skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Thursday, March 28, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina s congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Myorkas.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Supreme Court Election Campaign Spending Raises Concerns

play audio
Play

Tuesday, October 20, 2015   

HARRISBURG, Pa. – A considerable amount of money is being poured into judicial elections for the Pennsylvania Supreme Court this year, sounding alarm bells among fair-courts advocates.

With the winners of this fall's election filling three of the seven seats on the high court, the outcome could change the court's ideological balance.

Lynn Marks, executive director of Pennsylvanians for Modern Courts, says with so much money being spent by special interests, voters may begin to question the impartiality of the judges.

"They're supposed to make decisions based on the facts and the law, not according to what they said on the campaign trail," he says. "Or not, according to what their big contributors gave."

More than $800,000 has been spent just on television ads for Supreme Court candidates so far, with the pace of spending expected to accelerate as Election Day draws near.

According to Laurie Kinney, communications director for Justice at Stake, when state judicial elections become expensive and contentious, there are economic interests fueling the fire.

"Very often, in states, what you see are corporate interests pitted against trial lawyer or labor interests," she says. "That's very, very common."

So far, only the three Democratic candidates have reported significant contributions, and those come primarily from trial lawyers and labor unions.

There is a concern that an election of such importance could attract money from a number of corporate interests, including from out of the state. Marks says the court will be considering cases that affect a broad range of issues.

"School funding, environmental issues, death penalty, guns," he says. "Probably the one that is known to be the most political is redistricting."

The next report on campaign contributions is due on Friday.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
A report from the Tennessee HealthCare Campaign recommended the federal government needs to strengthen 340B drug pricing and other federal negotiation mechanisms to make needed medicines more readily available and less expensive for hospitals to purchase and administer. (Spotmatikphoto/AdobeStock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

A recent report examined how some rural Tennessee hospitals have managed to stay afloat despite financial challenges. The report includes interviews …


Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

Health and Wellness

play sound

Medicare and Medicaid are key sources of health coverage for many Americans and some people qualify for assistance under both programs. With lagging …


Organizations fighting wage theft said it harms affected workers and surrounding communities because the money withheld is not being circulated through the local economy. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

A mix of policy updates and staffing boosts has helped to put wage theft enforcement on the radar in Minnesota, and officials leading the efforts are …

Social Issues

play sound

New research shows more than six in 10 abortions in the U.S. last year were medically induced, and U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto - D-NV - is …

Social Issues

play sound

Missouri lawmakers are concerned with protecting people from the potential risks of the increasing accessibility of AI-generated images and videos…

Environment

play sound

A farm group is helping Iowa agriculture producers find ways to reduce the amount of nitrogen they use on their crops. Excess nitrates can wind up …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021