With the Pennsylvania Department of State ruling this week that November’s election will include only three open seats for the Montgomery County bench, not the four that had been anticipated, county Democrats have now endorsed their judicial slate.
Lawyers Daniel J. Clifford, Todd Eisenberg and Natasha Taylor-Smith won endorsements from the Montgomery County Democratic Committee for the three judicial posts up for grabs in November. The endorsements came Thursday night at the party’s convention at the Doubletree by Hilton-Valley Forge Hotel in Upper Merion.
Democratic party leaders said the state ruling presented the committee “with a difficult situation” since the party’s executive committee previously recommended four lawyers, including Wendy G. Rothstein, for endorsement.
“To ensure party unity,” Rothstein withdrew her request for endorsement at the convention, Democratic leaders said.
“I made the decision in the best interest of everyone, including the party, to step aside,” said Rothstein, a partner at the Fox Rothschild law firm, adding she would instead run for a county judicial post in 2017.
Montgomery County Republican Committee members will officially endorse their three candidates for judge during a Feb. 25 party convention.
The three candidates elected in November will replace three judges who have or will reach the age of 70, the state’s mandatory retirement age for judges. Judge Emanuel A. Bertin turned 70 last year and has already retired while judges Bernard A. Moore and Joseph A. Smyth turn 70 this year.
Initially, party leaders believed that a fourth judicial seat could be up for grabs in this year’s elections with the expected retirement of another judge by year’s end but the Pennsylvania Department of State determined that only three seats would officially be available during the November election cycle.
Marcel L. Groen, chairman of the county Democratic Committee, expressed confidence that the Democrats will win the three open seats for judge.
“One of the reasons we do well is our unity,” Groen said. “We have governed well and we have always been unified.”
Clifford, a partner at the Weber Gallagher law firm, is immediate past chair of the 1,300-member Family Law Section of the Pennsylvania Bar Association. He is a fellow of the International Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers and member of its LGBT Committee. Clifford has been chair of the Zoning Hearing Board in Springfield since 1996, is a hearing committee member for the Disciplinary Board of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court and has served on the boards of Adoptions From the Heart and the Equality Forum, according to Democratic officials.
Eisenberg, a graduate of Boston University and Widener University School of Law, is lead claims counsel for Peco Energy Company. He formerly was solicitor for several townships and boroughs, operated his own law practice and was a staff attorney for the Philadelphia Public Defender’s Office, according to a biography released by Democratic officials. Eisenberg volunteers for the Montgomery County Child Advocacy Project, representing children in protection from abuse hearings, dependency matters and those who are witnesses in criminal cases.
As an assistant solicitor for Montgomery County, Taylor-Smith provides counsel to several human services departments. Taylor-Smith formerly was a public defender and operated her own law firm, according to Democratic officials. A graduate of Hampton College, Taylor-Smith was an adjunct faculty member in the trial advocacy program at Temple Law School, her legal alma mater, and has been a featured Continuing Legal Education presenter for the Pennsylvania and national bar associations on issues including “Handling the Sexual Assault Case and Prosecuting Protection from Abuse Cases.”
