GOP endorses Orie Melvin for Pa. Supreme Court seat
HARRISBURG - The Republican State Committee voted overwhelmingly yesterday to endorse veteran Superior Court Judge Joan Orie Melvin for nomination to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
HARRISBURG - The Republican State Committee voted overwhelmingly yesterday to endorse veteran Superior Court Judge Joan Orie Melvin for nomination to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
All three of the other candidates vowed to contest the May 19 primary despite a call by GOP leaders for unity after a registraton surge during last year's presidential campaigns left registered Democrats outnumbering Republicans statewide by more than one million.
Rob Gleason, who was reelected to a four-year term as state chairman without opposition, told committee members that they had an obligation to rally behind endorsed candidates even if the vote was not unanimous.
"Rebelling against our party's decision may sound romantic, but ultimately it hurts our party at every level and our nominee in the long run," Gleason said.
Orie Melvin received 183 votes, nearly four times as many as runner-up Jacqueline Shogan, a lawyer. The other candidates are Superior Court Judge Cheryl Allen - from the Pittsburgh area, like Orie Melvin and Shogan - and Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge Paul Panepinto.
For three openings on Superior Court, the GOP committee endorsed Allegheny County Judge Judith F. Olson, Pittsburgh lawyer Templeton Smith Jr., and Sallie Updyke Mundy, a lawyer who lives in Tioga County and works for a Philadelphia law firm.
For two openings on Commonwealth Court, the committee endorsed Alfonso Frioni Jr., a commissioner on the Pennsylvania Workers' Compensation Appeals Board from Pittsburgh, and Harrisburg lawyer Kevin Brobson.
On Jan. 31, the Democratic State Committee endorsed Superior Court Judge Jack Panella of Northampton County over Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge M. Teresa Sarmina for the Supreme Court seat.
