Here Come The Judges!
Judicial Candidates Make First Pitch To Lower Merion Democratic Committee
At its regularly scheduled meeting (via Zoom) on Tuesday night (December 8), the Democratic Committee of Lower Merion Narberth (DCLMN) heard from five candidates seeking the committee’s endorsement for the one seat that will be up for grabs on the Court of Common Pleas, in the 2021 Election. Four candidates seeking endorsement for District Judge, also spoke with Committee members.
Nicole Philips, is the only one of the five Common Pleas Court candidates who has not previously attempted to win the Committee’s endorsement. She is a partner at the Law Firm of Montgomery McCracken.
Top Left to Right; Natasha Taylor Smith, Nicole Philips
Bottom Left to Right; David Dormont, Mary Pugh, Dan Ronca
Mary Pugh, David Dormant and Dan Ronca all came before the Committee in 2019, but did not the win the endorsement. Natasha Taylor Smith did win the Committee’s endorsement in 2015, and she won the Primary Election that year, but she was defeated in the General Election.
Pugh is the Executive Director of the Montgomery County Child Advocacy Project.
Dormont is a long-time DCLMN member, and he too is a partner at Montgomery McCracken.
Ronca is a partner with the firm of Sattin and Ronca. In 2019 he was one of only two candidates rated as “Highly Reommended” by the Montgomery County Bar Association, but the Montgomery County Democratic Committee (MCDC) chose to endorse two other candidates with lower Bar Associaton ratings.
In 2015, after Smith won the Committee’s endorsement, the Inquirer’s Jessica Parks wrote, The endoresement of Natasha Taylor Smith was especially perplexing to some, since there was one “highly recommended and three “recommended” candidates party leaders could have backed. Smith is currently an Assistant Federal Defender at the Federal Community Defender’s Office – Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Smith’s defeat in 2015, marked the last time that any Democrat lost a county-wide election in Montco.
DCLMN doesn’t endorse Candidates for Common Pleas Court
To be clear, the DCLMN endorses candidates for Magistrate Judge, but not for Common Pleas Court. That task is reserved for the Executive Committee of the Montgomery County Democratic Committee (MCDC). The MCDC Executive Committee has 98 members from across the county, six of whom are members of DCLMN.
Lower Merion and Narberth are divided into three Magisterial Court Districts.
According to the County Website, “An elected Magisterial District Judge presides over each of the individual district courts. The district courts serve as the initial tier of Pennsylvania’s Unified Judicial System Our District Courts maintain jurisdiction over criminal preliminary arraignments and preliminary hearings; summary criminal offenses; traffic offenses; municipal code violations; landlord / tenant suits; and civil claims where damages do not exceed $12,000.”
Currently, Lower Merion and Narberth’s Magistrates are:
- 38-1-06, Henry Schireson
- 38-1-07, Michael Quinn
- 38-2-04, Karen Zucker
All three of them are seeking re-election and the Democratic Party endorsement. Quinn and Zucker spoke to the Committee on Tuesday night. Andrew Kronfeld, a Wynnewood businessman was also on the Zoom Call. He is hoping that the Committee will consider him as an alternative to Zucker in District 38-2-04.
Lower Merion Tax Collector Sam Adenbaum spoke to the Committee, as well. He was appointed to that position in 2007, and hopes to be re-elected in 2021, for the fourth time. Adenbaum represents half of Lower Merion’s “Power Couple.” His wife is Lower Merion Township Commissioner and DCLMN Vice Chair, Gilda Kramer.
Michael Quinn is the best choice.