Ballot Question To Raise Judges' Retirement Age Under Attack
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Should the state constitution be amended to change the mandatory retirement age for all judges from 70 to 75?
No, says local political activist Bonnie DiCarlo of Highland Park.
"At age 70, a judge can now retire and may be placed on senior status and can work until age 78. That leaves open seats for younger attorneys to be elected judge, and I believe that's important to keep it moving," DiCarlo told KDKA political editor Jon Delano.
DiCarlo says turnover is important, especially when it comes to judges in their 70s who may not always function as a younger person.
"If they start losing it a little bit, they're on until their time is up," she says.
But attorney John Gismondi, a former president of the Allegheny County Bar Association, says raising mandatory retirement to age 75 makes good sense.
"You know the most powerful judges in the country, those who sit on the Supreme Court, routinely serve beyond the age of 70," said Gismondi. "So, number one, why force them out. They have a wealth of experience, a lot of knowledge."
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Put aside the merits of the argument, some think the fix is in to get a "yes" vote for the judges.
What really angers opponents to this question is that the voters of Pennsylvania already voted it down last April.
But shortly before that vote, the state legislature said it wouldn't count, and then reworded the question, say opponents, in order to get a "yes" vote this November.
In April the ballot question was whether to raise the retirement age from 70 to 75. That was voted down.
The November ballot doesn't tell voters what the current retirement age is.
"Instead they decided to word it this way -- judges should retire at age 75 -- with no background at all for the voting public to understand what's going on," said DiCarlo.
"I think that's really just pulling the wool over our eyes."
Delano: "Was the change designed to get a "yes" vote?"
Gismondi: "I think it depends on where you stand on the issue. It's the eye of the beholder."
Voters get the final Final Say on Tuesday.