Introduction Letter to Community

By Cathleen Kelly Rebar

Background and skills to do the job

As you may know, Benjamin Crahalla, our area's long-time Magisterial District Judge, will be retiring and his position will be on the ballot, May 19, 2009. As an active member of our community, it is with great respect that I ask to follow in Judge Crahalla's footsteps and continue to represent our community in a positive, professional manner. As an attorney, I am automatically certified to take the post of Magisterial District Judge.

As you well know, a Magisterial District Judge is a community judge presiding over criminal matters brought or approved by the Commonwealth, either through preliminary hearings and arraignments for serious offenses, or summary trials for minor offenses. This judge also approves search warrants, issues emergency protection from abuse orders, and sets bail, among other things. In addition, he or she presides over civil matters seeking less than $8,000 in damages.

My professional and personal experiences make me uniquely qualified for this position. Not only am I a licensed, practicing attorney and one of the owners at McCumber, Daniels, Buntz, Hartig & Puig, P.A. in Eagleville, but I have immeasurable experience serving the people of Pennsylvania as Deputy Attorney General under Mike Fisher and Assistant District Attorney under Patrick L. Meehan. As a state and local prosecutor, I excelled at prosecuting crimes, including narcotic offenses, violent crimes, white-collar fraud, and neglect cases throughout this region of the Commonwealth. Furthermore, I have conducted thousands of civil and criminal hearings before Magisterial District Judges in Montgomery County and southeastern Pennsylvania.

In addition, I have won several professional awards including having been named one of Pennsylvania's Super Lawyers, Rising Stars in 2006, 2007 and 2008, a Lawyer on the Fast Track, and receiving a public interest award from the American Bar Association.

I am dedicated to all of the residents of our community. For the past several years, I have volunteered my time at the Montgomery County Camp Cadet Program, and the area YMCA. In addition, I am a member of Mother's Against Drunk Driving and the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence. My husband, Michael J. Rebar, Jr., our four year old son, and I, reside in the home where my husband grew up, in Lower Providence. We have close ties to our neighbors and have chosen to raise our family here. We are members of Visitation B.V.M. Church in Lower Providence and for the past 33 years my mother-in-law, Patricia Rebar, has proudly worked there both as a nursery school teacher and as a secretary in the rectory.

Our community is a family oriented and safe community. I am running to preserve our community. A strong and fair Judge, with legal experience and training, is the core component of such a community. It is vitally important to have the best candidates elected to every position and so I am asking for your support in the primary on May 19, 2009.

For additional information about me, or to help with my campaign, you can email me at rebarfordistrictjudge@live.com, or check out my campaign website at http://www.rebarfordistrictjudge.com, or call me at (610) 787-2696.

Thank you in advance for your support. Respectfully,

Cathleen Kelly Rebar