7 vie to replace judge


The new judge should be named within a month.

By DAVID SKOLNICK

VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER

YOUNGSTOWN — Two Mahoning County Common Pleas Court magistrates and two members of the county prosecutor’s office are among seven people seeking the governor’s appointment to replace former Judge Maureen A. Cronin.

An 11-member panel will review the candidate’s applications, résumés and letters of recommendation.

After the screening process, the committee will determine how many applicants to interview, said Keith Dailey, Gov. Ted Strickland’s spokesman. The committee will conduct the interviews Aug. 31 in Columbus.

In the past, judicial screening committees sent the names of three finalists to Strickland the same day the interviews were held, Dailey said. Strickland, a Democrat formerly of Lisbon, usually takes up to a week to make his appointment after getting the names of the three finalists, Dailey said.

The seven applicants are:

•Robert E. Bush, the county prosecutor office’s chief of criminal division. He is a former Youngstown police chief and city law director and a Youngstown Board of Education member. Bush unsuccessfully ran for Youngstown mayor in 2005.

•Anthony Donofrio, an attorney and Youngstown Playhouse board president. He’s deputy general counsel for the B.J. Alan Co.

•Timothy Franken, the county prosecutor office’s chief trial counsel. Franken has unsuccessfully run for a judicial seat three times — a 7th District Court of Appeals position in 1996 and 2006 and once for a common pleas post in 2002.

•Brad Gessner, an assistant Summit County prosecutor. Gessner is a former assistant Mahoning County prosecutor and ex-Austintown Board of Education member. He lost the 2004 Democratic primary for Mahoning County prosecutor.

•Renee DiSilva-LaCivita, an attorney. LaCivita works for the Betras, Maruca, Kopp and Harshman law firm.

•Wade W. Smith Jr., Cronin’s magistrate. He is a former assistant Mahoning County prosecutor assigned to the Children Services Board. He lost the 2004 race for county juvenile court judge.

•Timothy G. Welsh, a magistrate for Judge R. Scott Krichbaum.

Cronin’s unexpired term ends Jan. 2, 2009. The election for a full six-year term on the bench will be held in November 2008. The job pays $118,050 annually.

Cronin resigned effective July 1 after 13 years as a common pleas judge.

Mahoning Probate Court Judge Timothy P. Maloney announced in mid-June that he would be resigning effective on or about Sept. 30. The process to replace Judge Maloney would be the same as the one to fill Cronin’s vacancy.

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