PA Judicial Elections Among Most Costly In USA

Pennsylvania had the nation’s second costliest judicial elections in 2009-2010, an election cycle that posed some of the gravest threats yet to fair and impartial justice in America, a new report by three nonpartisan legal reform groups discloses.

Campaign spending exceeded $5.4 million for one open seat on the Pennsylvania State Supreme Court. That trailed only Michigan in the 2009-10 election cycle. Pennsylvania retained its designation as the nation’s costliest state for high court races since 2007, with candidates and interest groups spending a total of  $15.5 million for the 2007-10 period.

Examining all state high-court elections, candidates and special-interest groups spent a total of $38.4 million in 2009-10, and a growing portion of that money was spent by a small number of secretive interest groups.

“Pennsylvania has become a national symbol of special-interest pressure on our courts of law,” said Bert Brandenburg, executive director of the Justice at Stake Campaign, a nonpartisan legal reform group.

“Pennsylvanians are concerned that campaign contributions affect what happens later in the courtroom,” said Lynn A. Marks, executive director of Pennsylvanians for Modern Courts, a partner of the Justice at Stake Campaign. “As elections become more expensive and as it becomes easier for corporations, unions and special interests to pour money into judicial campaigns, Pennsylvanians will continue to worry that justice is for sale.”

The report, entitled “The New Politics of Judicial Elections, 2009-10,” was released today by the Justice at Stake Campaign, the Brennan Center for Justice and the National Institute on Money and State Politics. It is available at www.newpoliticsreport.org.

According to the report, just two groups accounted for more than half of all candidate fundraising in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court election of 2009. The state GOP poured $1.4 million into Republican Joan Orie Melvin’s ultimately successful campaign, while the Philadelphia Trial Lawyers Association donated $1.37 million to Democrat Jack Panella.

Super spender groups drove the 2009 Pennsylvania election, and for a time, the role of one of them was murky. The Pennsylvania GOP claimed during the campaign that its TV ads were being aired independently of Justice Orie Melvin’s election bid.  After the election, however, the party updated its campaign finance reports and treated more than a million dollars in TV ads as an in-kind contribution to the Orie Melvin campaign.

A series of “New Politics” reports since 2000 has highlighted skyrocketing special-interest spending that has altered the face of state Supreme court contests and eroded public confidence in fair and impartial courts.

According to a national poll released today, 83 percent of voters believe that campaign contributions have a “great deal” or “some” influence on a judge’s decisions.

The poll also showed that 63 percent support the core ideas of a merit selection system, in which the governor appoints judges from a list vetted by a panel of civic and legal leaders, and that once on the bench, these judges face the voters in periodic retention elections.

That mirrors a 2010 poll showing that three out of four Pennsylvanians believe campaign contributions influence judges’ decisions, and that 62 percent favor merit selection of judges.  http://www.pmconline.org/files/one%20pager%20on%20poll_0.pdfp

  Pennsylvania ranks in the forefront of states where legislators are seeking a switch from partisan election to a merit selection system; five current and former governors have endorsed this plan.

The total of $38.4 million spent across the nation in 2009-10 was somewhat less than the amount spent in the last non-presidential election cycle, in 2005-06. However, $16.8 million was spent on TV advertising, making 2009-10 the costliest non-presidential cycle for TV spending in judicial elections. Of that total, $3.35 million was spent on TV advertising in Pennsylvania.

Across the country, outside groups continued their hostile attempts to take over state high court elections, pumping in nearly 30 percent of all money spent – far higher than four years earlier.

About the Organizations

Pennsylvanians for Modern Courts

Pennsylvanians for Modern Courts is a nonpartisan statewide court reform organization working for fair and impartial courts that serve all Pennsylvanians.  We are a partner of the Justice at Stake campaign.

Justice at Stake Campaign

The Justice at Stake Campaign is a nonpartisan national partnership working to keep our courts fair, impartial and free from special-interest and partisan agendas. In states across America, Campaign partners work to protect our courts through public education, grass-roots organizing and reform. The Campaign provides strategic coordination and brings organizational, communications and research resources to the work of its partners and allies at the national, state and local levels.

The Brennan Center for Justice

The Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law is a non-partisan public policy and law institute that focuses on fundamental issues of democracy and justice. Our work ranges from voting rights to campaign finance reform, from racial justice in criminal law to presidential power in the fight against terrorism. A singular institution – part think tank, part public interest law firm, part advocacy group – the Brennan Center combines scholarship, legislative and legal advocacy, and communications to win meaningful, measurable change in the public sector.

The National Institute on Money in State Politics 

The National Institute on Money in State Politics collects, publishes, and analyzes data on campaign money in state elections. The database dates back to the 1990 election cycle for some states and is comprehensive for all 50 states since the 1999–2000 election cycle. The Institute has compiled a 50-state summary of state supreme court contribution data from 1989 through the present, as well as complete, detailed databases of campaign contributions for all state high-court judicial races beginning with the 2000 elections.

Pennsylvanians for Modern Courts

Pennsylvanians for Modern Courts is a nonpartisan statewide court reform organization working for fair and impartial courts that serve all Pennsylvanians.  We are a partner of the Justice at Stake campaign.