HARRISBURG — A state judge refused Friday to block an out-of-state group's TV commercial that Pennsylvania's top legal and election officials said illegally promotes one of the four candidates for state Supreme Court.

Senior Judge Barry F. Feudale Jr. acknowledged that the ad produced by the Virginia-based Center for Individual Freedom "may well cross the line" of what the Pennsylvania Election Code allows third-party groups to say about political candidates.

But he said the 30-second spot does not mention that Republican Maureen Lally-Green is a Supreme Court candidate and asks Pennsylvanians to thank her for her service as a Superior Court judge, rather than urging her election to the state's highest court on Nov. 6.

"It does not `expressly advocate' the election of Judge Lally-Green," said Feudale, who presided over a 2Z\x-hour hearing in Commonwealth Court on state officials' request to halt the ad. The spot is being aired across the state, including in the expensive Philadelphia market, Pittsburgh and Harrisburg.

In their complaint, Attorney General Tom Corbett and Secretary of State Pedro Cortes said the ad violates the election code's ban on corporate contributions and expenditures because the center itself is a corporation and because other corporations give it money.