Jul 20, 2007 By Kori Walter For The 3 min read

HARRISBURG – Pennsylvania voters made history in November 2005 by tossing Supreme Court Justice Russell M. Nigro out of office in the wake of an unpopular pay raise for lawmakers, judges and other top state officials. The Pennsylvania Bar Association does not believe Justice Thomas G. Saylor deserves the same fate, according to ratings the group released on Wednesday.

The bar association Judicial Evaluation Commission recommended retaining Saylor for a second, 10-year term on the state’s highest court. Supreme Court Justices are paid $175,236 per year.

“His tenure on the Supreme Court has earned him the respect of members of the bar and his fellow justices for his intellect, honesty and temperament,” the commission wrote in its evaluation of Saylor.

The evaluations were based on reviews of Saylor’s answers to a questionnaire, an analysis of written opinions, and interviews with judges and lawyers who have worked with Saylor.

Saylor, a Somerset County native, was elected to the court in 1997 after serving four years on the state Superior Court.

Saylor is one of eight appeals court judges seeking retention in the Nov. 6 general election. The bar association has recommended retaining all eight.

The bar association’s recommended rating was no help to Nigro two years ago.

Nigro became the first Pennsylvania Supreme Court justice to fail to hold onto his seat since the state started holding retention votes for judges in 1968.

PA CleanSweep, a Lebanon County-based grass-roots advocacy group, campaigned heavily to oust Nigro and recruit candidates for legislative seats. The group capitalized on public outrage after lawmakers voted to boost their own pay by as much as 34 percent and increase judges’ salaries.

The Legislature repealed the raises after Nigro’s loss and months of unrelenting public criticism.

Russ Diamond, PA CleanSweep chairman, said his group has not been active in the 2007 judicial retention races, but probably will be this fall.

“Although there may not be that raw anger that there was in 2005, I think that people have had enough time since the pay raise to understand how the system works in Pennsylvania,” Diamond said. “I think they are putting the pieces together and understand that something needs to be done with all three branches of state government.”

Saylor also appears mindful of the public’s post-pay raise mood.

He was the lone dissenting vote in a September ruling that reinstated pay raises for judges. The ruling also allowed lawmakers to keep the unvouchered expenses collected before they repealed the pay hikes.

Saylor’s retention campaign Web site highlights that ruling along with other opinions in which he supported greater public access to government records.

The bar association also recommended retaining the following appeals court judges this year:

Superior Court

*Joan Orie Melvin

*Michael T. Joyce

*John L. Musmanno

*Correale F. Stevens

Commonwealth Court

*Bonnie B. Leadbetter

*Bernard L. McGinley

*Doris Smith-Ribner

Kori Walter can be reached at 717-705-6330 or begin kwalter@phillyburbs.com kwalter@phillyburbs.com end

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