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Round and round they go

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For the second time in 18 months, Gov. Tom Corbett has signed into law a bill giving counties the option of abolishing the office of jury commissioner, and commissioners in Washington and Greene counties could act as soon as next week.

The state Supreme Court in March struck down a similar law because the Legislature “bundled” it with unrelated bills, saying that the action obscured it from public scrutiny.

Commissioners in Washington and Greene counties voted unanimously in 2012 to abolish the office in advance of this year, when the office of jury commissioner would have appeared on the May 21 primary ballot.

Under a system that has been in place since the 19th century, one jury commissioner candidate representing each of the two major political parties within a county is elected to a four-year term.

Unlike the previous law that the state’s highest court threw out, the latest act of the Legislature does not bar county officials from abolishing the office during the year in which jury commissioners are to appear on the ballot. But it does require them to review procedures to make sure lists of potential jurors are a “representative cross-section of the community … Upon approval of the resolution, the office of jury commissioner shall expire at the completion of the current terms of office.”

Washington County Commission Chairman Larry Maggi said the three-member board will again vote on abolishing the jury commissioners’ office.

“The provision about the election year is excluded from the new bill that the governor signed,” Maggi said. “More than likely it will be on our agenda for the next meeting,” which is Thursday.

Forty-two of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties have abolished the office of jury commissioner. Washington County estimates it will save $80,000 a year by replacing the officeholders with a computer database for jury selection.

“We have instructed Chief Clerk Jeff Marshall to place on our agenda next week a motion to pass a resolution to abolish the position for a second time,” said Greene County Commission Chairman Chuck Morris. Last year, the board unanimously approved the resolution at a meeting neither Democratic Jury Commissioner Lynn Leathers nor her Republican counterpart Rosalind Laur attended.

Laur previously indicated she would not planning to seek another term, but Leathers said if the position remained on the ballot she would run again.

At the time of the vote last December, Commissioner Archie Trader said the county would save about $59,000 by eliminating the two part-time jury commissioners’ positions, which pay $6,652 a year plus benefits. “The court believes its can handle the jury selection process through the court administrator’s office,” he said.

Morris anticipates this latest round of legislation will be appealed, and if an appellate court stays the law Corbett has just signed, “We will follow whatever course is laid out for us.”

Because the state’s highest court’s decision came so late in the pre-election process, Commonwealth Court ordered the office off the ballot in this month’s primary but made provisions for an election in November, with nominees chosen by political parties.

As Washington and Greene commissioners are poised to act as early as next week, so is the Pennsylvania State Association of Jury Commissioners.

Larry Thompson, president of the association, said the organizations plans to file an appeal to Act 4 the same week.

“Pennsylvania jury commissioners will challenge Act 4 of 2013 on the grounds that it violates the separation of powers doctrine embodied in constitutions of the United States and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,” Thompson wrote in response to an email inquiry.

“In Pennsylvania, the county commissioners are both the executive and legislative branch of county government. Following the Pennsylvania Constitutional Convention in 1968, the elected office of jury commissioner was placed under the umbrella of the judicial branch of county government.

Thompson said he believes the case is again headed to the state Supreme Court.

Richard Zimmerman, Washington County Republican jury commissioner, was an appellant in the case the state Supreme Court decided in March. His Democratic counterpart is Judith Fisher, whose nominating petitions were rejected by the Washington County elections office the same month. Their part-time positions pay $17,103 annually, plus benefits and expenses.

Greene County Bureau Chief Jon Stevens contributed to this story.

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