Justice Nigro says voters 'irrational' for ousting him (PA Supreme Court voter backlash!)

AP via the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ^ | Thursday, November 10, 2005

[ellery]

State Supreme Court Justice Russell M. Nigro, the first state-level judge ever denied another 10-year term, says he was the victim of "misguided" outrage over the pay-raise law the Legislature approved in July.

"It doesn't make any difference whether you're good, bad or indifferent -- you're gone," Nigro told The Philadelphia Inquirer. "What (voters) did was an irrational thing. They sent a misguided missile."

The election came on the heels of a dramatic, albeit stalled, effort in the Legislature to repeal a four-month-old pay raise law that has riled voters. With no other state-level officials up for election this year, citizen groups that opposed the pay raise trained their sights on defeating the justices as a way to register public disenchantment with state government.

"I don't know what they thought they accomplished by knocking me out of the box," he said.

[Sterm26]

I think the city Dems got blindsided on this one, they never expected the vote to be this close and didn't make their usual vote-stealing provisions....

I apolgize, Nigro was not the Judge involved with the pay-raise legislation, is was Cheif Justice Cappy, another one making remarks about how "irrational" we are.

[philsfan24]

good point about the vote stealing. they didnt see it coming.

nigro can start whining about getting ousted unfairly when he explains why taxpayers have to pay for $300 lunches at 4 seasons hotels.

[Sterm26]

I also apologize for my atrocious typing!


Just reading his reaction makes me happy, after all the "Pubs are Doomed" press I've been seeing over the past 2 days.

[Sterm26]

And one more thing, this morning's Inquirer has this choice quote from PA Rep. Frank LaGrtotta )D-Lawrence):

"I see a very good Supreme Court justice who was targeted by people who were trying to prove a point. And that's sad," he said. "Even the mafia has a code of ethics where innocents are not targeted"

Nice, now the voters are worse than the mob?

Cast them all out...ALL of them!

[Sisku Hanne]

Nigro should go drown his sorrows in another $85 bottle of whine.
Or will he drink "Two-Buck Chuck" now that it's on his dime?

[ILikeFriedman]

The normal "No" vote for PA Supreme Court Judges is 20%. This rejection is sending a much needed earthquake through Harrisburg.

[mosquitobite]

Love it! That'll help remind the voters in 2006 that these politicians think they DESERVE their position - not WORK for it!

[jim_trent]

Or he could have said, "The people have spoken. Damn them".

(I don't remember who first said it)

[Reagan80]

Well, maybe.

But; most of these judge retention elections are 80Y/20N or better. It's never even been close for any retention election, let alone kicking the candidate out.

If you are saying the judge had NOTHING to do with it, that's not correct. The Supreme Court vote some years ago to permit the "unvouchered expenses" for the legislature that were used in the pay grab was 6-0 - Nigro was part of that vote. So he did have SOMETHING to do with it; not that he could have stopped it, having only one vote.

The way I see it: 1 down, 5 to go...

Reagan80

[cynicom]

Let the human parasite get a job.

[dearolddad]

So even judges have a sense of entitlement these days?

We're toast

Perhaps someone should remind this moron that he serves at the pleasure of the people.

[bigsigh]

I don't see the rubberstamped part in the article. Was there a court case?

[Czar]

Outstanding!

A few more of these, and even the most dense of our judicial crapweasels will get the message.

[ellery]

The legislators violated the plain language of the PA Constitution in two different ways:

-They passed the paygrab in the middle of the night with no public debate; the Constitution requires three days of public debate on such things. The PA supreme court, including Nigro, rubberstamped this unConstitutional practice in previous court cases, clearing the way for the legislature to use it here. Given the lasting voter outrage about the paygrab here, it's likely that if the legislature had been held to the Constitution by the judiciary, the paygrab wouldn't have passed.

-They made the payraise effective immediately by calling it an "unvouchered expense" -- in direct violation of the PA Constitution, which says that any payraises passed in a given term must not go into effect until after the next election. The PA supreme court, including Nigro, rubberstamped the practice of "unvouchered expenses" as a way to get around the state Constitutional restraints on government payraises.

So, Nigro and his supreme court cronies rubberstamped the unConstitutional measures that made this thievery possible. In addition, the chief justice openly endorsed and lobbied for the grab. It's literally a conspiracy among all the branches to enrich themselves by running roughshod over Constitutional limits on government.

[bigsigh]

Thanx

[theFIRMbss]

>"What (voters) did was an irrational thing. They sent a misguided missile."

The Constitution
says we must be rational?!
That's gonna change things . . .

[Petronski]

Including the stress, it is pronounced NYE-grow.

[Petronski]

I think Russell should STFU and go away.

[oh8eleven]

A true 'deer in the headlights' look.
Haaaaaaa - my first thought too! Photo must have been taken right after they announced the final vote tallies. LOL ...

[joanie-f]

I don't know how familiar you are with the background circumstances behind Justice (an oxymoron, if there ever was one) Nigro's ouster. (If you are, just skim the next few paragraphs. :)

What happened yesterday to Nigro should serve as a sterling example of what should happen on a national scale to that majority of our 'leadership' that chooses to ignore constitutional parameters in deference to enhancing their own power, furthering their own political agenda, or lining their own pockets.

Back on July 7th, the Pennsylvania legislature passed a 'midnight' bill, without public debate, according pay raises to themselves and the state judiciary – raises ranging from 16% to 54%. The chief justice of the state supreme court labeled the pay-raise vote 'courageous'. Conservative voters saw it otherwise.

The legislature passed this bill, while also continuing to pass ever more freedom-robbing legislation, while providing no financial wherewithal to implement it – thus burdening our local governments with more bureaucratic hoops through which we must jump, and no state money to help us maneuver through the obstacle course.

Conservatives here in the mid-state went into action. We circulated petitions, called our local news outlets and demanded that they publicize the outrage and keep it in the forefront of the voters' minds (for four months) until yesterday's election, spoke to whomever was willing to listen, and generally took to the streets to see to it that those in the capital comprehend that we have had our fill of business as usual in Harrisburg.

Several of us in our township composed a pamphlet delineating the unconstitutionality of the pay raise and identifying those who were in agreement with it whose names were on yesterday's ballot. We then stationed ourselves at the four voting district polling places yesterday, and handed the information, and spoke, to anyone willing to read and listen.

I was incredibly surprised to discover how many voters at my polling place were completely informed about the travesty, and how many others were more than willing to listen to the specifics behind the pay raise. I would also estimate that close to half of those with whom I spoke came out to vote specifically to register their outrage over the pay raises.

Justices Nigro and Newman (a Republican who won retention by the skin of her teeth) had the misfortune to be the first statewide officials to find themselves on the ballot since the pay raise was passed. Although they were not specifically responsible for the bill's passage, their past decisions have repeatedly allowed the legislature to circumvent the state constitution with impunity. And, to many conservative mid-state voters, this particular circumvention was the most arrogant of all.

Polls taken over the past few months clearly indicated that outrage over the greed of the legislature, and the complicity of the court, was most concentrated and most vocal in the conservative mid-state (more rural and suburban areas). And residents of the urban areas were more or less resigned to the raise – possibly because they view government unaccountability and corruption as a way of life in their neck of the woods?

Mid-state voters turned out in droves yesterday, considering that this is an off-year election. Turnout was nearly 20% in this part of the state, and Justice Nigro lost by an unprecedented 71% against, 29% for. (Judges seeking to retain their seats are almost always re-seated by close to a 70% affirmative vote.)

On the other end of the spectrum, Nigro took 68% of the vote in Philadelphia, but the turnout there was under 12%.

The legislature finally began to pay attention to the way the political winds were blowing, especially in the mid-state, over the past few weeks. Not just one, but several, bills were hurriedly authored to repeal the infamous pay raise, but the house and senate couldn’t seem to come to a compromise as to its terms.

Considering what happened yesterday to Justice Nigro, I suspect that a pay-raise-repeal bill will now be exponentially more seriously considered, or others who will be on the ballot in 2006 will suffer the same fate as Nigro did yesterday.

Yesterday Pennsylvania (and the mid-state in particular) sent three unmistakable messages to our 'leadership' in Harrisburg:

(1) Arrogant, late-night, behind-the-scenes, self-enriching legislation will no longer be tolerated.

(2) The state constitution is supreme and state 'leaders' are obliged to uphold it. Unconstitutional legislation will no longer be endured.

(3) Likewise, our 'leaders' are accountable to those who placed them in office. Arrogance and condescension toward the electorate will have visible repercussions.

~ joanie …