County Dems resubmit same three potential McGloin replacements for court's consideration
Lackawanna County Democratic Party Chairman Chris Patrick resubmitted Friday the same three candidates to potentially succeed former Commissioner Matt McGloin that the party's executive committee originally advanced last month.
It came a day after county President Judge Trish Corbett issued an order Thursday resetting the clock on an appointment process spelled out in the county's Home Rule Charter — a process that gives the party's executive committee five days from the date of a vacancy to provide the names of three potential appointees for consideration by the judges of the county Court of Common Pleas.
Corbett's order noted the court accepted McGloin's resignation Thursday, giving the party until Tuesday to furnish the judges with three candidates. That process had already played out in late February, when party leadership put forward and the party's executive committee voted to advance former county economic development Director Brenda Sacco, Olyphant Borough Council President James Baldan and Scranton School Director Robert J. Casey as the three finalists to fill the remainder of McGloin's term expiring Jan. 3, 2028.
The way the party went about advancing those names was controversial, with Commissioner Bill Gaughan sharply criticizing its process as politically 'tainted' and nontransparent. Gaughan, who took office with McGloin in January 2024, had introduced Dunmore Mayor Mark 'Max' Conway Jr. as his preferred choice to replace his former Democratic colleague.
The original committee vote occurred Feb. 27, with Patrick submitting Sacco's, Baldan's and Casey's names to the court the next day.
Those three candidates scored the highest on a rubric party leaders used to trim the list of potential appointees from 18 to three, Patrick previously said. The three highest-scoring candidates were put before the full executive committee for a vote, though Patrick hasn't released the names of all 18 applicants or details on the scoring rubric.
Patrick confirmed Monday that he simply resubmitted the original three names to the court Friday, following Corbett's Thursday order. Democratic Party leaders did not reconvene the executive committee for another vote.
Corbett's order said the court will conduct interviews with all three candidates in accordance with Rule 1908 of the Pennsylvania Rules of Judicial Administration before the judges vote on which of the three will replace McGloin. The timeline for that part of the replacement process was not immediately clear.
Efforts to reach Gaughan on Monday were not immediately successful.
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