A Follow-up On The Shields/McGough Story

It's a follow-up on this.

This weekend voters in the east end of Pittsburgh received a mailer reportedly sent out by the Shields campaign claiming that Hugh McGough:

wants the full time $82,303 salary of a District Judge but only wants to work part time.

A charge McGough has denied. As I wrote in my initial blogpost, I sent the Shields campaign a request for a comment via their "contact" page. So far, I've had no response.

In response to the mailing, McGough has written a letter to Councilman Shields:

Dear Councilman Shields,

I write to advise you that the "Pledge" you advance in recent mailings appears at odds with the Rules Governing Standards of Conduct of Magisterial District Judges, which apply equally to candidates for the office. I refer you to Rule 15(D)(3), which states as follows:

"Magisterial district judges or candidates for such office shall ... not make pledges or promises of conduct in office other than the faithful and impartial performance of the duties of the office."

Consistent with the Rules, I have long pledged, if elected to the bench, to perform the duties of the job with faithfulness and impartiality. I hereby do so again.

In light of your recent mailing, I also assure you that, if elected, I will be a full time District Judge. Indeed, I never conceived of the position of Magisterial District Judge as anything but a full time position. I was curious where your campaign was headed with the professional "push-polling" it conducted by phone on this issue in recent months. Now we know it was headed into fabrication and falsehood.

In this regard, I direct your attention again to the Rules Governing Standards of Conduct of Magisterial District Judges. The same section quoted above prohibits a judicial candidate from misrepresenting his "qualifications, present position, or other fact." Your demonstrated inability as a candidate to comply with these Rules reflects poorly on your prospects for adherence should you be elected to the position.

Sincerely,

Hugh Fitzpatrick McGough

I'll let you know if anything else happens with this.