Gov. Josh Shapiro has made nominations for two positions in the Westmoreland County Courthouse. Both are because of vacancies, as elected officials stepped away from their positions.
In 2023, Common Pleas Judge Rita Hathaway retired. More than a year later, Hempfield lawyer Matt Schimizzi, 41, has been tapped by the governor to take her place.
The only real question is why it took so long to give someone the nod. Schimizzi has run for the bench before. He will have to be approved by the Senate to do the job initially, but he already has said he will seek election for the seat. He has no opposition at this time.
Hathaway’s retirement was not a surprise. Retirements seldom are, especially for someone like Hathaway, who spent five years as the county’s president judge.
The second position, however, was an ongoing scandal for Westmoreland.
Sherry Magretti Hamilton was the register of wills, but she seemed to spend more time in recent years in court defending the abysmal operation of her department than actually in her office doing the job.
In 2024, there were multiple hearings and court orders to force the issue. Hamilton was found in contempt of court. A conservator was assigned to do the actual work while Hamilton continued to collect her paycheck. Eventually, Hamilton agreed to resign but still dragged her feet for almost two months.
The conservator stepped away, leaving the office in the hands of Katie Pecarchik, a former office employee who had alerted to the problems when she ran for the job in 2019.
But Pecarchik isn’t being nominated by the governor. Instead, Jon Wian, chief of staff to Sean Kertes, the Republican chairman of the board of commissioners, is being tapped.
Let’s be clear. Nothing about Wian’s nomination is wrong. Shapiro going with a Republican is an acknowledgement of both the political complexion of the county and the courthouse. That’s far better than a governor forcing in someone of his own party just because he can.
It also reflects the political expediency that, well, “just because he can” isn’t the reality. The state Senate is confirming the nomination and the state senate is Republican — and the president pro tempore is Westmoreland Republican Kim Ward.
Wian came to Kertes from the county Treasurer’s Office, so he is likely to know what needs to be done and how.
It’s just sad that politics have to come into play at all when the register’s office — and the families and businesses that need its services — have been through so much and have barely gotten back to normal.
Common Pleas Judge Harry Smail Jr. would seem to agree. “It is certainly the purview of the governor’s office to make an appointment, but I didn’t see it coming,” Smail said.
It speaks to the importance of the office and the need for things that people depend upon, like settling an estate or finalizing an adoption, to be less political and more professional.
