Plymouth’s Bill Dixon stands alone, Luzerne County’s only African-American elected official

First Posted: 1/9/2015 Through no fault of our own, we taxpayers are a generous lot.
We are paying a disgraced Supreme Court justice, who was implicated in a pornographic email scandal, an $11 thousand a month pension. Seamus McCaffery was suspended before retiring at 64.
This year, at least three local magisterial district judge positions will be up for grabs. Plains Township District Judge Diana Malast is retiring after 24 years, the Times Leader reported. District Judge Joseph Carmody, whose district includes several West Side communities, plans to seek another term. And Martin Kane, who was elected to serve part of Wilkes-Barre city in 1985, is also considering retiring, according to &#8220;several well-placed sources&#8221; of the newspaper.
The good news is you don&#8217;t have to be qualified to run for the entry level $88,290-a-year job. The bad news for would-be Wilkes-Barre contenders is that Kane&#8217;s son Jared is positioning himself to step right in.
The TL reported he already completed the certification process. It includes taking a four-week crash course on legal issues followed by a test. How grueling.
It&#8217;s not quite law school, but if you survive that four-week course and get elected, poof, you&#8217;re making $88,290 for starters and receiving all kinds of generous state benefits. And everyone must rise when you enter the courtroom and call you &#8220;your honor&#8221; just like a judge who actually went to law school and paid his dues. Nice work if you can get it.
And you can get it if: a) you get lots of friends to vote for you; b) you&#8217;re politically connected which automatically results in an avalanche of votes.
Just ask David Barilla, who was working some odd jobs, when he incredibly beat out two attorneys for district judge in the Swoyersville area after his father Andrew decided to retire.
However, the elder Barilla didn&#8217;t retire after all. He became a senior Luzerne County district judge. So father and son both ended up on the public payroll. Senior district judges this year are paid $242.55 a day in addition to collecting a pension. Also nice work if you can get it. Marty Kane may want to consider this if his son moves into his vacant chair.
Under state judicial codes of conduct, District Judge Kane cannot endorse or campaign for his son. Big deal. His wife, and Jared&#8217;s mother, Kathy Kane could do that, and as Wilkes-Barre&#8217;s elusive controller, she is just as connected as her husband. And, come on, any friend of Marty&#8217;s would surely be a friend of his son&#8217;s.
Certification not required to land job
The TL also noted that district judges can be elected without even being certified. Where did we hear that before?
Oh, yes, last year at Wyoming Valley West School District when the school board promoted the son of Superintendent Charles Suppon to assistant middle school principal despite lacking the certification for the position, although he was working on it. But, hey, board President Joe Mazur said the board assumed he was qualified, and Suppon senior said no one else wanted the unadvertised $61,025 job. So what&#8217;s the problem?
It seems that for some well-paid positions of authority, one can get the job first and become certified later. In clich&#233; land, that&#8217;s called putting the cart before the horse. Can you imagine if similar rules applied to surgeon-hopefuls?
Dr. Smith, get a few appendectomies under your belt, and then we&#8217;ll consider granting you that license to continue.
In addition to the outlandish starting salary, a district judge also receives 41 paid days off, including 13 holidays. There really are that many in the public sector.
But that&#8217;s not all. Other time off with pay includes 16 sick days a year, two personal ones and 10 vacation days for years 0-2 in office. District judges also get a defined benefit pension plan, the best kind, naturally, and they&#8217;re vested after a mere 10 years. Plus, comprehensive hospital, medical and surgical coverage and supplemental dental, vision and prescription coverages for full-time judicial employees and eligible dependents. No Obamacare with high deductibles for this crowd.
Let&#8217;s face it, that&#8217;s a pretty nice benefits package for someone who only has to pass a test after taking a four-week course. And can be elected to this cushy job with zero experience in the field of law.
As we said, nice work if you can get it.

Sometimes district judges positions all about politics