Trumbull GOP picks 3 candidates to replace Newton Falls judge

The governor is expected to make a decision in August.
WARREN -- After interviewing three attorneys, a screening committee of the Trumbull County Republican Party has recommended all three to Gov. Bob Taft as choices to replace retiring Newton Falls Municipal Judge Thomas L. Old.
They are Larry Turner, Tracey Leslo and David Toepfer.
A fourth attorney invited to the interviews Wednesday night at the party headquarters in Riverside Square, Scott Bowman, did not attend and was the fourth-place vote-getter.
Gov. Taft asked the party to submit the names of three candidates, one of them a female or a minority, said Craig Bonar, county party chairman.
The governor will choose one of the three to fill the vacancy from Sept. 1 through 2007. In the November general election that year, voters will decide who fills the position the final two years.
The judicial district covers Lordstown and Newton Falls and the townships of Newton, Braceville, Southington, Bristol, Farmington, Bloomfield and Mesopotamia.
Judge Old, who turns 60 in August, is in the first year of a four-year term.
Bonar said the recommendation will go to Taft today or Friday so he can make his selection by early August.
Residency requirement
The person selected must live in the district.
Bonar said Turner lives in Lordstown, Leslo lives in Alliance and Toepfer, an assistant Trumbull County prosecutor, lives in Howland. Bowman, a former Trumbull County resident who ran for county auditor four years ago, lives in Atlanta.
Both Leslo and Toepfer will move into the jurisdiction if selected, Bonar said.
He added that in their interviews, Turner, Leslo and Toepfer said they would keep the court in Newton Falls.