the newspaper has awarded the distinction, and his selection, by the paper’s editorial board, was unanimous.

“Amid the corruption investigation that continues in Luzerne County, Muroski has offered leadership and deliberate action,” said Joe Butkiewicz, executive editor of The Times Leader. “He has brought transparency back to the county court of common pleas. In troubled times, he has been a rock.”

To say Muroski’s plate was loaded would be an understatement.

In addition to picking up a larger case load and handling the behind-the-scenes responsibilities of a president judge, he also dealt with rebuilding trust in and out of the courthouse, overseeing the selection of a new commissioner to replace Greg Skrepenak, who in December resigned after he was also caught up in the federal corruption probe, and handling delicate court matters that landed on his lap when President Judge Mark Ciavarella resigned and was arrested.

In less than one year as president judge, Muroski ordered a hiring, wage and transfer freeze of all court personnel, ended the budget impasse with county commissioners and has been required to provide monthly updates of the progress being made within the court system in the wake of the corruption scandal to state Chief Justice Ronald D. Castille.

He also directed Judge Hugh Mundy to create a committee that implemented significant changes to the procedure used to appoint neutral arbitrators in uninsured motorist cases.

“He’s handled it all with grace,” said District Attorney Jackie Musto Carroll. “There was a lot to deal with this year.”

More than any of those tasks, Muroski, 70, of Bear Creek Village, said, his biggest accomplishment might be bringing a sense of “collegiality” between judges. He said the system set up by Ciavarella and his predecessor Michael Conahan made the courthouse cold and unwelcoming to judges not in their small clique.

“It was the first time in 28 years as judge there was real collegiality in the court. I had not experienced this before,” Muroski said.

Muroski said that he saw to it that judges were able to share opinions and offer suggestions and felt free to meet with each other. He said impromptu chats over coffee amongst judges have become weekly occurrences.

That congeniality and openness was an important step behind the scenes to make sure the courthouse is run the right way and openly so anything questionable can be nipped in the bud before it’s implemented.

Muroski’s secretary, Sean Duesler, said he was proud of his boss’ accomplishments and they are deserving of recognition.

“In the face of what would become a worldwide known judicial scandal, he took charge, consistently addressing the public and working with the court en banc as a single body to change court policies and procedures to what may very well become the statewide model,” Duesler said.

Sheila Saidman, president of the Luzerne County Bar Association, said the job Muroski’s done earned him the association’s President’s Award. It was the first time a sitting judge garnered that honor.

And while he didn’t ask for the spotlight to shine on him, he’s understood what needed to be done once it did.

“Certainly he has risen to the occasion,” Augello said.

On Jan. 24, a Saturday, a group of judges gathered to discuss Ciavarella’s pending resignation of his position as president judge.

Muroski said he spoke up and told his colleagues he would take the position if they’d have him. “I’d like to do this. I think I can do this,” he recalled saying to them.

They listened.

Addressing those gathered in the courthouse on Jan. 26, just hours before federal prosecutors announced Ciavarella and Senior Judge Conahan had been charged with receiving more than $2.6 million in kickbacks in exchange for rulings they made that financially benefited a juvenile detention facility, Muroski was reserved as he spoke. It was a lot to be taking in for one morning. He went from just another judge serving out his final year before state-mandated retirement to being told that two colleagues were bringing shame to the bench and he, as the most senior member of the county’s judiciary, was being asked to become president judge for a few days until his colleagues elected someone to the post.

Four days later, county and district judges descended the rotunda stairs at the courthouse in their black robes. Muroski had been elected president judge and he addressed those gathered. He promised change shortly after he took the oath to serve as president judge, saying he won’t be a “dictator” and will “share responsibility with everybody.”

“No president judge should ever again have the ability to act unilaterally to the detriment of the other members of the bench and the citizens of Luzerne County,” Muroski said that day. “Our citizens deserve to have a judiciary above reproach, forthright with information and absolutely transparent.”

The comments were knocks on the Ciavarella and Conahan regimes, known for secrecy, a lack of input from their colleagues and little, if any, openness with the media.

Augello said, “We were consulted whenever a significant court administration decision had to be made. It was not nearly that situation the past five years. Judge Muroski returned to the norm of the way we operated (before Conahan and Ciavarella assumed the president judge posts).”

Muroski said he was “very excited and overwhelmed by the confidence of my colleagues and the task at hand.” And he made sure that when he steps down as president judge at midnight tonight, the court will be in better shape than it was when he assumed the post 11 months earlier.

He said, “I have been assured by the individuals that have expressed an interest (in the president judge post)” that they’ll continue the transparency of the courts and the free-flow of opinions and ideas amongst judges.

Prashant Shitut, president of the Wilkes-Barre Publishing Co., said the selection of a person of the year will become an annual feature.

“We took the initiative to start a local tradition of singling out an individual who made a significant impact on the area and the news.”

Muroski said his selection in the program’s inaugural year is an “unexpected honor.”

Andrew M. Seder, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 570-829-7269.