Can Pat Toomey save Justice Saylor's job?

Pat Toomey, the most respected conservative voice in Pennsylvania, is asking voters to retain state Supreme Court Justice Thomas Saylor on Nov. 6. Toomey's appeal may be Saylor's only chance of surviving a "yes" or "no" retention vote.

If he loses on Nov. 6, Saylor would be the fourth member of the seven-member court to be replaced since the Pennsylvania Legislature gave itself, the governor and the state's judges a controversial pay raise in July 2005.

Justice Russel Nigro was voted off the court in November 2005. Justice Sandra Schultz Newman narrowly survived her retention vote, but resigned in 2006. Chief Justice Ralph J. Cappy, one of the architects of the pay raise fiasco, announced he would leave the court at the end of this year, two years before his current term expires.

A citizens reform group, PACleanSweep, is urging Pennsylvania voters to oust nearly all of the state's judges when they face retention on Nov. 6. The "Operation Judicial Sweep" campaign has drawn much criticism from the legal community and the state's political establishment.

Another reformer, Gene Stilp, is driving around Pennsylvania today in a pink bus urging "No" votes on the state's judges. (Stilp was the guy who toured the state with a giant inflatable pink pig in 2005 and 2006 to remind the voters about the pay raise the Harrisburg Hogs gave themselves.)

Toomey, president of the Club for Growth and a former Pennsylvania Congressman, carries a lot of weight with Pennsylvania Republicans, especially conservatives.

The state Republican Party tried to rally support for Saylor and other Republican judges by bringing in former Gov. Tom Ridge, but Ridge's condescending remarks about voters living in the past, may have done more harm than good.

Toomey's endorsement reminds voters that Saylor ruled against the 2005 pay raise and upheld the Lobbying Disclosure Act. (Too bad Saylor was in the minority on both issues.)

"By every standard, Tom Saylor has been a great judge," Toomey said. "He is known, not only for intelligent opinions, but for his fair approach and fine temperament in the courtroom. Saylor listens to all sides of a case before making up his mind."

Saylor makes his own case for a "yes" vote on Nov. 6 at his own Web site.