Published: November 04, 2009 01:27 am      

Kiniry, Fleming elected to bench

EBENSBURG — Johnstown-area lawyer Linda Rovder Fleming, in a fierce battle Tuesday, captured one of two Cambria County judgeships while District Attorney Patrick Kiniry easily won the other judicial opening.

Fleming, 46, a Richland Township resident, will become the first woman judge in the county’s 205-year history.

She had trailed Ebensburg lawyer Gary Jubas by more than 500 votes in early returns at the courthouse. But the count started swinging in her favor, and Fleming emerged the winner.

Some had considered Fleming the underdog because she had not picked up a party nomination in the primary.

With all 165 precincts reporting, Fleming held a 1,162 vote-edge over Jubas.

The final tallies were Kiniry, 19,405 votes or 38 percent; Fleming, 16,538, and Jubas, 15,376.

Kiniry, 62, who had a longtime private practice before becoming the county’s full-time district attorney, said, “I’m excited. I’m relieved and can’t wait to take on the new responsibilities.”

Kiniry, who had been a part-time prosecutor here for 30 years, said that he felt voters looked at his lengthy legal experience. He had captured both a Democratic and Republican nomination while Jubas took the second Democratic nomination.

“I’ve been in practice 37 years, first as a public defender then as an assistant district attorney and then district attorney. They (voters) went for the experience,” he said as he watched the returns with his family and supporters at the Solomon Run fire hall in Richland Township.

Fleming, who has specialized in family law, did not campaign as a women’s candidate, but as a qualified lawyer who has specialized in family law.

But she said in a phone interview from her election night party at Anthony’s Restaurant that becoming the first woman judge “is an awesome responsibility. And I hope I’ll be judged the same as the other judges.”

With family members and supporters cheering in the background, Fleming said, “I’m grateful to God for this blessing and grateful to my family and friends who worked so hard on my behalf. I wasn’t sure I could win without the support of the organized Democratic Party, but this proves a bipartisan grass-roots effort is enough to win.”

Jubas, in conceding defeat, said, “I thought it was a good race. I knew it’d be a close race. I’m happy for her and Pat. They pulled it out.”

Kiniry said he and his supporters had started planning the campaign a year ago before announcing his candidacy in January.

“It’s been a long 10 months, and I’m glad it’s over,” Kiniry said.

The hard-fought campaign, while intense, never became nasty as the three candidates focused on their legal experience in personal appearances and in media ads and mailings.

They had emerged the nominees in a six-way primary battle for the Democratic and Republican nominations.

Each candidate poured tens of thousands of dollars of their own money into their campaigns, plus funds received from contributors. The three spent $353,000 this year, and with the $163,000 spent by the three unsuccessful contenders in the spring, campaign spending in the judicial race topped $516,000.