Hume stands out among five candidates for Girard judge

Picking one candidate out of five can be daunting in some election races, but not necessarily in the five-way race for judge of Girard Municipal Court.

The announced retirement of Judge Michael Bernard signaled an end to a 30-year family dynasty in the court started by his father, Anthony. And it opened the race to five hopefuls.

They are:

Jeffrey Adler, 47, law degree from Ohio Northern University Claude W. Pettite College of Law, who has been an assistant Trumbull County prosecutor, Hubbard law director and private practice lawyer.

Harry DePietro, who has been a lawyer for about 20 years and who says he has experience ranging from mayor’s court to the Ohio Supreme Court.

Mark Finamore, 54, law degree from the University of Akron School of Law, who has served as magistrate in Girard Municipal Court, as legal counsel for more than 40 townships in Northeast Ohio and has a private practice.

Rebecca Gerson, 43, law degree from Case Wester Reserve University School of Law, who is a former Mahoning County assistant prosecutor, has a private law practice and has served as acting judge in Girard Municipal Court.

Marty Hume, 54. law degree from Ohio State University College of Law, who is a Mahoning County assistant prosecutor and a lawyer in private practice.

Frankly, we were disappointed that while several candidates suggested that the court might be able to be self-sufficient — that is balance its expenses against its court income without dipping into Girard’s general fund — no candidate had the facts and figures to explain how that might be accomplished. Had one done so, that candidate would have won by default.

Still, by process of elimination, we were able to reduce this to a two-person race for purposes of deciding The Vindicator endorsement.

DePietro did not fill out a questionnaire or attend an endorsement interview, which immediately reduces the field to four.

Adler has adequate experience to justify his candidacy, but we have been unimpressed with his performance as Hubbard law director at a time when the city could have benefitted from a more aggressive response to what has been going on there.

His failure or refusal to assert himself as law director in recent months during the dispute between the mayor and police chief is of particular concern. The mayor has essentially taken the position that it is none of the public’s business as to why the mayor suspended the chief and then reached a deal that allows the chief to take months of sick leave before retiring.

When thousands of dollars worth of sick leave are being paid to a chief and the only people who know the nature of his illness are the mayor and the chief, the law director has a responsibility to show more curiosity than has Adler.

Gerson suggests that her experience filling in for Bernard as judge the past two years uniquely qualifies her as a candidate, but a few cumulative weeks or even months sitting on the bench does not provide a particularly impressive level of experience. And two other candidates have more comprehensive legal experience.

Then there were two

By that calculus we were left to decide between Finamore and Hume.

There is little question that Finamore is most familiar with the operation of the court, having served as magistrate for 23 years. He has conducted traffic court and hearings on civil suits one day week. A magistrate’s decisions, he notes, must be ratified by the judge, and have been in all but a few rare instances. And he has provided testimonials from people who have appeared before him over the years attesting to his fairness and his respect for the law and the people who come before him.

Still, when asked about budgetary matters of the court, Finamore stumbled answering questions on which he should have been able to excel.

Not that the last candidate in the lineup delivered the fiscal goods either. Hume said he’ll have to look at the court staff, its workload and its budget and its fees, which he characterized as unusually high .

Our decision could not be made on which candidate demonstrated the clearest vision for the Girard Municipal Court, because all were flawed. Our choice is based on the strongest combination of academic background and public and private legal experience. That was Hume, who has extensive experience as an assistant prosecutor and a lawyer in private practice at the common pleas and appeals court levels.

He also said he will bring his experience in running a successful private practice to the court and will implement electronic filing and other uses of technology.

The Vindicator endorses Marty Hume on the May 3 Democratic primary ballot. No Republican has filed for the November ballot.