Disctict Judge candidates, right to left, Kelley Morrone, Tom Campbell and Juliet Abel, answer questions following the formal portion of Tuesday's candidates' night event sponsored by the Cranberry Chamber of Commerce. Also running in the primary election are Dave Kovach and Teri Lynn Michaels.

CRANBERRY TWP — Candidates for district judge for Cranberry Township and Seven Fields touted their experience, community involvement and work ethic Tuesday night at a candidates' night event.

The district judge primary election race has five crossfiled Democrat and Republican candidates: Juliet Abel, Tom Campbell, Dave Kovach, Kelley Morrone and Teri Lynn Michaels.

All the candidates are practicing attorneys, except Kovach, who is a township police officer. All of the candidates live in the township.

All the candidates but Michaels attended the forum sponsored by the Cranberry Area Chamber of Commerce.

All of the attorneys touted their legal experience while Kovach, a police sergeant, pointed out his 32 years of law enforcement and community involvement.

Each of the candidates was asked a series of questions which helped outline why they were running and what qualifications they would bring to the bench.

Abel said ethics is part of a personal responsibility. She said its important to be a part of the community.

The office should be helping with programs that influence youths before they get to the courtroom and supporting programs in the schools such as the anti-bullying programs that help keep students from appearing before the judge, she said.

Abel said she planned to keep the Judge-For-A-Day program started by the previous Cranberry district judge, Kelley Streib, who now is a county judge.

Abel also said the office works as a check and balance to law enforcement and that it should be available to officers whenever they needed it.

Campbell said ethics is very important part of being a magisterial judge and that a judge can't show any bias toward either party.

Campbell said he has no allegiance to any office or organization. Campbell believes youths should know what they would expect if they came before him and that they would receive a dose of fairness and compassion.

He said law enforcement officers must know what to expect from the district judge's office and know what to expect when they step into court or make requests from the court.

Kovach said as a police officer, he's already held to higher standard of ethics. He was part of the Citizen's Advisory Panel during the Cranberry Plan and pointed out that the police department received an 80 percent approval rating from its residents.

If elected, he plans to make this his permanent job and be available to officers when they need him for arraignments or warrants.

Kovach said the district judge's office can affect youths through alternative sentencing programs. He believes through these types of programs, the office can have a positive effect in reducing youths' involvement in speed related crashes.

Kovach said every officer from the township's police department has been under direct supervision of him and already know what to expect of him.

Morrone said the district judge should be a positive role model and she believes youths and everyone else that would come before her should be held accountable for their actions.

She said if elected, this office would become her full-time job.

Morrone explained the district judge serves as a check and balance for law enforcement. She said she would continue to educate and talk with officers to make sure to explain any mistakes that were made with issues such as warrant requests or any other issue that would come up.