HARRISBURG – Republican Party of Pennsylvania Chairman Rob Gleason released the following statement in response to a press release and letter that the five former members of the Judicial Conduct Board have recklessly released to the public in which they attempt to defend their indefensible actions and Jack Panella’s lack of attention as it pertains to the judicial corruption that took place during the Luzerne County “Cash for Kids” scandal.
“These colleagues of Jack Panella, as members of the Judicial Conduct Board, should be ashamed of themselves for dabbling in partisan politics when they failed to suspend or charge a Luzerne County judge who was receiving kickbacks in exchange for unnecessarily sending hundreds of children to juvenile detention centers,” Gleason said. “Panella and the Board could have taken appropriate action and stopped the misconduct, but they failed to do so.”
“The former members of the Judicial Conduct Board paid so little attention to the details of the advertisement that they failed to mention that Judge Orie Melvin was not even responsible for the ad. These actions beg the question, if members of the Judicial Conduct Board paid so little attention to the details of a thirty second political ad in order to defend Jack Panella, did the Board not give enough attention to the matter before them in Luzerne County as described in the ad?
“If the former Board members were aware of this fact, and nevertheless chose to intentionally link Judge Joan Orie Melvin to an ad that they know she did not pay for, approve or appear in, then it is nothing short of a slanderous and hateful attack and they should immediately apologize for such despicable behavior.
“There is only one candidate in this race running scandalous negative advertisements and that is Jack Panella. Bought and paid for by $1,000,000 in trial attorney money, Jack Panella is laying an all out assault on his opponent with ads that even the ‘keen eyes’ of Judicial Conduct Board could have seen are laced with smears and attacks that are blatantly false . To our knowledge, the former members of the board have made no public communication to Jack Panella regarding his ads which potentially violates the standards articulated in Opinion 99-1 that it violates Canon 7 of the Code of Judicial Conduct.
“Judge Joan Orie Melvin has not run any negative advertisements! She is spreading a message of reform and has impeccable credentials for the Supreme Court. She supports the kind of reform that would clean up this system of backroom cliques and focuses on the people of Pennsylvania. She was recently endorsed by The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Pittsburgh Post Gazette and The Patriot News for her service on the bench, fair approach and outstanding judicial temperament. She was rated “Highly Recommended” for the Supreme Court by the Pennsylvania Bar Association, the Bar’s highest distinction for a candidate.
“I would encourage all Pennsylvanians to join me in voting for real judicial reform next week, and cast their ballots for Joan Orie Melvin for Supreme Court.”
# # #