Republicans have to fight
for Supreme Court seats

By Tom Waring
Times Staff Writer

While Democrats will likely come out in droves on Tuesday to vote in the mayoral primary, most Republican races are uncontested.
One exception is the fight for two seats on Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
The Republican State Committee has endorsed Superior Court Judge Maureen Lally-Green and Michael Krancer, a former chief judge and chairman of the Pennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board. The two are good friends and are running as a team.
Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge Paul Panepinto is also running. He’s raised a lot of money, has a campaign staff and an office in Center City.
"I believe people should have a choice," he said.
Lally-Green, a 57-year-old Butler County resident who was profiled in a recent edition of the Times, has served nine years on Superior Court. Before that, she was in private legal practice and worked for Westinghouse Electric and Commodity Futures Trading Commission and was a law professor at Duquesne University for 15 years.
The Pennsylvania Bar Association Judicial Evaluation Commission has rated her "highly recommended," and she’s been endorsed by the state Fraternal Order of Police.
The Philadelphia Inquirer has endorsed Lally-Green and Krancer.
Krancer, 49, of Bryn Mawr, is making his first run for office. He’s backed by the NRA and the Pennsylvania State Education Association.
The candidate graduated first in his class in 1983 from Washington and Lee University School of Law.
He later was a litigation partner at the prominent Center City law firms Dilworth Paxson and Blank Rome.
In 1999, Krancer joined the Environmental Hearing Board, which hears appeals from actions of the Department of Environmental Protection.
He resigned last month to concentrate on the judicial race.
The court hears trials and appeals.
"It’s unique. I got the best of both worlds," said Krancer, a great-nephew of the late newspaper publisher Walter Annenberg.
Krancer is a Civil War re-enactor who enjoys reading and considers Abraham Lincoln a hero.
He likes to say, "I love the law."
He’s turned off by arrogant, unprepared judges. He promises to bring a strong work ethic to the Supreme Court, get along with his colleagues and be a consensus builder.
In terms of the state Constitution, he believes in "textualism," not activism.
"I will interpret the law, not make it. That’s the job of a judge," he said.
"It’s very undemocratic when judges legislate from the bench."
Panepinto, 57, of Overbrook, is a former probation officer who was elected to Common Pleas Court in 1991. He served as administrative judge from 1996-2000.
His initiatives included a crackdown on truancy, holding hearings at schools to identify children at risk. He also streamlined adoptions from foster homes.
"I understand the system," he said.
The state bar association has rated him "highly recommended." He’s been endorsed by Citizens Against Higher Taxes and LifePAC of Southwestern Pennsylvania.
As a judge, Panepinto calls himself a "strict constructionist" in the mold of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.
"A judge decides on the evidence and the facts of the case," he said. ••
Reporter Tom Waring can be reached at 215-354-3034 or twaring@phillynews.com