Candidates line up for coroner, clerk of courts, wills register
Bucks Countys Democrat and Republican organizations are lining up candidates to maintain your criminal court record, process your marriage license, and, quite possibly, autopsy your corpse.
Last week, the parties announced their top choices in four elected positions register of wills, clerk of courts, treasurer and coroner.
The Democrats want Rocco Rocky Dotto III to investigate all sudden, unexplained and violent deaths. A former deputy coroner for Bucks County, Dotto now works as a licensed funeral director at James J. Dougherty Funeral Home in Middletown.
This has been my lifelong dream, said Dotto, who proposes educational outreach presentations by the coroner at local high schools.
The Republicans are sticking with incumbent coroner Joseph Campbell, a podiatric surgeon from Doylestown. Campbell is seeking a fifth term overseeing the county morgue and crime lab in Warminster.
Meanwhile, in Bristol, Robyn Trunell wants to process your last will and testament. The borough councilwoman is the Democrats choice for Bucks Countys next Register of Wills, a seemingly benign position that nonetheless attracts controversy.
Considered a quasi-judicial post, the elected register sometimes conducts legal hearings to manage estates when someone dies. The staff, meanwhile, handles adoptions and marriages in the county.
A corruption scandal rocked the office in 2012. The longtime director Barbara Reilly was convicted on allegations she rewarded county workers for staffing the polls on Election Day.
Reillys eventual replacement, Republican Don Petrille promised transparency, initiated new security protocols, but also, unwittingly, stepped into the debate over gay marriage two years ago.
Under state law, Petrille said he had no choice but to deny the marriage license request of a same-sex couple visiting his office in 2013. The couple sued and the resulting federal lawsuit overturned Pennsylvanias ban on gay unions.
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Candidates line up for coroner, clerk of courts, wills register