Nancy Aaroe and Brian Panella are the two only two candidates running to fill the judicial vacancy created when Steve Baratta unexpectedly resigned in the middle of his term. They have cross-filed, meaning they are seeking both the Democratic and Republican nominations on Tuesday. Their campaign finance reports must be filed with Pennsylvania's Department of State because a judge is actually a state position. Last week, Aaroe complained about Panella's finances. Her complaint led me to the realization that lawyers, (local and nonlocal, Democrat and Republican) overwhelmingly support Panella over Aaroe, 88-17,
Nancy Aaroe's pre-primary finance report is located here. She raised $51,626.75 and spent $27,922.40, leaving her with $23,704.35 for the closing days. The money raised includes a $29,807.00 loan that she and her husband Paul made to her campaign. Of the money raised, $5,497.33 came in the form of contributions of $250 and under from 38 people. Northampton County. The larger sums came from 23 people. Her family poured in close to $4000.
She received contributions from 17 different attorneys, 5 of whom maintain a practice in NorCo. Eight of them practice primarily in New Jersey and the Philly area (I have listed them at the end of this story).
Aaroe's Complaint - In a news release and on Facebook, Aaroe attacks Panella for accepting $22,000 from lawyers in the Philadelphia area, which she claims is more than half of the $42,000 in individual contributions reported. "While I've been up here with you, he was collecting checks up and down the Main Line. We need a judge focused on the law, not beholden to Philadelphia lawyers and politicians."
Based on an examination of Panella's Pre-Primary finance report (located here), it's clear that her complaint is actually false.
The Facts - Panella has raised $96,125, nearly twice as much as Aaroe. This includes $53,800 he lent to his campaign. He has spent $91,448.98, which is 3.3 times more than Aaroe. It's an indication that he is trying to win both sides in the primary.
Panella raised far more than $42,000 from individual donors. As his own report makes clear, he raised $9,125 in individual contributions of $250 or under from and $86,000 in individual contributions over $250, including his contribution to himself. There were 124 individual contributions. This amounts to $95,125. .
Aaroe asserts that $22,000 of Panella's funding is from Philly area lawyers and is more than half of the total in individual contributions received. The amount of money raised from Philly area lawyers (I list them below) is $20,700. That's only about 23%, not even a quarter, of the total raised.
Panella also raised $33,100 from lawyers outside of the Philadelphia area (I list them below)
Of the $53,800 Panella raised from lawyers, only 38% are from the Philly area.
Now I suppose you could ignore the First Amendment to argue, and with some merit, that donations from lawyers should be banned in judicial races. But lawyers would counter that they are in a better position than anyone to know whether a candidate would be a good judge. Moreover, Aaroe has been just as willing as Panella to take their money.
What's Really Interesting - Based on these finance reports, 88 attorneys (local and nonlocal, Democrat and Republican) think Brian Panella should be elected judge and are willing to support him financially. Only 17 lawyers are willing to support Aaroe with their money.
This tells me who should be elected.
The Receipts
Nancy Aaroe's lawyer contributors (location and amount): Tom Sundmaker, Stroudsburg, $200; Phil Lauer, Easton, $103.48; Dave Marra, E Stroudsburg, $103.48; Dave Ritter, Macungie, $100; John Zaiter, Schnecksville, $250; Bradford Day, Delaware NJ, $250; Antonia Grifo, Easton, $257.94; Kevin Marciano, West Chester, $500; Gail Williams, Perkasie, $530; George Parrish, Easton, $500; Robert Brasko, Bethlehem, $1,000; Dennis Winegar, P-burg, $300; Jose Valdez, P-burg, $300; Scott Wilhelm, P-burg, $300; Brian Roemersma P-burg, $300; and Grace Curry, Belvidere, $1,545.14.
Brian Panella contributions from Philadelphia-area lawyers: $1,500 donors - Dionysios Rassias, James Beasley, Howell Rosenber; $1,000 donors - Shanin Specter, Tom Kline, John Hare, Joe Messa, Larry Bendesky, Ben Shein, Greg Durlofsky; $700 donors - Robert Rossin; and $500 donors - Ed Nass, Michael Cancelliere, Robert Mongeluzzi, Tracey Hagan, Ryan Stevens, Andrew Trevelise, James Ronca, Daniel Ryan, Kevin O'Brien, Christy Adams, Stewart Eisenberg, Mike Barrett, Bill O'Brien, George Bochetto, Leonard Feldman, Vince Reilly and G Daniel Bruch. This adds up to $20,700, less than the amount alleged by Aaroe.
Brian Panella contributions from lawyers outside the Philly area: $5,000 donor - Mike Perrucci; $1,500 donors - Roseann Joseph, Ray Lahoud (he's everywhere!) Neil O'Donnell; $1,000 donors - Danny Baurkot, Linda Gardner, Robert Brasko, Charles Bruno, Steve Goudsouzian, Theodore Schick, Theresa Hogan, Gary Brienza $750 donor - Dan Polanski; $500 donors - Jill McComsy, Matt Deschler, Matt Sorrentino, Charles Kannebecker, James Nardone, Mary Jo Rabelo, Erik Conrad, Erin Iocobelli, Dave Ceraul, Tim Brennan, Glenn Reibman, Bob Eyer, Don Spry, Joe Leeson, Harry DeWalt, Brady Edwards, Brian Stevens; $350 donors - Joe Yannuzzi, Isaac Hof, Chris Reed, Phil Hof, Jim Madsen, Mark Minotti, Lauren Sorrentino; $250 donors - Dean Berg, Bob Glazier, Danny Cohen, Marty Cohen, Lisa Spitale, Mark Altemose, Dave Backenstoe, Bruce Thomas; $200 donors - Steve Molder, Bob Nitchkey, Nancy Schneiderman, Tom Stitt; and $100 donors - Alex Karam, Mike Riskin, Rich Shiroff, Lenny Mellon, Mike Corriere, Jerry Knafo, Bo Zelechiwsky, Becky Kulik, Danny Spengler, Vanessa Nenni and Alex Ward.
Math is frustrating, Nancy…
ReplyDeleteSorry you aren’t good at it!
What role does his father's position play in influencing those lawyers?
ReplyDeleteThe average citizen should ask him- or herself if, given a choice, would you select the favorite candidate of lawyers - especially lawyers from Third World Philadelphia - or the candidate with far more local support, who is preferred by nearly every law enforcement group, with the curious exception of Easton PD, who must be OK with Panella's cop-hating wokeness.
ReplyDeleteAaroe has less local support and is only endorsed by one FOP. Panella is endorsed by the Easton FOP plus several firefighter organizations and prominent people from across all political parties.
DeleteTo say he hates cops is absolutely hilarious - go away with that wanna-be rhetoric.
Thank you for writing this! Local coverage is needed.
ReplyDelete"What role does his father's position play in influencing those lawyers?
ReplyDeleteI'd say that gives Panella an edge just as Aaroe, as the daughter-in-law of a judge, has an edge. They are both judicial royalty.
"The average citizen should ask him- or herself if, given a choice, would you select the favorite candidate of lawyers - especially lawyers from Third World Philadelphia - or the candidate with far more local support, who is preferred by nearly every law enforcement group, with the curious exception of Easton PD, who must be OK with Panella's cop-hating wokeness."
ReplyDeleteGee, I wonder what party you belong to, lol. Actually, Panella has more local support than Aaroe. He has twice the number of local contributors as she does.
I'd agree that police endorsements are very helpful. Do you have a link to them on her webpage?
The aaroe campaign claimed Philly area. If you start looking slightly outside Philly the amount goes up. Still seems like a high amount. Regardless Panella is a joke.
ReplyDeleteFrom the very start all Aaroe’s campaign has done is complain, complain, complain.
ReplyDeleteThen it comes out that this “strong conservative” gave money to Baratta, the most liberal DA candidate we have had in years. Aaroe is ridiculous. Let’s hope she just loses in the primary so that she and her loud little husband just go back to handling ARD applications and custody conferences.
Bernie, check your numbers. You are incorrectly including Panella's contributions to himself when evaluating the percent of his donations raised from Philly. Which is obviously irrelevant. You say above that he raised $42,000 in donations. And then $20700 from Phila donors, that's 49.2% from Philadelphia. You could split a hair about the $1,300 calculation difference, but it still rounds to about 50% donors from Philadelphia.
ReplyDelete96,125 raised
53,800 panella lent
42,325 this is amount raised (raised-panella lent)
20700 from philly
49 Percent from philly (20700/42325*100)
"I'd say that gives Panella an edge just as Aaroe, as the daughter-in-law of a judge, has an edge. They are both judicial royalty."
ReplyDeleteLOL - Aaroe's 20-year long dead father-in-law who was a judge in another jurisdiction is the same advantage as Panella's father, an active judge in PA with a long-standing career in Northampton County, who is fortuitously up for retention this year and therefore allow to help his son campaign? Everyone knows Panella has been picking up his little part time govt jobs and his law firm job (Steve G was Jack Panellas law clerk) on his dads name, im sure it didnt help for the bags of cash either.
Nancys campaign has been TOO nice not going with nepotism angle IMO.
Real story is Panella wouldn’t be running w 6 years experience if it weren’t for dad. Nor would attorneys be supporting him. It’s the Giant elephant in the room
ReplyDeletePanella is only where he is because of his dad. He got his role as custody master because of his dad. He got a job with Goudsouzian because of his dad. He got his role as a city council solicitor because of his dad. He raised money from Philly lawyers because of his dad. He raised money from local lawyers because of his dad. Name recognition goes a long way with lawyers, more so than party.
ReplyDeleteAaroe reached out to the extremist wing of the Republican party because they were the only ones not influenced by Jack Panella.
The numbers here are contradicting themselves... ~20K of his 42K donations are from Philadelphia. How do we get to 20%? Or is it counting Panella's loan to himself? Either way a lot of $ from Philly.
ReplyDeleteThe Lynch Mob and General Lee’s Army in these comment sections defending New Jersey Nancy!
ReplyDeleteDo they know New Jersey Nancy supports Baratta’s super liberal, pro-choice agenda?
Wait so Is Nancy too Republican or too Liberal at this point?? The Panella camp getting really confused at this point lol trying to paint her however they think is beneficial to who they’re talking to. Meanwhile “the bipartisan” group lol what a joke, how about we hear what Brian stands for for once?
DeleteSo is Panella pro life just wondering?
DeleteI'll vote for the guy the lawyers aren't supporting overwhelmingly. Regarding pro-life, Daddy Panella is a pro-abortion so-called Catholic who said Roe was settled law - just months before it was overturned. Dope. If kid is as out to lunch as dad, run far away from his candidacy. The sons of Italy, racist Columbus statue pro-abortion Catholic pols are one of the lowest forms of political life.
ReplyDeleteNancy Aaroe is about as useful as Anne Frank’s trumpet!!
ReplyDeleteVote Panella!!!
8:12 am hit the mail on the head. Panella will win (general) and be set for life. A major Commonwealth county will have two bench-grabbers, one barely 30, riding Daddy’s coattails, and lacking experience. One will soon retire, one will he set for life and working on his golf game.
ReplyDeleteIsn’t he a pro-lifer?
ReplyDeletePerucchi once again the big donor to insure political & judicial favoritism is alive & well for his real estate development business in the Valley.
ReplyDeletePerucci is the best.
ReplyDelete