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PA Supreme Court Candidate Wecht Issues 5-Point Plan to Clean Up the Judiciary

judgewechtWith the ongoing investigation of Attorney General Kathleen Kane and the recent resignation of State Treasurer Rob McCord (who has pleaded guilty to federal charges of campaign finance), the political landscape of Pennsylvania has been overwhelmed with ethical dilemmas.

Without addressing these incidents specifically, Democratic candidate for Pennsylvania Supreme Court, David Wecht, motioned for a tightening of judicial ethics laws. Wecht is calling for the toughest and most transparent standards in the nation.

“Recent events have raised doubts among Pennsylvanians about the integrity of our highest court, doubts about the influence of money and politics on the court, doubts about the honesty and trustworthiness of the court,” Wecht said.

“This election presents Pennsylvania with a chance to restore the court’s integrity and reputation in a very clear and systematic way,” he asserted.

“I intend to lead this fight.”

Currently, Wecht serves on the Superior Court of Pennsylvania and has been ‘highly recommended’ to the Supreme Court by the Pennsylvania Bar Association.

Along with his statement, Wecht released the following five-point plan:

  1. Absolute ban on all gifts to judges
  2. Tightened Anti-Nepotism Policy; Sunset Employment of Judges’ Relative
  3. Require judges to rule on the record in writing on all motions for recusal
  4. Mandated ethics courses for all judicial candidates
  5. Television broadcast of court proceedings

Wecht believes the Commonwealth can set ‘”the gold standard for judicial ethics and transparency.”

“I call upon all candidates for judicial office this year to support my five-point plan to restore honor and integrity to the courts of Pennsylvania,” Wecht said.

10 Responses

  1. Jeff, Wecht is a pompous jerk. What qualifies you to crown him “the smartest and most qualified candidate for this bench?”

  2. If we don’t have ethics in our profession then what do we have? Judge Wecht has always been an ethical, intelligent and fair judge. I applaude him on his comments and look forward to seeing him on the Supreme Court bench.

  3. “Judge Wecht is the smartest and most qualified candidate for this bench, and he has proven it once again with these thoughtful and candid comments.”

    I agree. Wecht is well-qualified and ethical jurist who graduated from Yale at the top of his class… twice. His decision to put out a substantive proposal and to begin an important conversation (rather than picking a childish and public fight with the PBA, for example) further illustrates this. Reasonable people certainly could disagree with one or more of the decisions that he has authored (the Superior court, by its nature deals with close cases that could go either way), but no one can say that Wecht wouldn’t be a fair and ethical Supreme Court Justice—which is exactly what PA needs right now.

  4. This is pretty clever by Wecht. It’s such a generic plan but a smart news release. He couldn’t implement some of these ideas without legislative approval though. Good campaign move, but will never happen.

  5. The Republican Party absolutely knew about this. I was at the meeting and heard it for myself! I’m 100% positive on this. Covey brought it to their attention the night before. They were trying to keep it under wraps in hopes it would turn out differently or quietly go away.

  6. We have a lot of corruption right here in the Delaware County District Attorney’s office and Trainer Borough. We desperately need a State Investigation into these activities. I have plenty of documentation and witnesses. Please contact me.

  7. I’m no fan of Covey, nor am I a Republican, but the Republicans didn’t hide anything. They didn’t know about this controversy before the endorsement.

  8. Someone should clean up the Republican Party. Did you see the controversy with Covey….their number one candidate? They hid her rating until after the endorsement process!! How corrupt! They knowingly endorsed a candidate who’s not recommended and she may have lied to the PBA so her name would not be released! Great! Hope the Dems sweep!

  9. Judge Wecht is the smartest and most qualified candidate for this bench, and he has proven it once again with these thoughtful and candid comments.

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