Re: [UC]Judicial Elections 2005

[Anthony West]

My personal recommendation -- as a former political editor who used to specialize in Pennsylvania judicial politics, but also as a busy voter with little time to research and decide about these individuals, about whom it is impossible to learn much -- is as follows:   Always vote NO on judicial retention. Every single judge, every single time. NO.   The reasoning is that the cards are immeasurably stacked in favor of judges' winning retention races. If any judge has EVER been defeated for retention, I can't remember it. So if you vote NO on retaining a judge who happens, unbeknownst to you, to be great -- relax, it won't hurt him. The only way your NO vote could actually have an impact on a race would be if a judge were so outstandingly abominable that he had actually overwhelmed voter apathy and ignorance with his awfulness. If yours was the deciding vote that pushed such a clod off the bench -- well, it probably would be a good thing.   So from now on, make your voting task easier. Just say NO to judges. It's the right thing to do.   -- Tony West