Oct 21 2009
Why Is PMC Sponsoring a Debate Between the Supreme Court Candidates?
Tomorrow, Thursday October 22, PMC is co-sponsoring (with the League of Women Voters of PA, the Student Bar Association of the Temple University Beasley School of Law, Temple Law Republicans and Temple Law Democrats) a debate between the Supreme Court candidates. Some have questioned why we are doing so in light of our efforts to replace judicial elections with a Merit Selection system for the appellate courts.
The answer is simple. As long as Pennsylvania continues to elect judges, it is part of PMC’s mission to educate voters and provide resources that assist them in making decisions during judicial elections. We sponsor candidate debates; publish lists of questions for voters to consider and identify resources that can provide answers; and participate in other programs aimed at educating voters.
We hope that by doing so, we help voters feel more prepared to make critical decisions about who should serve on our courts. In addition, we believe that as voters learn more about the process, they will come to realize that electing appellate judges in partisan contests just doesn’t make sense.
We hope you will join us tomorrow at noon at Temple University’s Beasley School of Law for the debate between candidates Jack Panella and Joan Orie Melvin. More information is available here. For those who can’t join us in person, PCN (the Pennsylvania Cable Network) will be airing the debate repeatedly in advance of the election. The schedule includes the following airtimes: Sunday Oct. 25 at 4:00 pm; Monday Oct. 26 at 10:00 pm; Thursday Oct. 29 at 10:00 pm; Sunday Nov. 1 at 3:00 pm; and Monday Nov. 2 at 4:00 pm.
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