Judgeship hopefuls put best letters forward

The impending retirement of Mahoning County Probate Judge Timothy P. Maloney allows Ted Strickland to make his third judicial appointment in the Mahoning Valley during his first year as governor.

And it allows me to read the letters of recommendation for each candidate, my favorite part of the process.

Including letters of recommendation from prominent politicians hasn't proven to be terribly important in the two previous local appointments, but it's still interesting to see who's supporting who.

State Rep. Sandra Stabile Harwood had letters from Attorney General Marc Dann, U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan and Jim Graham, the head of the United Auto Workers Local 1112 at the Lordstown General Motors complex, when she sought an appointment for a vacant seat on the Warren-based 11th District Court of Appeals in July. She didn't get the job.

Timothy Franken had letters from U.S. Rep. Charlie Wilson and Mahoning County Prosecutor Paul J. Gains among the six he submitted when he [successfully] sought to replace Maureen Cronin on the county's common pleas court.

The two other finalists for the job — Robert E. Bush, the county prosecutor's criminal division chief, and Timothy Welsh, a common pleas magistrate — also had some well-known names.

Welsh's list included two sitting common pleas judges, a federal judge, Campbell Mayor John Dill and an Army National Guard chaplain.

Like Franken, Bush had a letter from Gains. He also had letters from county Sheriff Randall Wellington; Eugenia Atkinson, the head of the Youngstown Metropolitan Housing Authority; Sarah Brown-Clark, Youngstown clerk of courts, and Atty. James E. "Ted" Roberts.

A month after losing the appointment to Judge Franken, Bush is among the six people — all men, by the way — hoping to replace Judge Maloney.

Bush kept Wellington and Brown-Clark, but dumped the others. He went with Mahoning County Court Judge Diane Vettori, the Rev. Lewis Macklin III of Holy Trinity Church, and Linda Blum, an official with Turning Point Counseling Services.

Apparently Bush liked the cover letter he sent for Cronin's job. He only made two changes when he sent his letter for the probate post. Luckily for him the members of the committee that selects the three finalists for probate are different for this spot. Your secret's safe with me, Bob.

He replaced "general division" from his first letter with "probate division" in his second letter. He took out the words "common pleas" that he used in the third paragraph of his first letter.

Following Bush's lead on not doing much to change what they originally wrote, the probate recommendation letters sent by Wellington and Brown-Clark are almost identical to the first ones. Both added a new paragraph about Bush being electable. The reality is he's only successfully run for office once. That was for a Youngstown school board seat.

Struthers Municipal Court Judge James R. Lanzo relied entirely on government officials for his letters. His letters came from the mayors of Struthers, Lowellville, Campbell, New Middletown as well as the Poland Township administrator and the Struthers law director.

Mark Belinky submitted letters from Ryan and Graham, as well as from the parents of a special needs child, an executive with the Schwebel Baking Co., a major client of his, and the Rev. Jack W. Pettis of the Mt. Zion Baptist Church.

The pastor quoted a New Testament passage that starts with "But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord." I only mention this because Belinky is Jewish.

As for the other three probate candidates, only two elected officials in total submitted letters.

A committee will make three recommendations to Strickland by early next month with the governor selecting a new probate judge shortly thereafter.