Jennifer Satler - Making the Democrats that supported her proud!

The Allegheny County Democratic Committee did an amazing job of picking one of their endorsed judicial candidates this spring. This is what happens when judges are elected to a position instead of appointed. You have judicial candidates that pander to the extreme positions of both parties to win an election.

The Allegheny County Democratic Party sent out this mailer asking for support of their endorsed candidates who “will provide competent leadership while recognizing the fundamental values that makes us Democrats.”

 

Then one of their endorsed candidates, Jennifer Satler sent out two mailings to Republicans with a picture of her and Republican Congressman Tim Murphy and talks about her ‘conservative values.’

 

Is this the type of person we want on the bench? Someone who is willing to tell both sides what they want to hear? Would she tell a victim that the criminal is going to jail for 25 years and then tell the criminal that he only gets probation?

No wonder she was ranked ‘Not Qualified’ by the Allegheny County Bar Association.

Notch this up as another great decision by the Allegheny County Democratic Committee.
 

Mailing in support of the Endorsed Democratic Candidates for Judge

Here is the mailing that the Allegheny County Democratic Party (I was informed that the Allegheny County Democratic Party was not involved in this mailing and it was organized by the candidates themselves.) sent out in support of their four endorsed candidates for Judge.

 

I'm not very impressed with the mailer because it looks too corporate, and I'm also not very impressed with the candidates. I plan on supporting one of their candidates (Mark Tranquilli). Two of the candidates seem to be at least qualified (Phillip P.J. Murray and Judge Paul Cozza), but I haven't been extremely impressed by those two when I look at the entire field. One of the endorsed candidates (Jennifer Satler) is ridiculously unqualified and a former Republican. Her biggest selling point she made in an interview with the Tribune-Review is that she wants to be a judge for 30 years. I would rather elect a qualified judge for 10 years of service than an unqualified attorney that may never become a good judge.

 

 

Former Republican Jennifer Satler for Judge

I mentioned in a previous post about how Republican lawyers that want to be judges in Allegheny County will switch their party registration to Democrat just so they have a chance at winning. There is already one former Republican running for judge in Allegheny County (Craig Stephens). Mr. Stephens switched his party registration in 2008.

However, there is at least one other candidate that is a former Republican and she was a little more blatant about switching just before the first time she ran for judge. Jennifer Satler switched her party registration from Republican to Democrat in January of 2009. She then started circulating petitions to run for judge in February of 2009. She ended up running without the Democratic endorsement.(The City Paper has a great piece about what the endorsement means or doesn't mean.)

I decided to go back and really read the letters (this and this) that Ms. Satler has been sending out to the Democratic Committee. Many of the candidates talk about how they have been involved in helping Democrats get elected or how they have been involved in causes that are more likely to be championed by Democrats. Ms. Satler never seems to mention anything than, 'as you can see, I have lots of support from Democrats.' It is almost as if she is avoiding talking about her political beliefs. Maybe that is because she has never helped Democrats get elected, since she can't even take the time to vote. Actually, maybe that is how she helps the Democrats. If she really is a Republican, then not showing up does help elect more Democrats.

I've also been told that she is one of 2 candidates running for judge that are 'not recommended' by the Allegheny County Bar Association. I can't seem to verify this information and was told that Bar Association does not list their ratings until just before the Primary Election. Although she was rated 'not recommended' in 2011 and 'unqualified' in 2009.

More Jennifer Satler Mail

More mail from Jennifer Satler, who is running for judge.

It should be interesting to see if the Democratic Committee supports Ms. Satler even though she hasn't even participated that often in the simplest part of the Democratic process.

Jennifer Satler for Judge and her poor voting record

Here is a letter and handout from Jennifer Satler who is running for Judge. She ran for judge without the endorsement in 2009 and 2011. It is surprising that someone that defied the Democratic endorsement twice would have so much support from Democratic Committee people and an elected row officer.
 
While running without the endorsement used to be something you were punished for by the Democratic Committee, it doesn't appear that matters anymore. However, I would encourage the Democratic Committee to consider Ms. Satler's voting record before they vote to endorse. One thing I expect candidates to have done in the past is participate in the democratic process. However, Ms. Satler has a very dismal voting record over the last few years. She actually didn't even vote in the General Election in years where she lost the Primary (2009 & 2011). The last year she could have voted for a judge in the General Election was 2005.

Take a look at her voting record since 2000:
  

2000

          General        YES

          Primary        NO

2001

          General        NO

          Primary        NO

2002

          General        YES

          Primary        NO

2003

          General        NO

          Primary        YES

2004

          General        YES

          Primary        YES

2005

          General        YES

          Primary        YES

2006

          General        YES

          Primary        YES

2007

          General        NO

          Primary        NO

2008

          General        YES

          Primary        NO

2009

          General        NO

          Primary        YES

2010

          General        YES

          Primary        NO

          Special          NO

2011

          General        NO

          Primary        YES

 

Alex Bicket Mailing

Alex Bicket sent a mailing to Republicans. I think this makes sense since he will receive a boost by already having the Democratic Endorsement and I'm guessing he will send out mail to Democrats also. His website can be found here.