Parkland event was a refreshing day on campaign trail
I wish all candidate forums were like the one I attended last Thursday.
It was different from most in two ways.
First, the six people running for Lehigh County judge talked about their skills and experience and why they would be a good judge. They didn’t criticize their opponents or cast them as unworthy.
Second, the audience was full of young people, many of them too young to vote on Nov. 2. Yet they were there, to hear what the candidates had to say.
Thursday’s event, put on by the Parkland High School Law Club, would not have occurred without the hard work of Kylie Knafo.
The 16-year-old aspiring attorney started the club last year so students would have an opportunity to learn about the law field. The club started small, with about three dozen members. Now there are more than 100.
That’s a big feat, considering the judicial candidate forum was the first time the club had gathered in person. All of last year’s events were held virtually because of the pandemic.
Previous club events include presentations by paralegals, attorneys, judges and stenographers.
Having an interest in a law career is natural for Knafo, a junior from South Whitehall. Her father is a lawyer. One brother and sister are, too. Another brother and sister are in law school.
With the election nearing, she thought it would be a good idea to invite the candidates to speak.
“I wanted to put a name to a face and learn about them,” she told me. “I really don’t know much about them, and I don’t think my peers do.”
While not all students can vote, they can take the information home to their families, Knafo said.
Six candidates are running for three seats on the Court of Common Pleas: attorneys Thomas Caffrey, Thomas Capehart, Zachary Cohen, David Ritter and Maraleen Shields, and District Judge Rashid Santiago.
It was great that all six accepted the law club’s invitation.
They came knowing they weren’t going to get many votes out of it. They could have used their time to campaign elsewhere.
But they recognized their attendance was as much a public service as it was a campaign event, since they would be speaking to students interested in pursuing a legal career.
The Parkland students were engaged. About three dozen were there, with attendance capped because of COVID-19 protocols. They asked how judges eliminate their personal biases; how the recidivism problem can be solved; and about the most-important quality of a judge.
One student said she was heartened to see an African American candidate — Shields, 43, a Democrat from South Whitehall.
Shields likewise said she was encouraged to see many female students and students of color at the forum. She said it is important to have women on the bench, and noted that Lehigh County has never had an African American judge.
“Part of how people feel about the court is whether they see themselves reflected in it, I believe,” she said. “And if women and minorities and underrepresented people see themselves reflected in the system, they are more likely to believe the system is also serving their needs.”
The candidates explained how they had gotten into the field. For some, it wasn’t their first career path.
“If you don’t know what you want to do at this age or you think you know what you want to do, stay flexible. Because you really don’t know what life has in store for you,” said Caffrey, 59, a Republican from Whitehall who said he initially pursued a law degree as a way to enter politics.
The candidates stressed the importance of being active in their communities through charities and organizations, and how that involvement helps a judge.
“It gives me a perspective and understanding of our community and those in our community so that I think I can understand the issues when people come before the court and I can empathize with them,” said Capehart, 57, a Republican from Upper Milford.
The candidates explained the qualities a judge should have: broad legal experience; objectivity; integrity; open-mindedness; empathy; and humility.
Ritter, 50, a Republican from Lower Macungie, said judges must know when to be punitive and when to be empathetic. He said that as a public defender he’s spent a lot of time at the jail, where about half of inmates have mental health or substance abuse problems.
“They need not a hammer, but they need a hand up sometimes, and a second chance,” Ritter said. “And the best judges that I’ve been in front of the past 23 years are the judges who are good at discerning the difference between those two categories of people.”
Santiago, 37, a Democrat from Allentown, has been a district judge for eight years. He said too many people lack faith in the justice system, and judges can change that.
“Every day I go to work there’s someone who’s not happy with me because one of the rulings is going to be unfavorable to someone. But if you treat people with dignity, with respect, they tend to respect the process. And they tend to have respect for the system. They believe in it.”
Cohen, 44, a Democrat from Upper Macungie, told the students that judges can transform lives for the better.
“A courthouse doesn’t have to be a place of fear. It’s a place where good things can happen,” he said. “I want to be a part of that process.”
I knew going into Thursday’s forum the candidates would be cordial.
They are bound by the judicial conduct code to refrain from making promises about issues that could come before them as a judge. They can offer personal views on legal and political issues, but can’t say anything that could jeopardize their impartiality.
So they do what all candidates should do. They sell themselves instead of tearing down others.
I challenge all candidates — from president to Congress to school board — to do that.
And I hope more young people will follow the lead of Knafo and her peers at Parkland High School and become engaged in the elections process.