JUSTICE AT STAKE: …Total documented spending in the race has now reached $15,850,297, surpassing the previous national record of $15.19 million set in the 2004 Illinois race between Lloyd Karmeier and Gordon Maag, according to an analysis of state disclosures and television advertising by the nonpartisan organizations Justice at Stake and the Brennan Center for Justice.
This year’s total is very likely to rise, since spending is still being calculated as records are filed right before and after Election Day. Pennsylvania’s previous record for total spending in a state Supreme Court race was $10,519,717 in 2007.
Justice at Stake, the Brennan Center for Justice, and the National Institute on Money in State Politics have documented spending in state Supreme Court elections since 2000 in the New Politics of Judicial Elections series. The groups issued their latest report last week tracking spending in the 2013-14 judicial campaign cycle.
“We could see this coming like a freight train in Pennsylvania,” said Liz Seaton, Interim Executive Director of Justice at Stake, an organization that tracks spending in judicial elections. “Everyone should be stunned that a national spending record for state judicial elections has fallen. The problem is growing, and Pennsylvanians deserve a better system for selecting their high court judges.” … (more)
