Panella, Aaroe judicial campaigns raise nearly $400,000 in total
In Northampton County election, abortion raised as issue
Democrat Brian Panella and Republican Nancy Aaore have raised nearly $400,000 between them in their quest to become a judge on the Northampton County Court of Common Pleas on Nov. 7.
In addition to contributions from donors, their campaign committees relied on significant loans from the candidates – Panella, $71,825; Aaroe, $137,785 – according to campaign finance reports for the year.
The most recent campaign finance reports, covering he period from June 5 to Oct. 23, reveal that the Nancy Aaroe for Judge committee had $47,313 available for the final weeks of the campaign, while the Bipartisan Committee to Elect Brian Panella had $19,621.
As judicial candidates, Panella and Aaroe cross-filed in the May 16 primary. Panella won his party’s nomination with 57% of the vote (13,145 to 10,005), while Aaroe won the GOP nod with 70% (10,950 to 4,730). The combined totals show Aaroe polling more primary votes than Panella (20,955 to 17,875).
The seat on the county court is open after Judge Stephen Baratta resigned last year to run for county District Attorney, and he is unopposed in the election.
The winner of the judicial election will serve a 10-year term and bring the number of county judges to its full complement of nine. The annual salary for a county judge is $212,495, but that is likely to increase next year because the pay is adjusted annually for inflation.
Coincidentally, Panella’s father, Jack, a former county judge and now the state Superior Court’s president judge, is also on the ballot. Voters statewide will decide whether to retain him – voting yes or no – to serve another 10-year term.
In the county judicial election, Aaroe and Panella tout their experience as giving one an edge over the other.
She has 32 years of experience as a lawyer while he has seven.
Aaroe worked more than 10 years as a public defender in Monroe County, as an assistant district attorney and as a court-appointed conflicts counsel in Northampton County. During that time, in 1996, she joined her husband, Paul, at Aaroe Law Offices, and still works there.
Panella, 32, has served as a custody master and hearing officer for custody disputes in Northampton and Lehigh counties and as a tax-appeal hearing officer for Bethlehem. That is the kind of quasi-judicial experience, he said, that prepares him to be a judge. He is also solicitor to Bethlehem City Council, Northampton and North Catasauqua.
Both candidates are county natives.
Aaroe grew up in Bethlehem Township, where she now lives. She graduated from Freedom High school and earned a law degree from Dickinson School of Law (1990)
Panella grew up in Palmer Township and graduated from Notre Dame High School. He received his law degree from Widener University Law School (2016). He has worked with the law firm Goudsouzian & Associates in Palmer Township for seven years and lives in Forks Township.
While the primary campaign focused mainly on experience, the general election campaign has veered into the abortion debate, playing out on social media.
It began with a Sept. 23 post on the Panella campaign’s Facebook page to explain why Panella had the legal experience to serve as a judge. The message then mentioned the abortion issue and a woman’s right to choose.
“Our conservative opponent tries to hide from the fact that she poses a direct threat to a woman’s right to make her own medical decisions,” the Panella campaign noted.
Aaroe’s campaign responded: “Stop pushing divisive partisan narratives you don’t even believe in and which are not even relevant to this race.”
Panella’s campaign shot back: “You have publicly stated that you are a ‘conservative and a constitutionalist’ . … So Nancy, you tell us which one it is, are you Pro-life or Pro-choice?”
Aaroe’s campaign: “I will be following the LAW, and the Judicial CODE OF ETHICS, which expressly states that candidates cannot ‘in connection with cases, controversies or issues that are likely to come before the court, make pledges, promises, or commitments that are inconsistent with the impartial performance of the adjudicative duties of judicial office.’”
For a more detailed look at the candidates, read our story from the primary: Nancy Aaroe, Brian Panella vie for seat on Northampton County Court
Campaign finance details
Nancy Aaroe
In the pre-election reporting period from June 5 to Oct. 23, Aaroe’s campaign raised $129,712, with most of that – $107,978 – coming from five loans from the candidate.
Major contributions came from her husband Paul Aaroe III ($2,000); J.B. Reilly, owner of City Center Investment Corp., Allentown, and his wife Kathleen Waterbury ($1,000); Gloria Snover, the former chair of the county Republican Committee, and her husband, lawyer Michael Snover, ($1,000); Anderson Daub, an owner of the Brown-Daub auto dealerships, and his wife Carolyn ($1,000).
The campaign spent $83,950, with a large chunk of that – nearly $64,000 – going to Communications Concepts, an Easton area firm.
In total, the campaign received $186,942, including the candidate loans, and spent $139,629 since January.
Brian Panella
The Bipartisan Committee to Elect Brian Panella raised $91,769 and spent $73,024 from June 5 to Oct. 23.
Panella loaned his campaign $31,954 in the latest campaign reporting period. Major donors include Northeast Leadership Fund, a Luzerne County-based PAC ($15,000); union-affiliated PACs ($4,000); lawyer Steven Goudsouzian, whose law firm employs Panella ($3,000); Lehigh Valley developer Lewis Pektor ($2,000); Richard Master, CEO of MCS Industries, Palmer Township ($3,000); Michael J. Perrucci, Lehigh Valley lawyer and developer ($5,000).
It received $8,769 worth of in-kind services from the Pennsylvania Democratic Party for campaign materials and donated $17,510 to the state Democratic Committee. The campaign purchased media services from WFMZ-TV ($21,284) and Cumulus Media, Easton ($6,670). Much of the remaining expenses covered various expenses, including printing campaign materials.
In total, the campaign raised $210,444, including the candidate loans, and spent $190,823 since January.