Democrat Max Baer wins Pennsylvania high court seat, narrowing GOP majority

Dems also claimed a controversial mayor's seat, and county executive post.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Democrats dominated Pennsylvania's 2003 elections, led by Max Baer's Supreme Court victory that narrowed the Republicans' majority to one seat.
Returns from 99 percent of the state's precincts showed Baer with 1,266,551 votes, or 52 percent of the total, and Joan Orie Melvin with 1,180,179, or 48 percent.
Democrats won two of the three open seats on the state Superior Court, while a Republican was leading in the other race as final votes were tallied.
Elsewhere, Democrats prevailed in Philadelphia, where Mayor John Street was re-elected, and in Allegheny County, where Controller Dan Onorato unseated Republican incumbent Jim Roddey in the race for county chief executive.
Baer's win restores the balance of four Republicans and three Democrats on the Supreme Court that existed before the retirement of Democratic Chief Justice Stephen A. Zappala last year. Gov. Mark Schweiker appointed Republican William Lamb to complete Zappala's term in the seat Baer will fill.
Diversity of views
Baer said that the court will benefit from "the tension that comes with the diversity of ideas" and that he does not expect the close partisan balance to politicize its rulings.
"I'm a good judge and I'm going to be a good judge up there," he said.
The top-of-the-ticket race pitted two western Pennsylvania judges with sharply divergent styles and philosophies.
Baer, 55, an Allegheny County judge since 1990, seized upon a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling loosening restrictions on political speech by judicial candidates and took very public stands on hot-button issues such as abortion rights and the death penalty, both of which he supports.
Melvin, 47, who was elevated to the Superior Court from the Allegheny County bench in 1998, described herself as a "strict constructionist" who believes judges should stick to a precise reading of the law. Although she refused to discuss politically volatile topics during two televised debates with Baer, citing a state Supreme Court rule, her campaign has noted her support from anti-abortion groups.
The two candidates raised more than $2 million between them to finance intensive TV advertising.
Attempts to reach Melvin at her campaign-night headquarters were not immediately successful.
Superior Court race
The three open Superior Court seats go to the three top vote-getters.
The Democratic candidates are all judges -- Northampton County Judge Jack A. Panella, 48; Westmoreland County Judge John J. Driscoll, 61; and Philadelphia Municipal Judge Seamus P. McCaffery, 53.
Republican candidates for Superior Court are Susan P. Gantman, 51, a family-law attorney and former Montgomery County prosecutor; Grainger Bowman, 55, a construction litigator who lives outside Harrisburg; and Palmer Dolbin, 56, a Schuylkill County judge for the past 12 years.
Returns from 99 percent of the precincts showed Panella winning with 1,126,202 votes, or 17 percent, and McCaffrey winning with 1,124,952, or 17 percent.
The third seat was too close to call. Gantman had 1,112,768 votes, or 17 percent; Driscoll had 1,109,292, or 17 percent. Numerous votes remained unreported in heavily Democratic Philadelphia county, as well as nine smaller, Republican-leaning counties.
Of the remaining two candidates, Bowman had 1,007,579 votes, or 16 percent; and Dolbin had 968,499, or 15 percent.
Ten-year terms
Like the Supreme Court justices, judges on the Superior Court, one of two intermediate-level state appellate courts, serve 10-year terms.
Supreme Court justices currently earn $139,585 a year, while Superior Court judges receive $135,213. The salaries increase annually, based on the inflation rate, and recent raises have been around 2 percent a year, according to court officials.