Much of the criticism being flung at PACleanSweep's anti-retention campaign has come in the form of the argument that local and/or lower court judges had nothing to do with the pay raise. Some judicial defenders paint these judges as innocent bystanders. They had no role in making the decision, they claim. Therefore, the argument goes, PACleanSweep's campaign against them is unfair.

But are they really innocent bystanders?

Chief Justice Ralph Cappy did not act in rogue fashion. He is the top administrator and spokesman for the entire judicial branch. His job is to make sure the judicial branch's needs and wants are met. He wouldn't have approached the legislature for a pay raise if a majority of lower court judges hadn't somehow pressured him to do so.

Maybe they didn't encourage him to sneak around behind closed doors with the other two branches, and perhaps they didn't convince the legislature to violate Article III of the Constitution, but that didn't keep a roomful of judges from giving Cappy a standing ovation in Hershey shortly after those very things happened.

Even if those judges weren't fully aware of the constitutional predicament when they gave Cappy a standing ovation, they must have pondered it at some point. Didn't they hear about the 2006 legislative elections? Even before that electoral bloodbath, the legislature wised up and repealed the pay raise after Justice Nigro took it on the chin. Surely, other judges heard about his fate.

Despite the first-ever non-retention of a Supreme Court justice in Pennsylvania, judges still apparently didn't get the message voters were sending.

It was lower court judges who in December 2005 filed the lawsuits to get the pay raise back. They made no mention of the Article III issues - all they wanted was the money. The Supreme Court grabbed those cases - and another suit filed by activist Gene Stilp, which had already been thrown out as moot - via its extraordinary King's Bench power. With three cases from which to cherry-pick, they performed some real judicial gymnastics to keep the pay raise in effect - for judges and judges alone.

While the Supreme Court made the decision, it would not have been possible without the cases filed by a handful of lower court judges - none of whom would ever have to face the voters again, conveniently.

By all accounts, every Common Pleas and local judge is still accepting the money today. They could have chosen to protest the Supreme Court's ruling by quietly repaying the money to the people of Pennsylvania. Joan Orie Melvin and Debra Todd did exactly that. What exactly is preventing all the other judges from doing the same thing? Until they do, we can only assume they believe the Supreme Court's bizarre decision on the pay raise was proper. That just doesn't sit too well with most Pennsylvanians.

The real innocent bystanders in the "judicial swindle" are the citizens of this Commonwealth.

The very judges who swore to "support, obey and defend" our constitutional guarantee of a deliberative legislative process stood idly by while that guarantee was trampled in July 2005. Not only did they stand idly by, but some of them actively sought to reassert the trampling after the legislature corrected its mistake. Today, the vast majority of judges are personally benefiting as a result.

Innocent bystanders are those who have absolutely nothing to do with a given situation. They are victims of circumstances they do not control in any way, shape or form. Innocent bystanders are people who are simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Every step of the way on the judicial pay raise, lower court judges had a hand in the matter. Before, during and after, they played a critical role. Without their participation, it wouldn't be an issue at all.

This wrong must be righted. If those who swore to uphold the Constitution won't act, then We the People must. It's our choice, it's our duty and it's our responsibility to future generations of Pennsylvanians.

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About PACleanSweep

PACleanSweep is a non-partisan effort dedicated to reforming state government in Pennsylvania. For more information, please visit www.PACleanSweep.com.