Episode 41 – Meet Heather Hines! A Candidate for District Judge

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Announcer 00:00:01 This is Blue Money, a finance podcast made for cops by cops with us. You know, your money safe. Retired Lieutenant Jim Donnelly of the Bensalem Police Department and co-host Kevin McGarry of Valley Financial Group come together to help protect and serve your financial needs. This is Blue Money.

Jim Donnelly 00:00:20 I want to welcome everyone back to the Blue Money podcast. This is your host, Jim Donnelly. I’m here with my co-host, Kevin McGarry. What’s up Jimmy? Not much. Kev. Today on the Blue Money podcast, we have a special guest. Heather Hines is with us. She’s running for district judge. The election is going to be on November 4th. So, Heather, welcome to the podcast. Yes.

Heather Hines 00:00:39 Thank you for having me I appreciate that.

Jim Donnelly 00:00:41 Yeah. So what’s going on, Heather, how’s the campaign going so far? It’s coming soon.

Heather Hines 00:00:46 Oh, it’s it’s going it’s it’s been quite an adventure. It’s definitely a lot more of a time commitment than I think any of us really kind of expected.

Heather Hines 00:00:56 But it’s been fun. It’s, you know, I’ve gotten to get out in the community a lot and meet a lot of really nice and interesting people. So, it’s definitely been fun.

Kevin McGarry 00:01:07 How many nights are you out a week? Like?

Heather Hines 00:01:09 Campaigning nights are kind of difficult for me because I have a very busy, family law practice, so I’m not able to knock doors during the day, but, and nighttime, I am trying to do various meet and greets throughout, my district, which is Buckingham Township, Solebury Township, and New Hope. So we’re doing meet and greets. we’re trying to meet up with people throughout the community, going to different meetings and such. So that’s kind of what I’m doing after work during the weekdays. And then the weekends are kind of reserved for door knocking. And if there’s any other community events like, the National Night Out that all of the police departments and emergency responding units had in August, I went to several of those, you know, the different fire prevention events throughout the district.

Heather Hines 00:02:04 I’ve been going to those two. So trying to get out to as many community events as I can.

Jim Donnelly 00:02:08 Yeah, you seem like you’re everywhere. Heather. I see you on Facebook. Like you said, you’re had all these events you’re at like the everything recently. So, before we get started, why don’t you just tell the audience a little bit about yourself that might not know? You’re like, you know, what’s a little bit of a background and what what makes you qualify kind of for the district justice position? Sure.

Heather Hines 00:02:26 So I’m originally from Lancaster. I graduated from Southern Connecticut State University with a Bachelor of Science in political science. I went to law school at Widener in Wilmington, Delaware. I graduated with pro bono distinction because I did a lot of, free legal, service while I was in law school. I was hired by the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office right out of law school, where I was an assistant district attorney for about nine years. I prosecuted mostly gun and drug cases and several homicide cases while I was there.

Heather Hines 00:03:07 After leaving Montgomery County, I was hired by the Senior Law Center, which is based out of Philadelphia. I was hired to open and run their Bucks County office. I was the staff attorney there. I provided free legal assistance to senior victims of crime and exploitation, which was a really great opportunity to, you know, help a, you know, kind of disadvantaged group of our population. So it was really great to work with some of the Bucks County seniors to try to help them kind of recover from, you know, some of the bad things that had happened to them. And then after that, I was hired by the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office, where I was an assistant D.A. there for several years before I ended up in private practice. And now I practice mostly family law and a little criminal defense. So I kind of I have the benefit of seeing kind of both sides of the criminal justice spectrum. I’ve been a prosecutor. I do criminal defense, so I kind of see it from both sides, which I think is something unique to me as a candidate running for this office.

Heather Hines 00:04:13 I have been practicing for almost 20 years. I’ve done pretty much everything that goes in front of a district judge. So a district judge is not a county judge. So a county judge is common pleas court. They’re based out of Doylestown. There are 18 district judges and district courts in Bucks County, and my district would be Buckingham Township, Solebury Township and New Hope Borough. And the things that come in front of a district judge are all of the criminal cases that would originate out of that district, come out of that district court. It’s also traffic court, landlord, tenant court, truancy court for for kids that aren’t going to school. And it is also a small claims court for small claims, civil cases that are valued at $12,000 or less. They also handle like codes, violations and things like that. And I have experience in all of that stuff.

Kevin McGarry 00:05:10 That’s awesome. like, how did this come about? Like, when did you make this decision? Say, hey, know what? I would love to be a judge.

Kevin McGarry 00:05:18 Like, when did you come to that decision?

Heather Hines 00:05:20 I can thank my husband for that. and you.

Jim Donnelly 00:05:23 Guys get the shout out. Okay.

Heather Hines 00:05:25 Yeah. You guys know Chris? you know, it’s funny. And he’s also the reason why I’m practicing family law. Because years ago, when we met, you know, he he suggested that I should open my own family law practice. And when I kind of said I, you know, family law, I don’t know about that. That’s when I was a prosecutor. he also suggested I should be a judge. And I kind of laughed at him about that. But the more, the more he brought it up and the more we kind of talked about it. I really thought, you know what? I think I would be a really good judge. I think I’m. I think I’m fair. I’m honest. I have a reputation in multiple counties of being fair and honest. I listen to people. I try to do what’s right. and the more and more we discussed it and I thought about it, and this opportunity came up.

Heather Hines 00:06:15 The current sitting district judge, Maggie Snow, is retiring. So I thought, this is a perfect opportunity that, you know, the universe is kind of signaling it’s my time. So, you know, I’ve I’ve got my petition signed in February and I, you know, kind of hit the ground running. And it’s been a sprint ever since.

Jim Donnelly 00:06:34 So that’s great. And I can vouch for that. What kind of person you are? I mean, just give you a little example to our listeners out there about Heather. I mean, Heather knows that I’m starting a new career being a financial advisor. And immediately, as soon as she started that, that had nothing to do with her running for judge. But she reached out immediately and said, hey, Jim, let me introduce you and Kevin to Montgomery Bar Association, Bucks County Bar Association, and there was no nothing, no gain for Heather whatsoever, but it was just her looking out for someone, looking out for me, looking out for Kev, just trying to grow our business.

Jim Donnelly 00:07:05 So that was one reason why we definitely want to have you one, because it’s the little things like no one sees you do that, no one. You didn’t need to email me or call me. But you know what? We’re always thankful here. So that’s why we’re really trying to promote you as much as we can, Heather, because we know what kind of individual you are. let me ask you this, Heather, what’s the biggest message to voters you’ve been, you know, when you’re banging on these doors in the weekend, what are you running on? What are you hearing from you? From the voters? What’s your message to them?

Heather Hines 00:07:29 So I think a couple things. I think what I’m hearing from, you know, a lot of people and, and I don’t think that would come as a surprise to anybody who’s listening is that, you know, there’s a lot of concern from, from people everywhere that, you know, our world has become so polarized. You’re either you’re either on this side or you’re this side, and there’s no common ground.

Heather Hines 00:07:51 There’s nothing in the middle. And I think there’s a lot of concern about that from, from the public for, for anybody who’s running for office, but particularly for somebody who’s running for a judicial position, you know, you’re supposed to be apolitical. Not make decisions based on politics. But you know the facts and the law. And you know, I. I try to explain to people and I give various different examples of, you know, what I’ve done, you know, kind of in my career that, has led me to build this reputation over about 20 years of being, you know, honest and fair. You know, as, as a prosecutor. not only did I, you know, prosecute my cases and look out for, my victims and my witnesses and society in general with how I handled cases, but I also handled my cases in a way that was fair and honest to the charged defendant, you know, and there were times that that meant that, you know, we would have to resolve the case, not, not with a trial, not with all of the, you know, the person being convicted of all the charges.

Heather Hines 00:08:59 Sometimes there were reasons for for, giving breaks or just withdrawing the case. You know, sometimes you don’t realize, everything is part of the case until you’ve been working on it for a year. You know, with law enforcement and everything like that. So, you know, it’s to me it wasn’t about wins and losses. It was about doing what’s right. And I think that that that really earned me a lot of respect, from other attorneys, both prosecutors and defense attorneys and also the judges. I can say that I’ve, I’ve stayed in contact with a number of judges, common pleas judges and district court judges in, in Bucks County and other counties who have encouraged me, on on my journey to run for judge and have said how great of a judge they think that I would be. And these are people that have seen me in court every day over years, and they know how I handle things. They they know that I’m, responsible. I’m respectful to people, both sides. I’m fair, I’m honest.

Heather Hines 00:10:05 And I want to. I want to do what’s what’s right, what’s just. And it’s not about Windsor losses. It’s not about which side, which side comes out on top.

Jim Donnelly 00:10:14 Right.

Kevin McGarry 00:10:14 Right. And Heather like think about it. You’ve been in it like you said over 20 years. And you saw, you know, good judges, maybe some bad judges like when you win. Right. What do you picture yourself on the bench as? Like what kind of judge do you want to be remembered for?

Heather Hines 00:10:29 I think, over, over my years in practice, I’ve seen some exceptional judges and exceptional ways of handling cases. And I’ve also seen the polar opposite. And I think one of the biggest things that I’ve, I’ve kind of picked up along the way is it is critically important for judges to be respectful of everybody involved, the parties, the witnesses, just everybody involved. Because sometimes that’s not the case. And it’s. I. I’ve been embarrassed to be in places before because of how certain allegedly be exceptionally rude and disrespectful and unprofessional to another attorney.

Heather Hines 00:11:14 Those are things that I would not tolerate at all. I also think it is incredibly important and it lends to, I believe, the public having more faith, in this system is that you are a judge that listens to people, and critically listens like you’re engaged. You’re looking at the parties when they’re talking. I’ve been in courtrooms before where, for example, I had a protection from abuse case where my client had been violently assaulted by her ex-boyfriend and had, visible injuries all over her body. And the judge was looking at the ceiling for vast majority of the testimony. that is that really sends, a really bad sign to Everybody that’s sitting in the courtroom, you know, whether he might have been engaged, he might have been listening. But the signals that he was throwing off to everybody in the courtroom was that he could not have been more disinterested. And that that really bothers me. And that is something that I would absolutely strive to be the opposite of.

Jim Donnelly 00:12:24 That’s great. Do you have anything to add before we wrap this up? Is there anything that you’d like to say that anyone might be listening or any potential voters for you?

Heather Hines 00:12:33 Yeah.

Heather Hines 00:12:33 I mean, I think the most important thing I could say right now is voting is so important. We have elections every November. every election is important whether the president is on the ballot, you know, the your US congresspeople are on the ballot or if it’s more of a local election, local elections affect your taxes, local elections, it affects your day to day life. You know, if you’re somebody who gets a if you get a traffic ticket, if you happen to be the victim of a crime, or one of your family members is charged with a crime. You want to go in front of somebody that you think is going to be just honest and fair, and the only way you’re going to get that is if you vote, you know, you go out and you have your voice heard, and whether it’s coming out on November 4th to vote in person, whether it is requesting an early or mail in ballot, which you can still apply for until October 20th. Okay. you know, it’s important to get out there and have your voice heard.

Heather Hines 00:13:41 so that’s the most important thing, I think I would say.

Jim Donnelly 00:13:43 Okay. Kev, do you have anything there?

Kevin McGarry 00:13:44 No. I can’t wait for November 5th. We have judge Heather Hynes. Me either.

Jim Donnelly 00:13:49 Yeah. Nice ring.

Kevin McGarry 00:13:50 To it. That’s right.

Jim Donnelly 00:13:51 Man.

Kevin McGarry 00:13:52 Wait for it. Get that gown right.

Jim Donnelly 00:13:54 Yeah.

Kevin McGarry 00:13:54 You know, I would just. If I became judge. I wear the gown everywhere. I mean, I would, I would.

Jim Donnelly 00:14:00 You’d be so corrupt, man. He would be locked up real quick. But, Heather, I just want to close it by this. To you and anyone that’s listening, especially, we totally vouch for Heather. she’s a great individual. She’ll make a great judge. I’ve known her for a lot of years. She is. She’s firm, but she’s fair. She’s a great person. There’s three things always stick out to me when I’m thinking about Heather. It’s her character. You know, you don’t get much better than her. Her work ethic.

Jim Donnelly 00:14:24 She’ll tell you she’s probably working around the clock, especially just campaigning on the weekends. And the last thing is her leadership style. You know, she’s a strong woman. I have two daughters myself, and if they could grow up to be half the person Heather is, I mean, that’d be a blessing. She’s just such a strong individual leader. Successful. So, Heather, hats off to you. you’re going to win. Like, we’re really looking forward to it. And that’s going to wrap up the Blue Money podcast. thank you for listening. If anyone has any questions or concerns, especially about the portfolios, don’t forget to reach out to us. But today we really want to focus this one. Heather. So. Good luck. Heather.

Kevin McGarry 00:14:56 Get out there and vote.

Heather Hines 00:14:57 Thanks. Thank you guys so much for your kind words and for your time.

Jim Donnelly 00:15:01 Thank you. See you Heather.

Heather Hines 00:15:02 All right. Bye bye.

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