Common Pleas Court Judge Candidates

Okay, last Diary before the election, so here are your Common Pleas Court Judge candidates. I wish I had time to summarize the candidates for Superior and Commonwealth Court for you, but you’ll have to do your own research on those. If it helps, the PA Bar Association evaluation of the candidates can be found at this link.

What is the Court of Common Pleas? That 's where you'll find criminal and civil trials at the courthouse. If you’re called for jury duty in Norristown, those trials are handled by these judges. They serve 10-year terms. Three candidates are running on BOTH Republican and Democratic ballots. You’ll choose two of them.

All three candidates are lawyers, of course.

Joseph P. Walsh from Montgomery Township (near Lansdale) was appointed as a Common Pleas Court Judge last September to fill a vacancy. He’s now running for a full term. He doesn’t list his party affiliation anywhere, but his and other Facebook pages list him as following several Republican committees and Pat Toomey, and endorsing Republican candidates.

Jeffrey Saltz from Lower Merion runs his own law firm in Center City Philadelphia. He has 30 years of courtroom experience, including in Montgomery County. He’s a Democrat and has served on several Democratic committees.

Wendy G. Rothstein of Plymouth is with the law firm of Fox, Rothschild, LLP and has been a respected trial attorney in Montgomery County. She’s a Democrat who was born in Norristown and spent her early school years here (full disclosure: we were classmates, neighbors and friends in elementary school, though I haven’t seen her in decades). Other Norristown connections: she’s a board member of the Elmwood Park Zoo, and also chaired the Liberty in the Law Program, facilitating visits of attorneys and judges to 6th grade classes in the Norristown Area School District. I endorse her. I think she’d do Norristown proud as a Common Pleas Judge.

As I’ve said before, you can see your sample ballot at this link. Choose Norristown from the list, then click on your district.

Please get out and vote. I talked to one woman yesterday who said she “had better things to do” than vote tomorrow. Really? Better for herself, maybe. Not better for our town. If you don’t vote, don’t complain about council or our schools.

I’ll be at Eisenhower behind the 3-3 district table tomorrow. If you vote there, stop by and say hello.