Partisan hack Kevin Brobson takes heat from PA Bar Association and legal community for airing a blatantly false attack ad
PENNSYLVANIA — Judge Kevin Brobson — a partisan hack and unethical opportunist — is having a terrible final week of his campaign as he’s generated bad press across Pennsylvania and the legal community for his blatantly false attack ad against Maria McLaughlin. Brobson has violated the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s standards for judicial campaigning and undermined the trust of the people of Pennsylvania — and was forced to alter his ad after whining about being caught in a lie.
“Pennsylvanians deserve a qualified, ethical judge to sit on our state’s highest court — and Kevin Brobson has proven this week that he utterly fails that test,” said Brendan Welch, spokesman for the Pennsylvania Democratic Party. “Maria McLaughlin is an honest judge who is running to serve our commonwealth — not be a partisan hack. She is the clear choice for voters on November 2nd.”
Check out coverage of Brobson’s blunder below:
Philadelphia Inquirer: Pa. Bar Association criticizes TV ad by GOP candidate for state Supreme Court
By Andrew Seidman
On Saturday, the Bar Association said the ad crossed the line, violating standards of accuracy and integrity in campaign advertising that both campaigns agreed to follow as part of the bar’s candidate evaluation process.
In its letter, a copy of which was obtained by The Inquirer, the bar’s Judicial Campaign Advertising Committee said it had directed Brobson’s campaign to “immediately withdraw” the ad. Alternatively, the Brobson campaign can issue a news release clarifying “those portions of the advertisement that the JCAC has found to be in violation of its Guidelines.”
Specifically, the letter says the ad violates the bar’s guidance that campaigns should “refrain from making statements that might be subject to misinterpretation or distortion” and “should not omit or obscure information necessary to prevent misinterpretation.”
Above The Law: PA Judge Dinged By State Bar For Filthy Ad Campaign
By Liz Dye
Judges, they’re just like us. Which is to say, they are also assholes a lot of the time. Witness one Kevin Brobson, the president judge of Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth Court who is currently running to fill a vacant seat on the state’s Supreme Court.
As reported by the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Judicial Campaign Advertising Committee just sent the Republican judge a letter demanding that he retract an ad attacking his Democratic opponent, Superior Court Judge Maria McLaughlin for a 2017 panel decision in which she concurred that a defendant was entitled to withdraw his guilty plea based on ineffective assistance of counsel. (Professing profound remorse, the defendant pleaded guilty to the same charges in 2020 and is now in jail.)
Or, as Judge Brobson put it in his ad, McLaughlin “chose to void the guilty plea of a drunk driver who admitted to killing a pregnant woman and her unborn child.”
Which is a pretty filthy mischaracterization, particularly coming from a member of the judiciary.
Associated Press: High court candidate alters ad after complaint from opponent
By Mark Scolforo
The Republican candidate for the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has revised an ad attacking his opponent after the state bar association notified him it ran afoul of its judicial campaign advertising standards.
Philadelphia Inquirer: Republican changes TV attack ad in Pa. Supreme Court race after criticism
By Andrew Seidman
The Republican nominee for state Supreme Court has changed a TV ad days after the Pennsylvania Bar Association said it had violated its standards.
The new version of the ad paid for by Republican Kevin Brobson’s campaign includes more context in its criticism of Democrat Maria McLaughlin and removes outright one charge leveled at her, the Associated Press reported.
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The original version of the Brobson ad, which started airing Oct. 18, says McLaughlin, a Superior Court judge, “chose to void the guilty plea of a drunk driver who admitted to killing a pregnant woman and her unborn child.” It did not explain the context behind the decision in the case, Commonwealth v. Mosey: Sitting on a three-judge appeals panel, McLaughlin sided with another judge that the driver had received inadequate counsel before pleading guilty.
They set aside the conviction and sent the case back down to the trial court level for reconsideration; the defendant still ended up pleading guilty and went back to prison.
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Brobson’s campaign has maintained the ad is accurate and described the alleged violations as “picayune.”
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