As I told you earlier this month, the Northampton County Bar Association has decided to the eight candidates seeking three vacancies this year. Questionnaires were sent to the 425 full members, and 201 responses were tabulated by a CPA because everyone knows lawyers can't count. Lawyers were asked to rate candidates as well qualified, qualified or not qualified.The results are in, and Judge Leonard Zito leads the pack of of well qualified candidates with 138 votes, followed by Sam Murray (104), Candy Barr Heimbach (76), Karl Longenbach (70), Barb Hollenbach (67), Jim Narlesky (51), Craig Dally (50) and Michael Koury (16).
Michael Koury is top vote getter in one race he'd just as soon lose. Sixty-seven Northampton County lawyers consider Koury "unqualified" to be a judge. He got nearly twice as many votes as Craig Dally, rated "unqualified" by thirty-four barristers. Other candidates come in as follows: Jim Narlesky (17), Candy Barr Heimbach (15), Barb Hollenbach (11), Lenny Zito (7), Karl Longenbach (6) and Sam Murray (4).
Did Candy Barr Heimbach get 76 or 15 votes? She is listed twice.
ReplyDeleteMickey, They are all listed twice. 76 attorneys think her "well qualified," while 15 rate her "not qualified."
ReplyDeleteAnd so on.
For example, 16 lawyers rate Michael Koury as "highly qualified," but 67 consider him uinqualified.
Perhaps this taps into the real reason Koury's campaign flier quotes three 2001 editorials highlighting that he "refuse(s) to take campaign contributions from local attorneys"?? Easy to refuse whats not being offered (??).
ReplyDeleteThough those editorials are 8 years old.
Lighthouse, Koury refused to accept attorney contributions in his previous rus and refuses them now. But I am checking into something and can't be more specific until the finance reports are filed.
ReplyDeleteI hope you go to Josie's and get the eight year old tuna salad she has for you.
ReplyDeleteWith lots of mayo.
ReplyDeleteWere the candidates ultimately labeled as "well qualified", "qualified" or "not qualified?" If so, do you have those results or directions on how to find them?
ReplyDeleteThanks
No, There was no ultimate rating by the bar. What was released was the actual raw data, the compilation of the votes of the 201 members who responded to the survey.
ReplyDeleteA majority of that 201 finds that Lenny Zito and Sam Murray are "well qualified." The candidate receiving the highest number of "not qualified" votes was Michael Koury, with 67 of 201 respondents concluding he does not belong on the bench at all.
Sorry for the mis-reading and subsequent dumb question last night. We'll blame it on wearing my regular glasses instead of my computer glasses
ReplyDeleteit appears that dally isn't well-respected by his peers either (though not as bad as koury). shame is that he'll still likely win a seat.
ReplyDeleteI would worry more about a candidate who is overwhelmingly backed by the Bar Association...I don't think they get backing because of how much trial knowledge the candidate has, but rather how often you can count them in your corner that matters most. Obviously Judge Zito sits well with the "good old boys" and don't you feel the need to ask WHY??
ReplyDeleteI know why. Zito is highly qualified. I've seen it myself, and I say this as someone who did not support him when he first ran. He won me over and won over the lawyers thru his fine temperament, intelligence and work ethic. I've not seen a finer judge.
ReplyDeleteSam Murray, another highly rated candidate, is no good ol' boy. He avoids politics and has spent his career being the best lawyer he could possibly be. He is dedication personified.
Karl Longenbach has the best temperament of them all, and did well because he should have done well.
I do not know Candy Barr Heimbach, but she has to be pleased that her colleagues view her so favorably.
Craig did not do so well, but that's to be expected. Most attorneys have not seen him in action bc he is in Harrisburg. But he is another excellenet lawyer who would have been rated much higher if more lawyers knew him.
Michael Koury, unlike Craig, is already known by these attorneys. They appear before him now. It's disturbing to see that 1/3 consider him unqualified.
Thanks for the comment.
"Candy Barr Heinbach", wasn't that a dancer in Vegas in that 1970's?
ReplyDeleteHow can you take a Judge named Candy Barr seriously, unless you are shooting an exotic film.
May be a cute and funney name for a young attorney but Judge.
I like her name.
ReplyDeleteBernie are you saying that Koury has accepted money from attorneys in this campaign? That would be very bad for his campaign.
ReplyDeleteKoury refused to accept attorney contributions in his previous rus and refuses them now, according to what he tells Sarah Cassi.
ReplyDeleteBernie O'Hare wrote
ReplyDelete"Lighthouse, Koury refused to accept attorney contributions in his previous rus and refuses them now. But I am checking into something and can't be more specific until the finance reports are filed."
Does this mean you have information that Koury accepted money from lawyers and it is going to appear on his reports?
"Does this mean you have information that Koury accepted money from lawyers and it is going to appear on his reports?" - No. I want to see what the campaign finance reports say.
ReplyDeleteNarlesky and Hollenbach already filed their reports online. How comes the others have not filed??
ReplyDeleteI'll have to check that out. The report is supposed to include contributions and expenses thru May 4th. How can they file a report before that date?
ReplyDeleteIt is for contributions and expenses through some day in April.
ReplyDeleteI see. That would mean they filed a 6th Tuesday pre-primary report, which is only required for candidates for statewide office.
ReplyDeleteLongenbach filed, too.
ReplyDeleteHas Koury ever repersented a real person? Has he done anything outside the Lebanese/Catholic community?
ReplyDelete