Finalists for appeals court have capital connections

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The next appointee to the Missouri Court of Appeals is guaranteed to have a strong political ties to the state capital.

One of the three finalists for a vacancy on the court's Eastern District is the sister of Missouri Supreme Court Judge Laura Denvir Stith. Another is Gov. Bob Holden's chief legal counsel, and the third is a special chief counsel for Attorney General Jay Nixon.

Announced Tuesday by the Appellate Judicial Commission, the three nominees are:

Glenn A. Norton, 42, a former Ralls County associate circuit judge and longtime friend of Holden who has served as his chief legal counsel since the governor took office in January 2001.

Rebecca S. Stith, 45, a trial attorney with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in St. Louis and the younger sister of the Supreme Court judge.

Erwin O. Switzer III, 46, a special chief counsel for Nixon's office in St. Louis.

Holden now has 60 days to decide which of the three will replace Judge Richard Teitelman, whom he appointed to the Missouri Supreme Court in February.

Norton also was among the applicants for that Supreme Court seat but was not among the finalists recommended to the governor.

The three candidates for Teitelman's former appeals court seat all graduated from Missouri law schools -- Norton from the University Missouri at Columbia, Stith from Washington University in St. Louis and Switzer from Saint Louis University.