PHILADELPHIA -- Pennsylvanians have denied a state Supreme Court justice a second term, a sign of the public's anger at lawmakers for pushing through a pay raise last summer. A second justice won another term only narrowly.
Justice Russell M. Nigro, who got 49 percent of vote Tuesday, was the first statewide judge to be turned out of office in a yes-or-no retention election in the 36 years such elections have been held.
A Democrat, Nigro received strong support in and around his native Philadelphia but was overwhelmed by lopsided margins in south-central and southwestern regions of the state, where opposition to the pay raise was concentrated.
Justice Sandra Schultz Newman won a second term with 54 percent of the vote, a close margin for a retention election. In the last judicial election in 2001, the three jurists on the ballot all were retained by margins of 3-1.
Both candidates shifted their campaigns into high gear last week as lawmakers cast preliminary but decisive votes to repeal the pay-raise law _ passed during the dead of night July 7 with no public notice or hearings. Legislators had increased their salaries 16 percent to 34 percent to at least $81,050 _ more than any state except California.
Activists who protested the raises suggested the court bore some responsibility for the climate of secrecy in state government.
Nigro's term ends in January, when Gov. Ed Rendell will appoint a temporary successor. Voters will elect a replacement justice to a 10-year term in November 2007.
Citizen activists who advocated "no" votes on retaining the two justices cheered Nigro's defeat.
"It's a clear signal that Pennsylvanians have awoke from their long slumber," said Russ Diamond, chairman of PACleanSweep, a political action committee that aims to challenge incumbent legislators.
Nigro did not return a telephone message early Wednesday.
