What's Good For the Gander is Good for the Goose

I dropped by the Voter Registration office yesterday afternoon, hoping to see who has actually filed petitions for the many municipal offices up this year. Drowning in candidates and paperwork, the office asked me if I would mind waiting a day or two before I continue my snooping. No problemo. So far, I've only seen the nomination petitions filed for Ann McHale, John Cusick, Tom Dietrich, Jane Mellert, Deb Hunter, Charles Dertinger and Peg Ferraro.

As I mentioned yesterday, two judicial candidates, Jim Narlesky and Barb Hollenbach, were circulating nomination petitions on behalf of candidates for partisan political office. Although they are certainly entitled to circulate petitions for themselves, Canon 7 of the Code of Judicial Conduct bars this kind of partisan political activity for anyone else. The Pennsylvania Conference of State Trial Judges condemns the specific practice of circulating nomination petitions.

Narlesky, a sitting magistrate who has run for judge twice before, and Hollenbach, a former judicial clerk, should both know better. This prohibition of political activity is nothing new. It is no arcane provision. It is actually standard operating procedure for court-appointed employees, which includes many courthouse workers. Any court-appointed employee engaging in partisan political activity is subject to immediate dismissal. Most will refuse to sign nomination petitions, to say nothing of circulating them. Any president judge who fails to enforce this prohibition is subject to discipline under the Judicial Inquiry and Review Board.

Partisan political activity, by the way, is defined to include "performing volunteer work in a political campaign." That obviously includes the solicitation of signatures for a nomination petition. Half of the courthouse workers could have told Narlesky and Hollenbach they were wrong.

Judicial Wannabes Jim Narlesky, Barb Hollenbach, Skirt Code of Judicial Conduct

Yesterday afternoon, I stopped by the voter registration office to get a head start on inspecting the nomination petitions due today. While looking at papers filed by county executive candidate Ann McHale and county council candidate Deb Hunter, I noticed that both used judicial candidates to circulate their petitions. That's no problem for McHale or Hunter, but it sure is a No No for judicial candidates Barb Hollenbach and Jim Narlesky. By actively soliciting signatures to nomination petitions, they violated the Codeof Judicial Conduct, which applies to both candidates and sitting judges.

Barb Hollenbach signed and circulated McHale's petition, soliciting John Hancocks for a person who will most certainly have matters that come before Barb if both are elected. Jim Narlesky, already a sitting magistrate, did the same thing with Hunter. This violates Canon 7, which prohibits any political activity inappropriate to a judicial office. Narlesky and Hollenbach are actively promoting candidates whose cases will come before them if elected. That's highly inappropriate.

Way back in 2000, the majority opinion of the Pennsylvania Conference of State Trial Judges was that a judge or judicial candidate should refrain from even signing a nomination petition, to say nothing of circulating one. That's why Judge Zito, on the evening he announced his candidacy, refused to sign the nomination petition of a borough council candidate. Even the Dissenting Opinion, which thinks a mere signature is OK, condemns any judicial candidate who circulates a nominating petition. "[A] judge may not solicit others to sign a nomination petition and may not circulate a nomination petition."

Hollenbach and Narlesky have already compromised their judicial integrity by immersing themselves in the muddy world of county politics.

Barb Hollenbach Running For Northampton County Judge

Bethlehem attorneys Barb Hollenbach and Karl Longenbach probably would deny this, but I graduated from law school with both of them. Really! In fact, I first met Barb when I accidentally pulled her underwear out of a Carlisle dryer, thinking they were mine. It was an honest mistake and she forgave me.

In law school, Barb was a law review editor, an honor only accorded to the better students. After graduating, she clerked for President Judge Williams and then went into private practice. She's been a lawyer for the past thirty years.

Last weekend, she announced her candidacy for one of the unprecedented three judicial vacancies on the ballot this year. About two hundred people attended her campaign kickoff, including Northampton County Council Prez Anne McHale, State Senator Lisa Boscola, Bethlehem Controller Meg Holland and gazillionaire Linny Fowler.

Without question, Barb has the intelligence and temperament to make an excellent judge. Voters will have a tough choice this year because many excellent attorneys are planning to run. You can read more about Barb at her web page, located here.