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Wednesday, May 21, 2003

By Mark Belko, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

Judge David Wecht captured both the Democratic and Republican nominations for one of the three open seats on the Allegheny County Common Pleas bench last night.

And Judge Christine Ward apparently had done the same based on unofficial early returns this morning. Ward held a 382-vote lead over Robert Dauer Jr. for the third and final Republican nomination with 99.9 percent of the vote counted.

	More Primary 2003 Coverage • Visit Allegheny County's election page for more details on county races. • Download a detailed .pdf file of unofficial primary voting results for Allegheny and Westmoreland counties published in the late edition of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. You must have Adobe Acrobat Reader to view this file. Tables with primary results for Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Greene and Washington counties will be published in Thursday print editions of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. • For more reports from around the region on yesterday's primary visit our Elections page

"Can you believe it? It's crazy," Ward said early this morning. "Obviously, I'm just so happy and honored to have gotten the nominations of both tickets."

Wecht was the top vote-getter on the Democratic side, with Ward second. City Councilman Alan Hertzberg fended off Judge Jill Rangos, a Republican, for the third and final Democratic nomination, based on the unofficial returns. On the GOP side, Rangos, who spent more than a quarter-million dollars on her campaign, won the nomination easily. Wecht finished second, followed by Ward and Dauer, son of the late Common Pleas Judge Robert Dauer.

Wecht, Ward and Rangos were appointed to the bench in February by Gov. Ed Rendell. Wecht, Ward and Hertzberg were endorsed by the county Democratic committee, while Rangos, Jesse Torisky and Bill Tate secured GOP endorsements.

Fifteen candidates competed for the Democratic nominations, including Dauer and Paul D. Zavarella, the son of another late Common Pleas judge, Paul R. Zavarella.

Most of the candidates cross-filed. The only ones who did not were Dawida and Zavarella.

One of the three openings up for grabs was created by the senior Zavarella's death. The other two were the result of Judge David Cercone's appointment to the federal bench and Judge H. Patrick McFalls' resignation because of highly publicized problems with alcohol.

Despite a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that gave judicial candidates far more flexibility to discuss their personal views on controversial issues like abortion and gun control, few of the Common Pleas candidates availed themselves of the opportunity. They gave varying reasons for the lack of debate, ranging from fear of the unknown to concerns over exactly how far they were permitted to go in expressing their views.

Rangos, who narrowly lost a Common Pleas judgeship two years ago, had spent $261,647 in her bid to win one of the nominations available yesterday, based on her campaign committee filing May 5.

Hertzberg also expected to spend more than $200,000 in an effort to secure a nomination. Ward had spent nearly $80,000 as of May 5, based on campaign filings. Wecht had spent less than $36,000.

Former City Magistrate Wrenna Watson's name also appeared on yesterday's Democratic ballot, but none of her votes counted, as outlined in an order issued last week by Commonwealth Court. The appellate court acted after Watson petitioned it to withdraw.