Arnowitz hopes to return to position

Colleen Murphy Arnowitz of Monongahela announced her candidacy for the office of Washington County prothonotary.
She is a daughter of former U.S. Representative Austin J. Murphy and Mona Murphy.
Arnowitz, 61, is a graduate of California University of Pennsylvania. She teaches at Charleroi Middle School, where she served as dean during the 2009-10 school year. A member of the Charleroi Area Education Association, she attended legislative advocacy training sponsored by the Pennsylvania State Education Association.
A former member of Ringgold School Board, she also served on Pennsylvania Democratic Committee from 1990 to 1994. She described herself as a lifelong Democrat who has volunteered with many local, state and national campaigns.
Arnowitz and her husband, Steven, who will serve as her campaign treasurer, are members of the Washington County Democratic Committee. She said she has “always demonstrated a clear commitment to the importance of voting and exercising one’s right to participate in the electoral process.”
Arnowitz belongs to the Charleroi Rotary Club, the Monongahela Women’s Club and the California University Alumni Association Board of Directors. For the past five years, she volunteered with Mon Valley Hospital’s “Ask Me” greeter program. She is president of the board of directors of Mon Valley Community Health Services, a subsidiary corporation of Southwestern Pennsylvania Human Services.
Arnowitz emerged as the Democratic nominee for prothonotary from a field of nine in 1991, but lost in the primary four years later to Phyllis Ranko Matheny, who is retiring this year. Matheny said, when running for her second term, that she has spent the last 2 ½ years “getting the office back to where it was when I left.”
Arnowitz said Monday, “I have no idea what she meant. I would prefer to let that go. If that’s how she felt, that’s how she felt. I couldn’t imagine what she’s referring to. It’s been 20 years.”
Arnowitz said she instituted a new cash register system in the prothonotary’s office so the clerks could spend less time producing hand-written reports and spend more time aiding customers.
After Matheny defeated her in the 1995 Democratic primary, Arnowitz took a job with Intermediate Unit I but said she would return to the courthouse after the school day and also work there during school holidays.