* For the first time in more than a generation, the ballot for Lackawanna County district attorney does not include an elected or appointed incumbent. The open seat is a truly rare opportunity for county voters to take a fresh look at the office. The Times-Tribune editorial board has done so, and endorses Democratic attorney Mark Powell over Republican attorney Gene Talerico, the former longtime first assistant prosecutor.
* Powell is a deeply experienced lawyer, including in criminal defense. It is unfortunate that many of Talerico’s supporters have portrayed criminal defense as some sort of fault for someone seeking to be a prosecutor. The defense bar is just as important as the prosecution bar to an effective criminal justice system, and it’s probably even more important to the society because it’s a bulwark against the potential for a police state. It’s an honorable pursuit, and as valuable as prosecution in terms of experience.
* County voters should take the opportunity to invigorate the office with a fresh perspective, in the very well-qualified person of Mark Powell.
Scranton Times-Tribune: Time right for new prosecutor
By The Editorial Board
For the first time in more than a generation, the ballot for Lackawanna County district attorney does not include an elected or appointed incumbent. The open seat is a truly rare opportunity for county voters to take a fresh look at the office.
The Times-Tribune editorial board has done so, and endorses Democratic attorney Mark Powell over Republican attorney Gene Talerico, the former longtime first assistant prosecutor.
Republican stewardship of the office goes back nearly 50 years, during which a series of assistant prosecutors have risen to be appointed or elected, or both. The list includes former state Attorney General Ernie Preate Jr. and current county Judges Michael Barrasse and Andy Jarbola. But the issue is not simply party dominance, but the evolution of the office culture under like-minded successors.
That line of succession raises an important point in this race. Over the years it has been almost automatic for the county court, regardless of the judges’ political backgrounds, to appoint first assistant district attorneys to the top job when a vacancy occurs. Yet when Jarbola left the prosecutor’s job for the bench in 2016, the judges passed over Talerico and instead appointed a lower-ranking and less-experienced assistant, Shane Scanlon. The judges did not say why they did so, but they did say it was unanimous — a stunning repudiation.
Talerico went on to handily defeat Scanlon for the Republican nomination earlier this year after a bruising primary campaign that split not only the party but the staff in the district attorney’s office.
Since then, Talerico naturally has focused on his prosecutorial experience during 25 years in the office. Experience is, of course, a legitimate issue. But it, alone, is not definitive.
And long experience in powerful positions can cut multiple ways. Preate, former Attorney General Kathleen Kane and, most recently, former Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams ended up being convicted of crimes rooted in hubris, derived from a sense of being able to act with impunity.
That’s why fresh eyes in powerful offices are a good idea.
Powell is a deeply experienced lawyer, including in criminal defense. It is unfortunate that many of Talerico’s supporters have portrayed criminal defense as some sort of fault for someone seeking to be a prosecutor. The defense bar is just as important as the prosecution bar to an effective criminal justice system, and it’s probably even more important to the society because it’s a bulwark against the potential for a police state. It’s an honorable pursuit, and as valuable as prosecution in terms of experience.
According to Powell, he would disrupt long-established routine in a way that points to a fresh perspective.
He contends that the office too readily pleads down charges to avoid trials. Whether that is so probably depends on interpreting statistics. Read one way, state data shows Lackawanna County to be about average in its plea and trial statistics; but read another, Powell has a point.
Pleas are absolutely necessary for the justice system to function. Powell, however, contends that certain cases — especially those relevant to opioid dealers who fuel the deadly epidemic — should not be subject to be pleas. The objective, he contends, should be to conduct trials in pursuit of maximum sentences as a deterrent.
Both candidates can do the job. But county voters should take the opportunity to invigorate the office with a fresh perspective, in the very well-qualified person of Mark Powell.
Read the endorsement here.