- who would like to see Verizon offer cable TV in Phila?
- Council Committee Passed the Freeze
- Carol Campbell Passes Away
- My first trip to the public library
- Fight digital exclusion
- What if half of Philadelphia didn't have roads?
- You know, let's not even worry about the City Commissioners office messing up voter registration processing
- Bold ideas to fix the budget
- Mayor Nutter's Town Hall Meeting Schedule
- City Releases Library Information to City Council
For Judge: YPP Endorses Green-Ceisler, Roca, Eubanks and Thompson
Submitted by Ray and Dan on Wed, 05/09/2007 - 9:49am.
Here is why we need Ellen Green-Ceisler most of all: The Philadelphia court that seems to be the most fundamentally, and systematically broken is the Family Court. Speak with anyone there, and they can tell you that there are real, structural problems that need changing. Green-Ceisler, who has said she wants to go to Family Court, has shown a couple things in her career that make it seem like she is the perfect person for the job:.
Angela Roca is a sole practitioner who has focused her practice on family law, domestic relation issues, landlord tenant issues, civil litigation and small claims. She is pretty darn impressive. She put herself through college at night, while raising her children, and working full time. After Villanova Law, she became a community based lawyer, who understands the need for reforms in the legal system, including mandatory sentencing. Roca is also interested in examining the educational attainment level of defendants and in sentencing would like to be able to use education as a sentence, to go after recidivism.
You don’t spend 22 years at the Philly Defender's Office because you want to make it a ton of money. You do it, sacrificing all kinds of salary along the way, because you believe that everyone deserves a chance to have their story told. That, in a nutshell, is why we desperately need Joyce Eubanks in Municipal Court.
Thompson is a lawyer whose practice focuses on custody, divorce, support, and protection from abuse issues. She has been court appointed to represent clients in Municipal Court who can not afford to pay for representation since 1999. It’s clear that Thompson has a firm grasp on the issues presented to Municipal Court—which is essentially the People’s Court—especially as they relate to poverty. She is a Philadelphian, through and through, who cares about the people of the City, and wants to figure out how to make the Court more responsive to their needs.
Today, after a long delay, we are announcing our endorsements for the Court of Common Pleas and Municipal Court. (The State Courts will follow.)
Off the top, you should know that first and foremost, we only considered candidates who were found to be recommended by the bar association. In other words, there are many candidates who could be capable. We picked the ones we strongly think will stand out.
First, for the Court of Common Pleas:
Ellen Green Ceisler
Here is why we need Ellen Green-Ceisler most of all: The Philadelphia court that seems to be the most fundamentally, and systematically broken is the Family Court. Speak with anyone there, and they can tell you that there are real, structural problems that need changing. Green-Ceisler, who has said she wants to go to Family Court, has shown a couple things in her career that make it seem like she is the perfect person for the job:.
First, she has shown real courage in her career. A civilian overseeing a police department is really not an easy job, nor one that is generally considered a politically savvy thing to do. Second, with that job, with her history as investigator for Channel 10, as an auditor for the School District, etc., I think she has the perfect tools and skill sets to figure out what is going wrong in Family Court, and how we can fix it.
She has a bad ballot position, so, we will have to go find her. It is worth it.
Angeles Roca
Angela Roca is a sole practitioner who has focused her practice on family law, domestic relation issues, landlord tenant issues, civil litigation and small claims. She is pretty darn impressive. She put herself through college at night, while raising her children, and working full time. After Villanova Law, she became a community based lawyer, who understands the need for reforms in the legal system, including mandatory sentencing. Roca is also interested in examining the educational attainment level of defendants and in sentencing would like to be able to use education as a sentence, to go after recidivism.
Neighborhood Networks says it well in their endorsement:
Born and raised in Philadelphia, Roca was still attending Villanova Law School when she established an externship program with the Police Barrio Relations Project, an organization dedicated to protecting and educating citizens about their civil rights. After graduation, she continued as a volunteer. She has spent her entire legal career providing basic legal services to her community as a sole practitioner specializing in family law and, despite her “lowly” practice, had the distinction of being recognized by Philadelphia Magazine in 2005 and 2006 as a Pennsylvania Super Lawyer Rising Star.
.....
Second, for Municipal Court:
Joyce Eubanks
You don’t spend 22 years at the Philly Defender's Office because you want to make it a ton of money. You do it, sacrificing all kinds of salary along the way, because you believe that everyone deserves a chance to have their story told. That, in a nutshell, is why we desperately need Joyce Eubanks in Municipal Court.
She certainly has the progressive credentials: Besides teaching at Temple for ten years, she is a longstanding member of one progressive organization after another- from the ACLU, to NOW, to the NAACP, to Philly’s own Neighborhood Networks, just to name a couple. When we earlier wrote our post on judges, I said we needed more judges in Municipal Court (where most poor people represent themselves) who understand that people who are not aware of their rights can not assert their rights. Joyce is that kind of person.
And, from those who have seen her up close (who, cough, cough, may want to chime in), Joyce is just a flat out good lawyer.
Diane Thompson
Thompson is a lawyer whose practice focuses on custody, divorce, support, and protection from abuse issues. She has been court appointed to represent clients in Municipal Court who can not afford to pay for representation since 1999. It’s clear that Thompson has a firm grasp on the issues presented to Municipal Court—which is essentially the People’s Court—especially as they relate to poverty. She is a Philadelphian, through and through, who cares about the people of the City, and wants to figure out how to make the Court more responsive to their needs.
Beyond that, Thompson has talked about some of the reforms that she would like to see to Municipal Court including working harder to eliminate court bias, better pre-screening of cases to clear up some of the volume that overwhelms Municipal Court, and the creation of a “waiting pool” of ready to hear cases that could always be available to judges with open times lots in order to expedite justice.
So, there are our choices. There are additional talented people running, and there are great things about Linda Carpenter, Mike Erdos, Greg Coleman and others. We simply think we have a great opportunity here to elect some special candidates, and whole-heartedly endorse them.
Bookmark/Search this post with:
Only two for Common Pleas?
Only two for Common Pleas?
----
I support Michael Nutter for Mayor. My slate.
Yeah- both because it was
Yeah- both because it was hard to agree, and because when there are four openings, voting for a couple gives them the best shot.
I will probably vote for one more. But, I think the two of them are just really strong.
Well, I think this is
Well, I think this is another great set of endorsements.
I am particularly pleased that you guys only decided to endorse two candidates. Many voters will know little or nothing about these races. A lot of people simply don't vote. If enough people decided to support one or two candidates, it can really make a difference.
Ellen unfortunately drew a bad ballot position. However, endorsements from Philly for Change, Neighborhood Networks, Philly NOW, Liberty City, and now Young Philly Politics shows that progressives are uniting behind Ellen. Since judicial elections are ignored by many voters, a small block of committed supporters can make a huge difference.
Remember, the best way to support a specific judicial candidate is to vote for them and only them.
---
Check out my blog!
I am currently working for Marc Stier and Ellen Green-Ceisler.
How did you choose the endorsed
We never received a questionnaire at Mike Erdos for Court of Common Pleas, so I am wondering how you made your decisions?
Like with the Council races,
Like with the Council races, we didn't feel the need to make judges fill out an additional form.
In terms of Erdos, my concern is that while he seems like he may be a very good judge, the department he headed in the District Attorney's office is one that I think is incredibly problematic; that with little due process, uses drug laws to seize the homes of Philadelphians.
Couldn’t you have endorsed
Couldn’t you have endorsed Linda Carpenter, for the simple fact that her husband could give us free beer for events?
judicial candidates endorsed by Phila NOW
Good choices, Dan and Ray. There are many good judicial candidates this time and only 4 openings. In some ways it’s a great problem to have, but it makes life difficult for organizations which endorse.
Your candidates have also been endorsed by Phila NOW. We also chose Linda Carpenter and Beverly Muldrow, two excellent candidates for Court of Common Pleas for a full slate of 4 candidates.
See profiles of our endorsed candidates in our online election newsletter at our website, www.philanow.org
Sorry, Aardhart, that our website is not better, but as Kathy Black wrote in a previous email we are a low-budget, all volunteer organization. Because we have no paid staff we do not endorse in every race and interview relatively few candidates. But we do have a careful process, and really try to do our homework about the few candidates we endorse. (No endorsement in the mayor's race as our members are divided.)
Our criteria for endorsement are posted at the Take Back our City website, http://www.takebackourcity.org. This site allows you to see the choices that several progressive organizations have made. The site should be updated soon to include the full slate of endorsements for NOW and for PFC.
Interestingly, the only endorsement that all these organizations have in common is Maria Quinones Sanchez!
Supporting Michael Nutter for Mayor
Thank you so much for the endorsement!
Hello Ray and Dan -
Thank you so much for the endorsement! It's so great to be recognized for my hard work. As I tell people, I have spent more than 20 years trying to make this city better. My legal career has been somewhat unusual: I have a resume that is very much about public service.
My proudest achievement: I was the watchdog for the police department for 7 years, overseeing their investigations into excessive force and corruption. It was a tough job, but I managed to do it with enough balance and fairness that after my service, the Fraternal Order of Police endorsed me in my run for judge, saying that "no one knew the issues of our members better than she did."
I've done investigative work in so many different areas of the city: I worked for the Fraud and Special Investigations office for the City Controller's office, looking at corruption cases in government. I prosecuted domestic violence cases in Family Court, and as a child advocate, held the foster care system accountable to the kids in its custody.
Most recently, I wrote the report on discipline and violence in the schools that Paul Vallas tried to hide from the teacher's union. That report, when it finally got out, resulted in changes being implemented in the school system that will protect both teachers and parents.
Republicans like to use the phrase "activist judge" to denote something negative. But I think that judges should not only judge fairly, but also try to change the system they work in and make it work for all Philadelphians. I would like to go to Common Pleas court to bring the same spirit of public service and accountability to our court system.
Thank you again.
Ellen Green-Ceisler
Democrat for Judge
Court of Common Pleas
www.greenceisler07.com
Not to endorse or criticize any candidates...
... but the entire idea of voting for judges gives me hives. The best thing voters can do in these cases is follow professional advice, such as the recommendations of the local Bar Association, which is what I plan to do.
But, if that's the best way to vote, why bother even having the elections. Just have the Governor nominate candidates for judge, and allow the Senators to either vote them in or not. Is this perfect? Of course not- nothing involving beings as fundamentally imperfect as humans can ever be perfect. But it's a damn sight better than what we have now.
Ach-ptooey,
-Z
Bar Associations only get you so far...
That doesn't get you very far. The Phila Bar Assn gave "Recommended" ratings to 14 candidates for Common Pleas and 7 for Municipal court. You get 4 votes for Common Pleas and 2 for Municipal Court. The PA Bar Assn gave "Highly Recommended" ratings to 5 Superior Court candidates, and 4 Supreme Court candidates; you get 2 votes in each race.
All the candidates endorsed here and by the members of the Take Back Our City coalition are Recommended by the Philly Bar Assn or Highly Recommended by the PA Bar Assn, with the exception of PFC's somewhat bizarre endorsement of James DeLeon for Superior Court. He got a "Not Recommended" for non-participation in the PA Bar Association recommendation process, and has used his connections to keep open a nuisance bar he owns. Not sure how PFC came up with that one.
That said, I basically agree that electing judges is a bad idea. But given that's what we've got, I'd rather trust the endorsements of organizations and individuals that I know share my values than some of the other available endorsements, or the dart-at-the-sample-ballot method.