Minority question could hurt Borkowski
By almost any standard, Ed Borkowski is an able prosecutor and a sterling individual. He also is white, typically not a drawback to those interested in becoming an Allegheny County judge.
But the first assistant district attorney's skin color has become a sudden, surprising impediment to his judicial aspirations, and that's unfortunate. That someone of Borkowski's professional pedigree might not ascend to the bench because he is too white is, well, simply beyond the pale.
County Chief Executive Jim Roddey, a Republican, is asking the GOP-controlled state Senate to delay action on Gov. Ed Rendell's nomination of Borkowski to fill a Common Pleas Court vacancy. Nothing against the Democrat Borkowski, mind you. Roddey just doesn't want to see him in a judicial robe until more blacks are outfitted in them.
Roddey's request is shining a necessary spotlight on the alarming absence of minorities on the county bench. Of 50 Common Pleas judges, including the semiretired senior judges, only six are black.
The Democratic Party, which enjoys a substantial voter registration advantage in the county, hasn't exactly labored strenuously to ensure there are more black judges.
The party hasn't endorsed a black judicial candidate in at least a decade. The last Democratic elected black judge was Kim Clark, who won without the endorsement in 1999.
Some local black leaders believed former Pittsburgh City Magistrate Wrenna Watson might end that drought this year, but she dropped out of the primary race.
Watson apparently was convinced she would be appointed to the judicial vacancy if she supported the three endorsed -- and ... hmmm, now that I think about it, white -- Democratic judicial candidates.
When Borkowski got the nod instead, many in the black community felt as though they got the shaft.
Borkowski, 52, of Lawrenceville, has successfully prosecuted some of the region's most notorious criminals in recent years. He secured death sentences for racist mass murderers Richard Baumhammers and Ronald Taylor, and got a life sentence for Joseph Cornelius, convicted of murdering and mutilating an 11-year-old North Side boy.
Borkowski is known as a tireless worker, a fact to which I can attest. Having covered county government for five years, I frequently roamed the courthouse after business hours. One of the few people I regularly saw in the quiet corridors during those late hours was Borkowski.
He wasn't seeking a Democratic nomination in Tuesday's primary, but Borkowski recently asked the Allegheny County Bar Association to rate his judicial qualifications. He was rated highly recommended, which means the association believes he has outstanding ability and experience and the highest reputation for integrity.
Watson, 49, is a Hill District lawyer and Orphans Court hearing officer. The daughter of Senior Common Pleas Court Judge J. Warren Watson, she was rated recommended by the association -- but not highly recommended.
Forget their race for a moment. Review their qualifications. Who would you rather see on the bench?
Roddey's motives are laudable. The chief executive is drawing attention to a deplorable lack of black county judges.
Borkowski could pay a steep price for him doing so. With the assistant district attorney clearly more qualified than Watson, it's regrettable his judicial nomination hasn't drawn an affirmative reaction.
