From five judicial hopefuls, two major parties are to nominate in May 16 primary
Candidates Kristin Clingerman, left, Joyce Hatfield-Wise and Charles Kurowski participate Wednesday in the Washington County League of Women Voters and Bar Association judicial candidates forum at the DoubleTree Hotel in Meadow Lands.
Candidates Phillippe Melograne, left, and Brandon Neuman participate Wednesday in the Washington County League of Women Voters and Bar Association judicial candidates forum at the DoubleTree Hotel in Meadow Lands.
Around the League of Women Voters, it’s known as the “Diana Irey Rule.”
During a county commissioners’ race and candidates’ forum sponsored years ago by the League of Women Voters of Washington County, Irey, now Diana Irey Vaughan, brought a mixing bowl, water and sand and, from accounts written at the time, she really stirred up a hornet’s nest.
Since then, the league instituted a “no props” policy for candidate events like the one it co-sponsored for judicial hopefuls Wednesday night with Washington County Bar Association at the DoubleTree Hotel in Meadow Lands.
The Diana Irey Rule didn’t keep candidate Charles Kurowski, who had the final turn during closing statements in the 90-minute forum, from unfurling a yardslong computer printout list of approximately 1,100 cases he’s filed in the Washington County prothonotary’s office, telling the audience no other candidate on the dais could match his output.
Although she had already spoken what the unsuspecting spectators figured were her final words, candidate Kristin Clingerman, an assistant district attorney and former assistant public defender, immediately took Kurowski to task, calling his paper cascade “completely incorrect” and telling the audience her cases were filed in the clerk of courts row office at the courthouse. Even then, computerized tally of attorney filings would not show Clingerman as the prosecutor because she worked on behalf of former district attorneys John C. Pettit and Steve Toprani, District Attorney Gene Vittone and Public Defender Glenn Alterio, although she has had a civil practice in the past.
Kurowski, 64, of Canton Township, said after the forum he was surprised Clingerman came out swinging verbally because she had 82 cases, according to his totals. In contrast, he said State Rep. Brandon Neuman, 35, of North Strabane Township, had zero.
Neuman said afterwards he has participated in civil litigation on behalf of senior citizens who alleged negligence in nursing homes that he has not initiated, and that when he represented the commonwealth of Pennsylvania in driver’s license suspension cases, the plaintiff would have been listed, not as Neuman, but the commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
Phillippe Melograne, 55, of Peters Township, who was appointed to the Washington County bench by then-Gov. Ed Rendell, serving in 2011 through 2012, said he was “disappointed” at Kurowski’s visual aid.
Joyce Hatfield-Wise, 52, of Amwell Township, former solicitor for the Washington County Children and Youth Services agency, said her cases dealing with juvenile delinquency are logged in the clerk of courts. She is now a court-appointed “guardian ad litem” representing the interests of individual children, in cases that would have been filed in Orphan’s Court.
Prothonotary Joy Schury Ranko, who ran the tallies associated with each attorney’s name, said the printout was generated Wednesday from an archive search of “appearances entered” that dated to 1988, the first year of computerization of records in the office.
Earlier in the evening, each candidate had the opportunity to try to persuade voters. Clingerman, 53, of South Strabane Township, said she has devoted more than half of her life to public service,with extensive experience in criminal law resulting from daily forays into courtrooms before myriad judges.
Hatfield-Wise pointed to her 19 years of legal practice, including her 18 years as legal adviser to Children and Youth Services. “My goal is to serve you,” she said.”That’s really my mission.
Kurowski touted 10 cases in which county judges’ decisions were overturned by appellate courts and noted he called out a “stench from the Washington County bench” in one of his more recent runs for judge, pointing to the prosecution of former judge Paul Pozonsky, who served jail time after admitting to stealing cocaine evidence brought to his courtroom.
In addition to his judicial experience, Melograne said he has “spent over 20 years in private practice representing people instead of corporations.” As a prosecutor in Allegheny County, he has handled homicide cases and said he “still receives Christmas cards from people whose lives I turned around.”
Neuman, who was elected to the state House of Representatives in 2010, noted he has been a member of the Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing, helping to come up with a risk assessment tool judges across the state will be using. He also emphasized the role of the judiciary in stemming the tide of heroin addiction.
All candidates have cross-filed. Barring the entry of any independent candidates in the race after primary season is past, the next member of the Washington County bench will be a graduate of Duquesne University School of Law. The five candidates are all alumni.