Judge Baratta's Retention Campaign: Follow that Money

Campaign finance reports were due from all candidates, including judges seeking retention, on Friday. Judicial candidates must file with the Department of State.

Steve Baratta is seeking retention as a Northampton County judge. Although his office informs me he's filed with the Department of State, his paperwork does not yet appear among the 28 reports filed by candidates seeking a spot on the court of common pleas. In fact, there is no record from Baratta for any of the previous reporting periods this year.

Baratta's campaign records have, however, been filed with the local elections office. They show that, during the reporting period between May and October, he raised $26,750.00. Nearly all of this money comes from lawyers who regularly practice before him. This includes $1,000 from DA John Morganelli.

Baratta's expense report also reveals that Tom Severson, King of the Anonymous Robo Calls, is running this judicial campaign. So far, Baratta has coughed up nearly $24,000 so that Severson can do his thing.

Last Spring, Severson launched a vicious, and anonymous, smear campaign against Brian Monahan, a district judge hopeful. I find it distasteful that a sitting judge would engage the services 0f a campaign consultant who specializes in this type of dirty politics. Even Dan Corpora, who's running against Monahan, had enough common sense to turn Severson down when he offered his services at a discounted rate. It's sad to see a magisterial hopeful show more common sense than our next president judge.

PACleanSweep: Get Rid of ALL Incumbent Judges

Joe Owens isn't going to like this. He has praised Northampton County jurist Steve Baratta as "a veteran judge, an accomplished former prosecutor and longtime contributing member of the community. He deserves retention."

I'm not sure that any judge ever deserves retention. And I'm very unhappy with Baratta, primarily because he is part of a judicial branch that has become far too arrogant in Northampton County.

PACleanSweep, a reform movement that rose from the ashes of an illegal legislative payraise, is urging "every Pennsylvanian to go to the polls on November 6 and cast a resounding NO vote in every one of these retention races."

Locally, that includes Northampton County's Steve Baratta and Lehigh County's Bob Steinberg.

Express Times Editor Owens Defends Judge Baratta

On Tuesday, I told you Express Times editor Joe Owens has been in a foul mood ever since his baseball team's failed, for a second year straight, to beat some brownies in Jersey. Well, now he's found someone to pummel.

Me.

Northampton County extremist? A crazie?

He must have heard about my bathroom antics, too.

You can read Joe's strident defense of poor Judge Baratta here.

Judge Baratta Imposes $150 Head Tax on Local Lawyers

Steve Baratta must love the bench. Because he's a judge, he doesn't have to seek reelection. His name will just magically appear on the ballot, and you'll be asked to retain him for another ten years. His annual salary? $152,115.00.

Baratta has thumbed his nose at Democracy Rising PA, a grassroots movement seeking integrity and citizen confidence in government. He's ignored their candidate questionnaire.

But he's making the rounds with local lawyers. In fact, he's invited them to a two-hour reception at the end of this month. For just $150, they get to shake his hand or genuflect or something.

Now, if you're a lawyer, and you practice in front of this guy, how do you say no?

F.P Kimberly McFadden is a judge, too. But when she first ran for judge, she refused to have anything to do with raising money for her campaign. She actually instructed her campaign treasurer, in writing, that he was never to disclose the identity of her contributors. She recognized the appearance of impropriety that arises when a judicial candidate actively solicits money from the very people who appear before her.

But not Baratta. You get to hand him your check, and the head tax is $150, bippy. Lawyers who forget should pack a toothbrush and rubber underwear next time they appear before our next president judge.

Northampton County's Best Kept Secret

Shhh!

Don't tell anyone, but Northampton County judge Stephen Baratta is seeking retention this year. In fact, he's on the inside track to be our next president judge.

Thanks to a midnight payraise enacted by our state legislature, he's raking in nearly $150,000 a year. He has spent about a year in lavish and totally unnecessary new quarters. It cost taxpayers at least $43 million for the judges' new complex, complete with individual judicial potties, private floor and even their very own private dining room. We still don't know the exact cost because, in addition to being overbudget, the project is still behind schedule. In the meantime, we peasants eat lunches in dust-filled hallways or at desks.

Although our judges are very well paid, some insist on supplementing their incomes by teaching at local colleges. Perhaps if jurists spent a little more time in their Taj Mahal, probation officers would not to need to "borrow" signature stamps to execute routine orders. Perhaps the men and women in black could even stop their own court administrator before he tried to have county cars serviced at some garage owned by one of his cronies.

Future President Judge Baratta shows no embarrassment over this mess. In fact, back in November, he bragged in a radio interview that he wished he could take us all on a tour of his new digs.

Whee!

Baratta, as I've told you before, has even snubbed Democracy Rising PA, a grassroots movement seeking integrity and citizen confidence in government. This group forwarded a candidate questionnaire to every common pleas judge seeking retention. Let's look at some of the tough questions Baratta is ducking.

Is it right for judges to hire their relatives and friends for important positions in the court system?

Is it right for judges to have secret meetings with lawmakers and governors about matters such as the pay raise?

Is it right for courts to issue orders without opinions that explain their legal authority and reasoning?

Is it right for courts to conceal administrative documents that deal with how judges spend tax dollars?

I'm sorry, but there's only one explanation for Baratta's refusal to answer these simple questions - judicial arrogance.

Don't we already have enough of that?

Three Reasons to Boot Judge Baratta

"Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown!"

Sixty-two state and local judges must ask voters to keep them on their thrones for another decade this November. Judges are too important to stand for election. That's supposed to be too political. We simply retain them.

One judge seeking retention is Northampton County's very own Steven Baratta. He's a beneficiary of the midnight payraise enacted by our state legislature, and is raking in nearly $150,000 a year. He appeared on a radio show a few months ago, saying he wished he could take you all on a tour of his new Taj Mahal. Right. Stop by his office sometime and watch what happens. Baratta should be booted. Here's why.

1. Our judges think they're aristocrats. This is what I asked Baratta a few weeks ago. Hey Steve, where were you when county employees were getting sick? Did you speak up when over 100 positions were eliminated to help pay for your over budget Taj Mahal? Where were you when your $15 thousand judicial lunch table had to be sawed in half just to get it in your new building? Where were you when judges decided that all members of the public had to be searched when they entered your new building, even if their business took them nowhere near a courtroom? When did you announce that you would refuse the new pay raise? How could you take a nickel when the people who work under you have seen nothing for nearly four years? Why couldn't you open your mouth about any of the judicial excesses? These are just a few questions Baratta should answer if he expects to remain on the bench. I asked them before, way back in November. His silence is deafening. It's common knowledge Baratta wants to be our next president judge. That's why answers to these administrative questions are important.

2. Our judges promote class distinctions. On Wednesday, while Baratta was off doing judgely things, his court administrator was demanding that a council committee approve a 21% payraise for our minijudges, the law clerks. It didn't matter that court-related employees are only getting 3-4% raises, something pointed out by County executive Stoffa. Or that the residual unit, which serves some judicial functions, doesn't even have a contract. Both Stoffa and Councilman John Cusick think this will hurt morale. Stoffa asked the judges to wait until he finishes a job classification study, but they refuse. They don't give a damn what impact it has on morale. After all, they're judges. The rest of us can eat crab cakes. Amazingly, council will roll over for them. They always do, and it's disgraceful. People have to send a message they will no longer tolerate this judicial arrogance.

3. Baratta snubs Democracy Rising Pa. Democracy Rising PA is a grassroots movement working for integrity, value, transparency, and citizen confidence in government. It is one of nine similar groups that prepared the Roadmap to Reform. It recently prepared and forwarded a candidate questionnaire for Judge Baratta, and asked him to return it by March 6. Barrata thumbed his nose at them. He didn't even have the courtesy to respond.

I think it's time to bring our judiciary back down to earth. They best way to do that is by booting a few of them.