Three Vie for Magisterial District Judge's Seat

No matter who wins the magisterial district judge’s seat in the 2011 election, the voters of Pine Township will have a new judge in town in 2012.

Three candidates appear on the May 17 primary ballot for the judge’s seat for District 05-2-12 – incumbent William K. Wagner, Angel Revelant and Tom Shaheen. All candidates are cross-filed to run on the Republican and Democrat ballots.

 A familiar name that is missing is that of Judge Regis Welsh Jr., whose Magisterial District Court 05-2-46 currently serves Pine, Richland and Hampton townships.

 That office will not exist after Jan. 2 when Welsh retires and the workload from his office is split between two other magisterial district judges. The decision to redistribute that work came as a budget-cutting move in the Allegheny County court system to eliminate offices where magistrates are retiring.

Under the new reconfiguration, Pine court cases will go to Magisterial District 05-2-12, which also includes Bradford Woods Borough, Marshall and McCandless townships. Wagner has been the magistrate for that office for the past 18 years.

Richland and Hampton cases will be handled by Magisterial District Judge Suzanne R. Blaschak, whose district previously encompassed West Deer.

 The magistrate’s office is the first level of the Pennsylvania’s judicial system.

“Except in Philadelphia, these courts are presided over by magisterial district judges who decide small claims, landlord-tenant disputes, traffic cases and minor criminal matters,” according to the Unified Judicial System of Pennsylvania website.

“These judges are not required to be lawyers, but they must undergo legal training and attend continuing legal education programs,” the website stated.

An emerging issue in the local race involves a Pennsylvania Auditor General's report on Wagner's office issued last fall and a criminal case involving former employee Tammie Lazarra, 36, of West View. She pleaded guilty on May 5 to stealing nearly $60,000, tampering with public records and falsely authorizing documents.

The auditor general’s report, which covered the time between Jan. 1, 2006 and Aug. 31, 2008, criticized the office for “significant internal control weaknesses that led to a misappropriation of funds.” Sentencing for Lazzara is set for July.

Revelant said one of the reasons she decided to run for the office was the auditor general's report and its findings. Her election website includes links to that report. 

Here is a synopsis of each candidate in alphabetical order:

The McCandless resident has been involved in the legal system for 10 years as a paralegal, law clerk, corrections officer and now as an attorney, specializing in family law.  

“I perform extensive volunteer and community service directed to low-income individuals (North Hills Community Outreach and Neighborhood Legal Services), high school students (Stepping Out), senior citizens (VIP - very important papers), police officers and firefighters (Wills for Heroes) as well as veterans (Veterans Clinic),” Revelant said in an email to Pine-Richland Patch.

“I was a volunteer firefighter and first responder for a number of years as well.  After college, I was accepted into the Air Force Officer Training Program but had to leave training to have surgery or I would have served active duty as an intelligence officer, having obtained the highest security clearances necessary,” she continued.

“In addition to being a full-time working wife and mother, I have spent the last two months knocking on doors and meeting members of our communities rather than spending countless dollars on banner signs.  

I would proudly, responsibly and efficiently perform the duties of our magisterial district judge if elected,” she wrote.

to see Revelant’s profile in the Voters Guide on Pine-Richland Patch.

Shaheen, also of McCandless, said he is running for the seat is because he has dedicated his life to community service.

“I have utilized my knowledge of the criminal justice system along with my crime prevention certifications and experience to ensure the safety of our children and senior citizens by initiating and presenting several programs in our community,” he wrote in response to a questionnaire sent to him by Pine-Richland Patch.

“I have 20 years progressive law enforcement experience conducting complex criminal investigations, processing crime scene evidence and related experiences as a patrolman and investigator, including interacting with the office of magisterial district judge,” he wrote.

“I have six years experience as a military policeman in the U.S. Marine Corps, including service during Operation Desert Storm. I teach more than 12 college-level classes, including ethics, criminal law and evidence and procedures,” Shaheen said.

Shaheen said he has been campaigning for several months and has “encountered warm and caring people with a genuine interest in making our community better. Our friends and neighbors have reinforced my desire to serve our wonderful community as magisterial district judge.”

to see Shaheen’s profile in the Voters Guide on Pine-Richland Patch.

The incumbent magistrate said he has handled more than 130,000 cases in his 18 years as a judge. He did not seeking information about his candidacy, but spoke with Pine-Richland Patch in an interview.

Asked what he viewed as the strong points or highlights of his tenure, Wagner pointed to his program for youth offenders.

Wagner said he meets with the parents of juveniles who are in trouble to make sure they understand the charge[s] against their child and what the juvenile will plead. His office has extended hours on Tuesdays so parents and juvenile offenders can meet with him without the youth missing school.

Some of the juvenile offenders are sent to drug and alcohol rehabilitative programs, he said.

Those who successfully complete the court system’s Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition program may get the charge dismissed and the record expunged – so that a mistake made while they were young does not haunt them for the rest of their lives as they apply for jobs, schooling or the military, Wagner explained.

He said he can count on one hand the number of juveniles who came back through his court after that. More serious criminal cases are sent to the county’s juvenile court.

Wagner also pointed to what he called the “fair and judicious treatment of everyone who comes before me.”

He said he is active with the Police Partnership for North Allegheny School District that meets monthly during the school year and he instructs and guest lectures at Duquesne Law School.

Wagner rotates into the county's Night Court schedule in Pittsburgh twice a week, as well as covering for judges in other magisterial district courts when they are on vacation or sick, he said.

“I am very active not only in my court but in other courts around the county,” he said, adding that he and Welsh will substitute for each other and he is familiar with Welsh's territory.

When asked about the financial issues that led to former court clerk Lazzara's arrest, Wagner said that when he discovered irregularities in his office – he found that one of his dispositions had been changed – he started looking further and immediately called in the manager of the magisterial district courts, Nancy Galvach.

“Judge Wagner was absolutely proactive,” she said, explaining that she came to his office and worked with him to decide the next step. After having the locks on the doors changed and notifying the employee the next morning not to come in, state auditors and then forensic auditors were called in, Galvach said.

Asked about campaign-related criticism of the problems in Wagner's office, Galvach stressed that the case came down to one employee and a complicated scheme. Galvach said there were no problems in the office before or after the Lazarra case.

“This was a very clever, deceitful criminal who stole from the court in many different ways,” said Galvach. “I don’t know how she kept track of all of it."

Wagner said the findings in the auditor general's report “are a result of my office policies and procedures not being adhered to. This resulted in the termination and prosecution of an employee,” according to his written response, which is included in the auditor general’s report.

“It has been stressed to my staff that it is imperative to adhere to my office policies that were already in effect and any new mechanisms put in place to prevent this situation from ever taking place again,” Wagner wrote.

Wagner said he trusted his staff to follow the office’s policies and procedures. He said he now keeps an even closer watch, checking the deposit record daily and periodically doing a spot check of cases that have been adjudicated, he said.

“She was a good and loyal employee for five years,” he continued. “To this day I don’t know what sparked this change in behavior.”