On Thursday, October 4 at 8:00 p.m., PACleanSweep founder & chair Russ Diamond will square off again with Pennsylvania Bar Association president Andrew Susko on the November 6 judge retention races. The conversation will be held on WITF-TV's SmartTalk public affairs program. WITF is Harrisburg's PBS affiliate - Channel 33. Check your local directory for the cable channel in your area.
Every Pennsylvanian - regardless of party affiliation - will be eligible to cast a 'yes' or 'no' vote on seven individuals who currently sit on statewide appellate courts. These individuals are asking for another ten-year term.
Showing posts with label judge salaries. Show all posts
Showing posts with label judge salaries. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 03, 2007
Friday, September 28, 2007
PACleanSweep says Vote NO on Nov. 6
PACleanSweep (on The Hankster sidebar) is urging every Pennsylvanian to go to the polls on November 6 and cast a resounding 'NO' vote on every one of the PA judges who accepted a pay raise. You can select your county for the list.
I first met Russ Diamond, the founder of PACleanSweep, when he attempted to run for gov of Pennsylvania as an independent in 2006. He failed to reach the ridiculous ballot access requirement of 68,000 signatures (volunteers collected a hefty 38,000 statewide), but he has never given up on organizing independents, anti-incumbents and just plain folks to speak out about the corruption of the two-party system and the democratic process.
Earlier in September, the Philadelphia Daily News reported that "some anti-pay-raise activists, such as Russ Diamond of Pennsylvania Clean Sweep, note that Saylor [a State Supreme Court Justice seeking re-election] was part of a 6-0 Supreme Court decision upholding the way the Legislature approved slot-machine parlors - a dead-of-night vote on a bill that received no detailed public scrutiny until after it passed."
USA Today reported last week: "Pennsylvania judges went a decade without any raise in base pay, according to Stuart Ditzen, a spokesman for the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts. In July 2005, the Legislature raised salaries for lawmakers, judges and other state officials — during a 2 a.m. vote that enraged voters and led to the defeat of at least six legislative leaders that November. Voters also ousted Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Russell Nigro — the first time in state history, Ditzen says, that a high-court justice was voted off the bench. After the election, the Legislature repealed the pay raise for everyone."
It's not about the money, Russ is quoted in the article, "it's about the way they got it."
Keep up the good work, PACleanSweep!
I first met Russ Diamond, the founder of PACleanSweep, when he attempted to run for gov of Pennsylvania as an independent in 2006. He failed to reach the ridiculous ballot access requirement of 68,000 signatures (volunteers collected a hefty 38,000 statewide), but he has never given up on organizing independents, anti-incumbents and just plain folks to speak out about the corruption of the two-party system and the democratic process.
Earlier in September, the Philadelphia Daily News reported that "some anti-pay-raise activists, such as Russ Diamond of Pennsylvania Clean Sweep, note that Saylor [a State Supreme Court Justice seeking re-election] was part of a 6-0 Supreme Court decision upholding the way the Legislature approved slot-machine parlors - a dead-of-night vote on a bill that received no detailed public scrutiny until after it passed."
USA Today reported last week: "Pennsylvania judges went a decade without any raise in base pay, according to Stuart Ditzen, a spokesman for the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts. In July 2005, the Legislature raised salaries for lawmakers, judges and other state officials — during a 2 a.m. vote that enraged voters and led to the defeat of at least six legislative leaders that November. Voters also ousted Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Russell Nigro — the first time in state history, Ditzen says, that a high-court justice was voted off the bench. After the election, the Legislature repealed the pay raise for everyone."
It's not about the money, Russ is quoted in the article, "it's about the way they got it."
Keep up the good work, PACleanSweep!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)