MAHANOY CITY - State and county officials agreed at a meeting Thursday that former First Assistant District Attorney Thomas J. Campion Jr. should be the new clerk of courts.
He would finish the second half of the four-year term of Stephen M. Lukach Jr., who recently retired amid allegations that he misappropriated public money.
The county Democratic Committee voted last week to recommend Campion as Lukach's replacement. State law requires the governor to appoint someone of the same political party to fill a vacated elected position. The Senate also has to confirm the appointment.
State Sen. Dave Argall, R-29, sent a letter to Gov. Tom Corbett urging a quick appointment and another informing him of the committee's support of Campion.
"I'm optimistic that we can remove this stain from Schuylkill County government and return the trust to the people," Argall said Thursday at the meeting in his Mahanoy City office. "I know that we can make that goal a reality."
Argall said that the governor's office has agreed to interview Campion. Other candidates can still come forward and the governor is not required to appoint the recommended individual.
Hugh Reilly, chairman of the county Democratic Party, thanked the elected officials of both major political parties for coming together Thursday to set things right in the clerk of courts office.
"This is a very difficult time in the history of Schuylkill County and it is important that, at a time like this, we come together in a bipartisan fashion and work together to the benefit of the taxpayers in Schuylkill County," Reilly said.
Lukach's first deputy, Paul Steffanic, has been clerk of courts since taking the oath of office last week. Commissioners' Chairman Frank J. Staudenmeier said he has done an outstanding job since taking on the responsibility.
"The commissioners are working very closely with the clerk of courts to ensure a smooth transition," Staudenmeier said.
County Commissioners Gary J. Hess and George F. Halcovage and state Reps. Neal P. Goodman, D-123, and Jerry Knowles, R-124, were also at the meeting Thursday. State Rep. Mike Tobash, R-125, was at a meeting in Harrisburg regarding his proposed pension reform.
Campion, a lawyer with the Pottsville firm of Lipkin, Marshall, Bohorad & Thornburg PC, is a certified public accountant. He served as an assistant district attorney from May 2006 until January 2013, when he was promoted to first assistant district attorney and served in that post until January 2014.
Campion is a 1989 graduate of Penn State University with a bachelor's degree in accounting, and a 1999 graduate of Widener University School of Law, Harrisburg, with a juris doctor degree.
He is a member of the Schuylkill County and Pennsylvania Bar Associations and the Pennsylvania and American Institutes of Certified Public Accountants.
Campion has not yet said if he will seek a full term in 2015.