Is there any wonder why the judiciary is such a mess in this state?
FYI, Mike Krancer is the great-nephew of Walter Annenberg. I guess raising $1 million was a walk in the park for him.

Click on the link for the full story.

The money is flowing in this year’s race for two open Supreme Court seats, and a large portion of it is coming from a 527 group headed up by Philadelphia trial lawyers.

The Committee for a Better Tomorrow, whose treasurer, Mark Tanner, is the current president of the Philadelphia Trial Lawyers Association, donated $632,000 to Supreme Court candidates, including the retention campaign of Justice Thomas G. Saylor.

The committee gave a total of $707,000 when Superior Court candidates are included in the mix. These donations were for the latest reporting cycle, which is from June 5 to Sept. 17. Candidates had to file contribution data with the State Department by 6 p.m. yesterday.

According to campaign contribution records on the Pennsylvania Department of State’s Web site, this was the first cycle in which the committee donated to any of the candidates. A 527 group has to file its own disclosure reports, according to the Web site www.opensecrets.com, but it is not limited by certain contribution caps. These groups are often issue-based advocates that support a cause without supporting individual candidates, the site said.

Supreme Court candidates Seamus P. McCaffery and Debra Todd, Superior Court judges running on the Democratic ticket, each received $225,000 from the committee. Republican candidate and Superior Court Judge Maureen Lally-Green received $107,000. The committee did not donate to Republican candidate Michael L. Krancer, according to the Department of State’s site.

Saylor received $75,000 from the committee this cycle. The committee donated $75,000 in total to the Superior Court campaigns of Democrats Christine Donohue and Ron Folino, an attorney and judge from Allegheny County, respectively.