Grine Launches Campaign, Pledges ‘Positive Message’ in Centre County

State College District Judge Jonathan Grine pledged Wednesday to ‘avoid negative politics’ in his bid for a Centre County judge seat.

‘On Election Day, I want voters to vote for a positive message’ for the area, Grine, 37, said at an official campaign kick-off breakfast, hosted at Bonfatto’s restaurant in Bellefonte. He said he is ‘running for judge based on my desire to have a continued positive impact on our community.’

Several dozen people attended the campaign event, including county Sheriff Denny Nau and District Attorney Stacy Parks Miller.

State College Mayor Elizabeth Goreham, a Democrat, and Republican attorney Roy Lisko, a former state attorney general, both spoke in support of Grine. He is a Democrat, but — following tradition in county judicial races — said he plans to cross-file to appear on both the Republican and Democratic ballots.

‘I don’t think partisan politics and negative politics’ have a place in a judicial race, Grine said in an interview later.

He is running to fill the Court of Common Pleas seat now held by his father, county President Judge David E. Grine. The elder Grine told the Centre Daily Times earlier this month that he will retire after 2011, capping a 30-year career on the Centre County bench.

So far, local political leaders said, they are aware of at least one other likely candidate for the seat. That’s David C. Mason, a Republican and longtime Philipsburg attorney.

Reached Wednesday, Mason, 52, said he plans to make a formal campaign announcement probably later this month. He said he has practiced law in Philipsburg for 27 years and feels ‘that, with my experience, I could probably step into a position on the Court of Common Pleas and help out right away.’

He, too, will cross-file for spots on both major parties’ ballots, Mason said.

In campaigning, he said, he plans to emphasize his ‘vast and long history of trying cases,’ which includes criminal and civil work. Other platform planks will be his stability in the region and his community service, Mason said. He grew up in the Philipsburg area before going on to Lycoming College and the University of Pittsburgh School of Law.

Mason would regard judicial service as an extension of his community service, he said. And he believes ‘there will be an opportunity to perhaps improve some aspects of judicial administration in Centre County,’ he said. He said he’s still forming those ideas.

As for Grine, the eight-year district judge said Wednesday that judges should be held to the highest standards of integrity. He would fulfill the duties of the office with ‘dignity, courtesy and respect,’ Grine said.

He introduced several policy ideas in his campaign platform Wednesday, as well. Among them:

• Continued incorporation of technology into the court system. Grine has indicated he would like to see more electronic filing of civil cases, which he said would make the system more efficient and accessible.

• Creation of a county domestic-violence court. Grine called domestic violence a significant problem in the county. A separate court for the category would promote victim safety and defendant accountability, he has said. Grine also said it would help coordinate agency responses to domestic-violence cases and encourage consistency in court procedures.

• Creation of a county mental-health court. The idea there would be to prevent people with mental-health issues from committing ‘the same crimes over and over again,’ Grine said. He said he would advocate the development of community-based support and treatment programs to help on that front.

• A core focus on victim rights. Grine has said he wants to make sure that victims aren’t ‘re-victimized’ in the court process. For example, he has shown zero tolerance for witness intimidation by defendants, Grine noted on his campaign website.

He also said community service should be a priority for judges, underscoring his involvement in groups such as the Special Olympics and The Second Mile. In addition, he is a member of the Pennsylvania Minor Judiciary Education Board — appointed there by the state Supreme Court.

Grine works part-time for Penn State as an instructor in the sociology department, where he teaches classes on American courts and criminal law. Still an active attorney, he holds a bachelor’s degree from the university and a law degree from the Dickinson School of Law.

He last ran for a county judge seat in 2007, when he won the GOP nomination. Grine lost the general-election race to Pamela Ruest, who became the county’s first woman elected as a common-pleas judge.