In Centre County records dating back to the early 1930s, no woman has ever been elected to the position of district attorney.
Lillian G. Raycroft, who was appointed to the post by a judge in the 1960s, was the first to break the barrier, but stopped short of running for the office.
"I enjoyed it," she said, "but you know, I wouldn't want to do that forever."
Despite Raycroft's decision to turn down invitations to run about 40 years ago, two women, both on the Democratic ticket, intend to once again make history.
Candidates J. Karen Arnold and Stacy Parks Miller are slated to appear on the May 19 primary ballot, one step toward assuming the seat by popular vote.
The two women in this year's race will join Democrat Anthony De Boef and Republican incumbent Michael Madeira in their pursuit of the four-year post.
When asked about the possibility of being the first woman voted into the position, both Arnold and Parks Miller came back with quick, deliberate answers.
For them, experience and personal qualities, rather than gender, would be among the most important factors in their performance as district attorney.
"The gender issue has nothing to do with it," Arnold said. "It's more of what you learn in 18 years and being able to use that to set the office back right again."
While the chance to be the county's first female head prosecutor was not an element in Parks Miller's decision to run, she found it exciting her actions might motivate others.
"If my ambition inspires anybody," she said, "then I'm thrilled to know that it could have that effect."
A New Home
As a law student, Stacy Parks Miller's class was composed of both men and women. She never felt any real gender discrimination then or when she entered her profession.
But in her experiences as an assistant prosecutor in Clearfield County and a defense attorney in Centre County, Parks Miller did notice one irregularity -- a lack of women occupying leadership roles.
Most elected officials and law firm partners are men, she said.
"The issue is starting to correct itself," she said, "but statistically it does not feel to me that the even population of men and women in law school has translated into the real working world."
And as one of the few female defense attorneys in the county, Parks Miller announced in February she hopes to move from her position at Miller, Kistler and Campbell to the Centre County Courthouse.
"The office is in dire need of new leadership, and I will bring that to the office, having done the job before," she said.
In Clearfield County, Parks Miller filled in for then-District Attorney Paul Cherry two to three days a week while he was away. Although she wasn't the first female ADA in Clearfield, Parks Miller was the only one there during her tenure.
Employing "smart prosecuting," Parks Miller said she used good decision making and judgment, something she has said is missing from Madeira's administration.
Madeira, who took office in 2006, has worked opposite Parks Miller at times. He has overseen a number of notable and controversial cases, including the prosecution of several Penn State football players and Andrew Rogers, a man previously convicted of murder but recently granted a new trial.
In the past year, Parks Miller has picked up some notable cases of her own. She successfully defended the only female student charged in connection with the Mifflin Streak last year. She stood beside another client, Nittany Lion Navorro Bowman, last year as he pleaded to a disorderly conduct, down from felony aggravated assault, after he was charged in connection with a 2007 HUB-Robeson Center fight.
The defense attorney also represented Will Forester, a Pittsburgh visitor initially charged with felony riot and other offenses in connection with the October riot.
Forester pleaded guilty to misdemeanor failure to disperse, and his other charges were dropped. He may receive as many as 45 days in jail for his crimes at sentencing.
For Parks Miller, the position of district attorney is not for everyone and requires a certain mix of experience and personality.
"I really don't think that you can walk into a job like that unless you've been in it before," Parks Miller said. "Not everybody has the stomach for it."
A Return to Service
Four years ago, veteran prosecutor J. Karen Arnold ran against Madeira, but lost by about 3,000 votes, an 11.5 percent margin. This year, she is at it again, only with a different result in mind.
Arnold has said gender would play no role in her acquisition of the post. She would rather focus on her experience in an effort to defeat Madeira this November.
Arnold first joined the Centre County District Attorney's office in 1988, coming to specialize in child and elderly abuse cases and the prosecution of juveniles. She worked to carry appeals to the end, she said.
"It's sometimes a very long process, and it takes a lot of tenacity if you're going to go the distance," she said.
Arnold soon found her post to be time-consuming, working "many nights, many weekends," she said.
Although she has been away from the district attorney's office for about three years, Arnold said she has prosecuted more recently than her Democratic colleagues have.
The current head prosecutor, she said, lacks familiarity with cases outside of drug prosecutions, his area of expertise.
To supervise others in a district attorney's office, a person has to first be familiar with all aspects of the legal process, she said.
Madeira, however, says he has prosecuted in a variety of areas, including homicide and assault, while Arnold has been away from prosecuting for about three years.
After assuming office, Madeira retained all assistants except Arnold, who later filed an age discrimination complaint asking for reinstatement or payment for the time she had not been in office.
This, he said, was inappropriate.
"Ms. Arnold was viewed negatively almost universally by those involved in the criminal justice system," Madeira said. "You don't run against someone and then work for them. It just doesn't work that way."
Madeira said he plans to focus on the Democratic candidate chosen from the applicant pool, regardless of gender, after the May 19 primary.
Arnold intends to return credibility to the office, which she said has become "a joke" in the eyes of the general public.
"I simply know that I was there for almost 20 years," Arnold said. "I know what's supposed to be happening. I don't see that happening."
A Vision Realized?
Candace Dannaker, elected less than 20 years ago as the first female mayor in Centre County, agrees gender is not an issue in this election.
The former Bellefonte mayor did what these candidates hope to do, albeit in another office and another time.
Now president of the non-partisan Centre County League of Women Voters, Dannaker says women serving in responsible roles helped to illustrate the evaporation of gender as a campaign issue.
"I think that any time a cultural shift or change takes place, that gives confidence to people to go for the bar, to go for the golden ring," she said.
Gender aside, the candidates are focusing on hard issues. Parks Miller spoke to the responsibilities of the office she hopes to obtain, saying the district attorney has obligations to the public, the victims, the police and the defendant.
"It's not a popularity contest," she said. "You have to be able to make the right decision and stand by it, even if it doesn't please everybody."
Arnold addressed a core duty of the prosecution -- placing criminals behind bars and keeping them there.
"Make sure that the conviction sticks," she said. "That becomes your job from the time that the person is convicted."
Regardless of gender, Dannaker said, all candidates' qualifications, proven ability and competency in a professional role are worth examination.
She even went on to make a forecast about the future of gender in elections.
"I further predict that in another decade that a person's gender or race will not be newsworthy," she said. "It will just be the fact that they're a candidate."
