Last night, the four Democrats (Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato, Auditor General Jack Wagner, Sen. Anthony Williams, D-Philadelphia, and Montgomery County Commissioner Joe Hoeffel and two Republicans (Attorney General Tom Corbett and state Rep. Sam Rohrer) running for Governor met at Harrisburg Area Community College for the The Government Reform Debate” sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania, The Committee of 70, and Common Cause/PA.  Five of the six candidates expressed support for implementing a Merit Selection system for the appellate courts.
 
The Philadelphia Daily News called this portion of the debate "the most interesting issue discussion."  The article noted that "there was widespread support for changing to merit selection, at least for the appellate levels."

 
Capitol Wire reports (subscription required):

All four [Democrats] supported changing to a merit selection system for statewide appellate judges. Onorato said he favored the proposals of Pennsylvanians for Modern Courts, which he said would least politicize the process.

 
WHYY (91 FM) reports that Republican candidate Corbett also supports Merit Selection.  Only Republican Roher spoke in favor of the electoral system.  And the Daily News notes that:

State Sen. Anthony Williams of Philadelphia. . . [argued] that all judges should be appointed. "I come from a community that fought and died for the right to vote," Democrat Williams said, but noted that he believed that merit appointments would lead to greater diversity on the court, especially because of dismal voter turnout in local elections.

 
PMC is heartened that Merit Selection is a topic the gubernatorial candidates are talking about, and we are hopeful that we will continue to have a champion of judicial selection reform in the Governor's mansion.