Posted on 11/09/2005 1:58:41 AM PST by Kaslin
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Pennsylvanians have denied a state Supreme Court justice a second term, a sign of the public's anger at lawmakers for pushing through a pay raise last summer. A second justice won another term only narrowly.
Justice Russell M. Nigro, who got 49 percent of vote Tuesday, was the first statewide judge to be turned out of office in a yes-or-no retention election in the 36 years such elections have been held.
A Democrat, Nigro received strong support in and around his native Philadelphia but was overwhelmed by lopsided margins in south-central and southwestern regions of the state, where opposition to the pay raise was concentrated.
Justice Sandra Schultz Newman won a second term with 54 percent of the vote, a close margin for a retention election. In the last judicial election in 2001, the three jurists on the ballot all were retained by margins of 3-1.
Both candidates shifted their campaigns into high gear last week as lawmakers cast preliminary but decisive votes to repeal the pay-raise law - passed during the dead of night July 7 with no public notice or hearings. Legislators had increased their salaries 16 percent to 34 percent to at least $81,050 - more than any state except California.
Activists who protested the raises suggested the court bore some responsibility for the climate of secrecy in state government.
Nigro's term ends in January, when Gov. Ed Rendell will appoint a temporary successor. Voters will elect a replacement justice to a 10-year term in November 2007.
Citizen activists who advocated "no" votes on retaining the two justices cheered Nigro's defeat.
"It's a clear signal that Pennsylvanians have awoke from their long slumber," said Russ Diamond, chairman of PACleanSweep, a political action committee that aims to challenge incumbent legislators.
Nigro did not return a telephone message early Wednesday.
This is the 2nd best thing that could have happened.
Congratulations Pennsylvania
Props 2-5 in Ohio went down handily as well......thank god now I can breathe easier.
Take THAT, you hogs!
Grass roots grow results.
This is the 2nd best thing that could have happened.
I agree that this is a good thing, but if this is the 2nd best, what is the best?
'Bout time ordinary citizens woke up to the fact that we have a new American privileged class. With no sense of irony they call themselves "public servants". They vote themselves pay raises, benefits exceeding anything in the private sector, early retirement with generous pensions, holidays and vacations to-die-for, excellent health insurance with tiny co-pays....(need I go on?).
Now add to that the lucrative market they create for themselves in after-government jobs. Based on the training we gave them, they leave gov't in mid-career and cash in on "consulting"---showing private companies how to game the system they supposedly supported on the inside.
All these benefits in jobs they've designed to have no accountability, no expectation of achieving goals---let me correct that, there ARE no "goals" as we know them out here in the market economy.
And all the while they get kudos from the media and politicians for their "dedicated" public service, as if a desk jockey at Interior is sooooo superior to the guy who works all his life in the accounting department at Sears.
I did my part!
Those bastards have got to be crapping their pants this morning.
Sweet! We did good!
I voted against the b******s
Hopefully, this is a sign that the tide is turning, so to speak. Next up: vote out Fast Eddie.
Maybe Ridge's phone calls to retain Newman are what saved her.
Henry Adams
Applies to state legislators, too :)
Hopefully, this is a sign that the tide is turning, so to speak. Next up: vote out Fast Eddie.
Don't reserve your anger for him, make sure you vote against your state rep AND senator if they're up for election next year too. Rendell isn't the only problem in this state. The GOP controlled priviliged class, errrr, legislature is a major impediment to our lives being any better as well.
What blows my mind is that in Florida right after the 2000 election fiasco, the next time FLSC judges came up for retention they all won by large margins. Sigh.
"Why in the world would you turn out a judge because the lawmakers voted in a pay raise?"
There was a lot of behind the scenes stuff about this pay hike that out of staters don't know. Why pick on the judges? Because one of the people that Rendell sent out to tell the electorate what a good deal this pay hike was for them was a judge named Ralph Cappy, who said stupid things like [on why judges need so much more money] "How would they send their kids to college?" Their childrens college is no more my problem than my children's college is theirs. The elected (and appointed) class in this state need a wake up call, and the time is now. Throw the bums out, every single one of them.
Because the justices have supported the illegal pay raises in their decisions and the Chief Justice was one of the moving forces behind the whole pay raise idea. He was intimately involved in the negotiations and discussions before the legislature passed this scheme.
Once again, my state leads. Sigh.
And I'm stuck here. FOR EVER
Dan
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