The LuLac Edition #2409, April 27th, 2013

Lackawanna County Judge Patti Grande Rieder. (Photo: Facebook). 

CANDIDATE CRASHES 

On Thursday afternoon, Lackawanna County Judicial candidate Patti Grande Rieder posted this on Facebook: My campaign hit the airwaves this morning! Please share the video with your family and friends. Thanks very much for your support! She put this commercial up airwaves.  
So far so good, right? Well no. 
Then she submitted to an interview that was previously scheduled with WILK’s Steve Corbett three weeks ago. Broadcast on Thursday between 4 and 5pm and then re-broadcast Friday, the interview was horrible mainly because the candidate was woefully prepared for the questions from Steve Corbett. Campaign Media 101 states that any question you will be asked by the media already knows the answer. So it is how you respond to the question. 
Grande Rieder did not respond well. Or coherently. Her prior career was in the Lackawanna County Judiciary with the man she hopes to replace, Judge Chester Harhut. She was a Family Court Master. Apparently somewhere along the line, she was let go and then reinstated. But her responses were so foggy and unclear that to the average listener, she sounded evasive. By not answering the question clearly, she did what no political person wants anyone to do, speculate badly on who they are. 
All she had to do was say this: “Every day of my twenty-three year legal career has prepared me for the role of Lackawanna County Judge. I have worked for some of the most respected jurists on both the federal and state court benches – the Honorable Richard P. Conaboy, who at the time was the Chief Judge of the Middle District of Pennsylvania, the Honorable Thomas I. Vanaskie, presently a member of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, and most recently with the Honorable Thomas J. Munley, President Judge of the Lackawanna County Court of Common Pleas. As a Special Hearing Master in the Lackawanna County Court of Common Pleas, I have presided over thousands of cases, many of which protected the elderly from fraud and children from abuse. I pledge to use my experience and my knowledge to protect the rights of our citizens, make our communities safer, and ensure that Lackawanna County remains a wonderful place to live.”
That’s from her website. If you notice the people on Cable TV, all they do is stick to the script. She didn’t! Couldn’t. 
Grande Rieder was also heard in her conversation to be prompted by someone with her. Not good. When she is on the bench, no one will be whispering in her ear when she is presiding. Then when she denied Corbett’s question whether or not she was prompted, (and folks this is radio) she told Corbett "I don't know. I don't know what you're talking about". 
What mystifies me is that no one, not even the candidate pulled the plug on this interview. If she were my wife, my sister, my candidate, I’d lunge for the phone and pull it out of the wall. Or if she was on a cell phone, I’d take it from her and throw it in the water cooler. Anything to stop the carnage.
On the candidate’s Facebook page, there are three people I know  listed as friends of the campaign. One is a political savvy guy I respect, the other two are involved in the media. (One I worked with years ago, the other I worked with in the Luzerne County Judicial trials when I was covering the cases for WYLN TV 35.) I wish she had consulted one of the three of them before she did this interview. 
In her discussion with Corbett, she talked about the appearance of impropriety and how a Judge has to surpass that bar. In her case, she should have been more concerned about the appearance of incompetence and incoherence than anything else.

Jeffrey Kulick, Girard Mecadon, Len Sanguedolce, Mark Singer, Art Bobbouine, James Red O'Brien, Qiana Murphy Lehman and Alexandra Kokura, at a recent forum in the Pittston Area. (Photo: Citizen’s Voice) 

PASSING THE TEST 

When the Magisterial system was set up in the early 1970s to replace the old Justice of the Peace system, it streamlined the number of levels of law your average citizen needed to go through if arrested or wanted to file a small claims case. The Magisterial system also created a lower Judiciary where probable cause could be found in a criminal case. Known as inferior courts of limited jurisdiction magistrates routinely handle landlord-tenant matters, small civil claims (cases involving amount in controversy up to $12000), summary offenses, violations of municipal ordinances, and preliminary hearings and arraignments in greater misdemeanor and felony offenses pursuant to Pennsylvania's Rules of Criminal Procedure. As the lowest level of the Unified Court System, Magistrates operate in all of the 67 counties of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania except for Philadelphia. 
To be a Magistrate, you don’t have to be a lawyer. This was done politically because when the change happened, there were many popular Justices of the Peace in various towns all across the state who had the life experience but not necessarily the law degree. Those who are non lawyers have to pass a certification course prior to serving. 
In Luzerne and Lackawanna Counties, the Magisterial system has been a feeding ground for Attorneys who later went on to become candidates or actually Common Pleas Court Judges. District Justices like Joseph Augello, Fred Pierantoni, William Amesbury (the late Michael Collins who held a DJ seat came very close in his bid) and the otherwise occupied Michael Conahan used the DJ office as a springboard toward a seat on Common Pleas Court. DJ Joe Carmody made a bid for State Representative prior to his time in the Courts. 
In Lackawanna County, Magistrates Alyce Hailstone Farrell, and James Gibbons are entered into a race this year to replace Chester Harhut. In the past, long time Mid Valley DJ John Pieski made a few attempts to become a Common Pleas Court Judge. So it is a good career move if you are an aspiring lawyer and want to get exposure. 
On the other hand, the non lawyers have served with distinction in their time. James Tupper in the Back Mountain, Paul Roberts in Kingston, Martin Kane in Wilkes Barre, Joseph Zola in Hazleton and Mike Dotzel in Wilkes Barre Township are non lawyers who have the respect of the legal system. As a matter of fact, the late Andrew Barilla and John Bednarz Senior are still highly regarded as two of the very best Magistrates around in their time sans degree. So if you ask someone is a lawyer more qualified than a non lawyer to be a Magistrate, the ultimate opinion lies with the voter. 
Attorneys have run against the likes of Martin Kane and Paul Roberts only to go down to defeat. In the Magisterial race to replace Bill Amesbury, Wilkes Barre Councilman Rick Cronauer faced off against more than one Attorney and prevailed. So it all comes down to name recognition as well as campaign organization. 

In the Greater Pittston Area to fill Fred Pierantoni’s seat, these are the candidates. 

Mark A. Singer, has served as an Assistant District Attorney for Luzerne County, First Assistant Liaison to the Lower Lackawanna/Upper Luzerne County Drug Task Force., Juvenile Public Defender for Lehigh County, and a Public Defender for Luzerne County. 
Art Bobbouine, 37, of Pittston, acting Luzerne County prothonotary and former chief deputy sheriff.

Alexandra Kokura, 30, of Dupont, a Lackawanna County court master, a judicial officer for the court. 

Jeffrey Kulick, 27, of Hughestown, who runs the Kulick Law Firm in Exeter. 

Girard "Jerry" Mecadon, 47, of Jenkins Township, who runs a law office in Pittston and is an assistant public defender

Qiana Murphy Lehman, 37, of Dupont, a Luzerne County court master and trial attorney for the Brady and Grabowski law firm. 

James "Red" O'Brien, 44, of Pittston, who is the former Luzerne County Recorder of Deeds, former Avoca mayor, 

and former Pittston Area School Board president. 
Len Sanguedolce, 34, of Pittston, who operates his own law office in Pittston. (Source: Citizen’s Voice-Bob Kalinowski) 
So it appears that in the Greater Pittston Judicial race, the only two people having to take the certification test are Red O’Brien and Art Bobbouine. They must take it before they can serve. So they might want to hit the books between the beer and chips events at the Knights in Pittston. 
The interesting thing about this race is that it is anyone’s to call. You can’t even say there is any gender or ethnic advantage since there are multiple Italians and women in the race. Flip a coin but my guess is it will be a lawyer following the career path of two the three previous Magistrates in the Greater Pittston Area.