HARRISBURG (Feb. 7, 1997) -- John A. Carpenter, chair of the Pennsylvania Judicial Evaluation Commission, today reacted to the Republican State Committee s charges:

Essentially, the Republican State Committee is saying don't rain on our parade; we're comfortable with politics as usual smoke- filled rooms and all that goes with it let politics prevail.

We must remember that the objective of the Commission's work is to conduct an independent evaluation of each candidate, not to endorse the slate of either party.

We don't think our judges should be solely dependent on the whim of any political party. Unfortunately, the republican party has chosen to react to the results of the Commission's evaluation process rather than to carefully consider the Commission's findings with respect to potential candidates.

Eleven republican candidates were presented to the Commission for evaluation and eight were found Recommended. One candidate found to be recommended is a trial judge with a strong prosecutorial background. It is simply untrue that there was any bias against prosecutors on this Commission which includes a full-time prosecutor in its membership.

The Commission consists of nine lawyers who are geographically wide spread and diverse in their practices. Included are a prosecutor, a criminal defense lawyer, a claimant's attorney, an insurance company lawyer, a law school professor, a lawyer who is responsible for disciplining other lawyers and a general practitioner.

The other nine members are all nonlawyers who are equally diverse in terms of their professions and geographic locations. Included in this group are a physician, a dairy farmer, a former and a current newspaper publisher, a former college president, a university professor and a former national president of the League of Women Voters.

We invite the citizens of Pennsylvania to look over our shoulders, review the candidates' qualifications and make their own judgements as to the validity of these ratings.

We are satisfied that, as a result of this process, the voting public will have more than enough information to make informed choices at the polls this spring.