Group: 5 candidates qualified for bench

Atty. Gerchak believes he is qualified, despite the bar association's decision.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Five of six Mahoning County judicial candidates have been deemed qualified for the bench by the county bar association.
The bar says Atty. David Gerchak is the only candidate not qualified.
"I'm not surprised," Gerchak said when told of the association's decision. "I think they look at your years of [legal] practice -- and not what you've done during those years -- as a barometer. I still think I'm qualified."
The bar association evaluates judicial candidates and rates them on qualities of legal knowledge, professional experience, judicial temperament, integrity, diligence and professional responsibility. The findings were released Tuesday.
Atty. Clair M. Carlin, bar president, said the entire bar membership votes on qualifications in judicial races. Candidates can be deemed qualified, not qualified or highly qualified. No candidates in this year's races were deemed highly qualified.
No details offered
Carlin would not comment on reasons why Gerchak was found not qualified. "That's just the way the vote came out," he said, adding that the bar's decision is not an endorsement of any of the candidates.
Gerchak's father, the late Judge Michael Gerchak, was a common pleas judge from 1980 to 1990.
Gerchak is running against Judge David A. D'Apolito for a seat on the county's area court bench. Judge D'Apolito serves at the area court in Austintown and was among the candidates deemed qualified by the bar association.
Also deemed qualified were Judge Theresa Dellick of juvenile court, who is seeking re-election, and her opponent, Atty. Wade E. Smith Jr.; and Judges Maureen A. Sweeney and Elizabeth A. Kobly.
Judge Sweeney was appointed to the common pleas court bench in July to replace Judge Robert Lisotto, who resigned for medical reasons. Judge Kobly is a Youngstown Municipal Court judge. They are running against each other to fill the remainder of Judge Lisotto's term, which expires in 2009.