ELECTION: School Board, Judges, Commissioners

So, maybe you read my Diary yesterday and decided you should go vote next Tuesday. Then you pulled up your sample ballot and the sheer number of decisions you'll have to make in the voting booth gave you second thoughts. Yes, it's a long ballot this time. And most of us don't know much about the candidates other than as names on pieces of junk mail or political signs or, in the cases of some judges, names in mud-slinging ads on TV.  If you're going to vote for someone simply because you recognize their name, or vote for or against them because of TV ads, you might as well stay home.

Here are some of the offices and the candidates running for them. I've listed background and experience info from their websites or that I heard directly from them if I met them in person. I included links to their websites if they have one. Just click on their names.

NASD SCHOOL BOARD (vote for 5). Some of these candidates are running under both parties.

George Kennedy - Lives in East Norriton. Only listed on the Democratic ballot. Retired teacher who has years of experience in elementary up through college level teaching. Worked for Conrail before teaching and feels that gives him experience keeping within a budget.

Louis W. Mason - From Conshohocken, now living in West Norriton. Retired teacher--36 years in education. Taught all levels and also was a principal in Chester Schools.

Michael Melnyck - Currently on School Board. Lives in East Norriton. Parent of NASD student. Works as Service Manager.

Janice Pearce - Currently on School Board. Has been on board for 12 years. Lives in Norristown. Retired school librarian. Worked in NASD schools for 34 years, 27 of which was at high school. Specialty in Special Ed. She's also a grant writer.

Sandra White - Lives in West Norriton. Has worked 35 years in the Insurance industry. Did not mention education experience at the candidates' forum last spring.

Tiffani Hendley - Lives in Norristown. Parent of NASD student. Currently enrolled as education major at Harkum College.


MONTGOMERY COUNTY COMMISSIONERS (vote for 2)

Josh Shapiro - Currently a County Commissioner. Also serves as chairman of the PA Commission on Crime & Delinquency. Previous was a State Representative. Lives in Abington Township.

Steve Tolbert, Jr. - Teaches Economics and Finance at St. Joe's University. Serves in the US Army Reserve--is a veteran of the Iraq War (2007-08). Resides in West Norriton Township.

Val Arkoosh - Currently serving as Commissioner, though appointed, not elected, filling the seat Leslie Richards vacated to serve on the PA cabinet. No information on her website other than that she's a doctor. Lives in Springfield Township.

Joseph Gale - Works as a loan specialist in the housing industry. Has worked in the County Recorder of Deeds office. Youngest candidate at 25. Lives in Lansdale.


COURT OF COMMON PLEAS JUDGE (vote for 3). These are the judges at our Courthouse who hear most criminal and civil cases.

Rise Vetri Ferman - Montgomery County District Attorney since 2008. Born in Philadelphia. Grew up in Abington and still lives there. Worked as a prosecutor the last 22 years.

Dan Clifford - Trial lawyer. Family law litigator for more than 30 years. Appeared before Common Pleas judges in 13 counties (including each of the 20 judges on the Montgomery County bench) and on appeals before the Superior Court of Pennsylvania. Lives in Springfield Township. 

Stephen Heckman - Chief Public Defender of Montgomery County for 4 years until 2012, Assistant Public Defender for 13 years before that. Currently a litigator in his own law firm. Lives in Upper Dublin.

Natasha Taylor-Smith - Trial attorney for almost 20 years. Currently representing the county in contract and real estate issues. Philadelphia native. Resident of Cheltenham.

Todd Eisenberg - Lives in Lower Moreland. Instructor of trial advocacy for Temple and the National Institute of Trial Advocacy. Works in a voluntary capacity for the Montgomery County Child Advocacy Project, representing children in PFA hearings, dependency matters and as a witness in criminal cases.

Gregory Cirillo - From Lower Merion. A lot of sentences on his Facebook bio, but "litigator of complex legal cases" and "court of Common Pleas arbitrator" were as specific as I could find. He seems to have no website so the link is for his Facebook page.

JUDGE OF SUPREME COURT OF PA (vote for 3). These judges mainly do appeals. The positions are usually filled by judges who have served on lower courts.

Anne Covey - Currently a judge on the Commonwealth Court. Office is in Doylestown.

Mike George - Currently the President Judge of the Adams County Court of Common Pleas. Lives near  Gettysburg.

Judy Olson - Superior Court Judge since 2009. From Pittsburgh area.

David Wecht - Superior Court Judge since 2012. Court of Common Pleas before that since 2003. From Pittsburgh.

Christine Donahue - Superior Court Judge since 2007. From Pittsburgh. 

Kevin Dougherty - Currently Administrative Judge in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas.



Hope that helps. I'll try to list some more of the candidates here before Tuesday's election.

Commissioners Town Hall-Late Notice

Thanks to Linda Christian for sending out information about tonight's "Conversations with your Commissioners" at 7 pm at Norristown Borough Hall (235 East Airy St). So the holes in the information on the Norristown.org calendar have been filled in the nick of time.

This is the 3rd in a series of 6 town hall meetings by the Montgomery County Commissioners, supposedly to give residents of the county the opportunity to discuss a wide range of subjects. However, they publicized this one so late, I'm not sure how big their audience will be.

The Commissioners came to Norristown last year for a similar town meeting.  At that time, they set it up so that residents who couldn't attend in person could send their questions in via the internet. No place that I've checked (the County website, Facebook) says anything about an email or live streaming connection this time, so I guess they aren't doing that again. Disappointed because I probably won't be able to get to the meeting due to not hearing about it in time.

This meeting was very poorly advertised. It wasn't posted on Facebook until just last Friday that I could find. The press release on the County site (link above) was also dated March 13. The first place I saw it listed was on the Norristown.org calendar on Friday, and as I said in that day's events blog, no time was included.

So if you can get there tonight, please go. Ask them why this meeting was a big secret until last Friday. If I can't get there and you want to send me a summary of what goes on, I'd be happy to post it here on the Diary later this week.

Converse With A Commish, or 3

Tonight is the Montgomery County Commissioners' Town Hall at Municipal Hall at 7 pm. Yes, it's going to be cold out and you'll feel like you'd rather stay home, nice and cozy, watching TV. But this is important.

Still, if you CAN'T come in person, you can still participate. The meeting will be live-streamed using a Google Hangout at  http://www.montcopa.org/index.aspx?nid=1759 . You'll even be able to submit questions, but registration is required for that, and a Gmail account is necessary. They're easy to set up, but do it now and don't wait until 6:59 pm or your questions will go unanswered.

You can also submit questions by email to Commissioners@MontcoPA.org . They'll be answered in the order they're received, so again, you can't wait until 6:59 pm.

I'm going to the meeting because I have redevelopment questions. When I attended the Montco Planning meeting a few weeks ago, they talked in a perky, isn't-this-going-to-be-awesome manner about, essentially, filling in every empty space in Norristown with apartment buildings. I asked who was going to pay for the extra infrastructure needed for the increase in population. I never got an answer. Norristown needs homeowners and businesses to increase tax revenue, not more rental properties. Especially when the construction of apartment buildings inevitably means the use of public funds--developers getting rich using our tax money while Norristown keeps getting poorer.

And if the plans submitted by Elon for the Montgomery Hospital property are any indication, the apartment buildings we'll end up with will be 4-story wooden firetraps, poorly designed and cheaply constructed to maximize their profit.

But there will be other topics tonight. Commissioner Josh Shapiro said, "These conversations with the commissioners are another in a series of ways we are trying to keep residents informed about what we are doing," I think we can all agree that most of us have no idea what the commissioners do, or how what they're doing effects Norristown. We think of ourselves as being governed by Norristown Council and have no idea where the county fits into the scheme of things. We only know that, often, Norristown is treated like a poor and not very bright relation, and that we're sick of it.

So please, leave your cozy home tonight and come out to the meeting. If you can't, watch it and participate through the link above.