HARRISBURG -- State Sen. John Pippy thinks the state needs a better way to select judges for its appellate courts.

Currently, judges on the Commonwealth, Superior and Supreme courts are directly elected by the people, and after 10 years, have to win a statewide retention election. Such political campaigns often force judges to raise thousands in contributions, often from some of the lawyers who appear before them to argue lawsuits.

"The way we select judges in Pennsylvania creates the appearance that money, and those who contribute it, matter a great deal to judges,'' said Lynn Marks, director of Pennsylvanians for Modern Courts, a prime sponsor of a proposal to choose judges by merit selection.

"How could it not when candidates need to raise millions of dollars in some cases to get a seat on the bench?'' Ms. Marks said.

The Pennsylvania Bar Association and Mr. Pippy, R-Moon, favor the merit selection idea. A bill now being drafted, House Bill 2386, would create a 14-member nonpartisan board, called the Appellate Court Nomination Commission.

It would screen judicial candidates from around the state and develop a list of potential nominees to give to the governor, who would make the selections. His choices would then have to be confirmed by the Senate. After four years on the bench a judge would have to face his or her first retention election. After that election, retention elections would be every 10 years.

The nonpartisan nominating commission would consist of four members named by the governor and four by the Legislature (one each by the top four legislative leaders). The other six would be a law school dean, a labor union official, a business official, a public safety person and two people from civic or professional organizations.

More information is available at the Modern Courts Web site.

To be adopted, the merit selection idea would require a change to the state constitution. That means two successive Legislatures would have to approve it and then voters would vote in a statewide referendum, perhaps as early as November 2009.