Philadelphia Inquirer (Philadelphia, PA)

Hoffman Resigns as Head of Judicial Review Board
Superior Court Judge J. Sydney Hoffman has resigned as chairman of the Judicial Inquiry and Review Board, officials said yesterday.... The Supreme Court, in a brief order filed yesterday, appointed Superior Court Judge James E. Rowley of Beaver County to finish Hoffman's term, which expires in January 1987.
...Rowley, 58, of Hopewell, is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh Law School who became a Beaver County Common Pleas Court Judge in 1966. He was elected to the Superior Court in 1981.
He has been active on ethics panels of both the Conference of State Trial Court Judges and the American Bar Association, he said yesterday. He said he considered the appointment "an opportunity to enlarge and have a greater impact" on issues of judicial ethics...."

3 Appointed to Judicial Review Board
The state Supreme Court made three appointments yesterday to the Judicial Inquiry and Review Board....
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court appointed Superior Court Judge James E. Rowley to complete the unexpired term of Superior Court Judge J. Sydney Hoffman, who resigned. Hoffman's term expires in January 1987.
...The review board is responsible under the state constitution for reviewing complaints of judicial misconduct. It recommends to the Supreme Court disciplinary measures ranging from censure to removal from office."

Ethics Board Picks Judge as Chairman
State Superior Court Judge James E. Rowley has been elected the new chairman of the Judicial Inquiry and Review Board, a board official said yesterday.
Rowley, 58, of Hopewell in western Pennsylvania, was chosen by board members during their first 1985 meeting Monday, said Richard McDevitt, executive director of the board. The board is responsible for investigating allegations of judicial misconduct and recommending disciplinary action to the Supreme Court.
Rowley was appointed to the board in December, after the last chairman, senior Superior Court Judge J. Sydney Hoffman, announced his resignation. Rowley, a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh Law School, has been active on ethics panels of the Conference of State Trial Court Judges and the American Bar Association.
...The state constitution calls for the board to be composed of nine members: five judges, two lawyers and two nonlawyers. The board has only seven members, as Gov. Thornburgh has not yet appointed a lawyer and a nonlawyer to fill vacancies."

"Judicial Board Elects New Chairman
The Judicial Inquiry and Review Board, which is responsible for probing allegations of wrongdoing by judges, has elected Philadelphia lawyer Bruce W. Kauffman as chairman, a spokesman said yesterday....He replaces chairman James E. Rowley, who will continue to serve as a member."

"Judge Rowley's Strong Legacy
In the last three years, the watchdog agency of the Pennsylvania courts has made major strides in restoring the public's confidence in its ability to police misconduct among judges — most strikingly in August, when it recommended the unprecedented firing of nine Philadelphia judges in the Roofers Union scandal.
The man who provided leadership on the Judicial Inquiry and Review Board during this period, James E. Rowley, stepped down as chairman several weeks ago but remains a member of the board. His successor, Philadelphia lawyer and former state Supreme Court Justice Bruce W. Kauffman, has a hard act to follow.
Mr. Rowley, a state Superior Court judge from Beaver County, took over in 1985 at a low point in the board's history...
Under Judge Rowley, the board has been criticized for being tough on the Roofer judges (whose fate, six months later, is still in the hands of a slow-moving Supreme Court), as well as being labeled a "good-old-boy" club that winks at all but the most outrageous examples of judicial shenanigans. Those two viewpoints seem to cancel each other. Even those who have been handled roughly by Judge Rowley's board concede the chairman has been fair, high-minded but not self-righteous — someone who, said one attorney who has appeared before the board, has "a very keen sense of the obligation of the judiciary to be above reproach."
There's a chance now to build on that record, what with the suggestion from the governor's judicial reform commission that the board be restructured so that it no longer investigates and then rules on allegations of misconduct. Judge Rowley favors reform along those lines, as well as opening up some of the now-secret deliberations of the board."

"Pa. Superior Court Judge Picks Top Judge
Judge James E. Rowley, one of the state's most respected judges and a former chairman of the state's judicial watchdog agency, was elected yesterday as Superior Court's new president judge.
With the court's 15 judges voting by secret ballot yesterday in Harrisburg, Rowley, of Beaver County, beat back a challenge by Judge Stephen J. McEwen Jr. of Delaware County. Both are Republicans.
After McEwen was told that he lost, court officials said, he made a motion to make Rowley's election unanimous. The original vote remains secret.
The election was scheduled by state Supreme Court... Rowley, a Superior Court judge, replaces Judge Vincent A. Cirillo of Montgomery County, who was elected president judge of the statewide court in January 1986.
Rowley, 64, made his mark when the Supreme Court appointed him to the Judicial Inquiry and Review Board in December 1984. At his first meeting he was elected chairman, and he served in that post in 1985, 1986 and 1987.
Perhaps the biggest case during his tenure involved several Philadelphia judges charged with receiving cash gifts from leaders of Roofers Union Local 30-30B. The review board investigated 16 judges and recommended to the Supreme Court that 15 be suspended from the bench. Ultimately, 13 were removed or quit.
The board had been called a toothless tiger; under Rowley's leadership, it adopted several changes and a more aggressive approach to disciplining errant judges. In urging, unsuccessfully, that some of the board's secret proceedings be made public, he was quoted as saying, "Democracy doesn't flourish in the dark."
Rowley was appointed a Beaver County Common Pleas Court judge in 1966, elected to a full 10-year term the next year, re-elected in 1977 and elected to Superior Court in 1981. He stands for retention next year for another 10-year term."