Commissioners Name Long First Female Public Defender

by John Lipez

LOCK HAVEN – The Clinton County Commissioners, in their first meeting of the new year, Thursday named Kathleen Long as the county’s first female public defender.

Long was the unanimous choice from among four applicants for the job.

All three commissioners praised Long’s qualifications; Jeff Snyder described her as “very, very bright” and said it “will be a real advantage for the county to have a female public defender.”

Long fills a vacancy created in the public defenders’ office occurring when Paul Ryan was recently named assistant county district attorney. The other two public defenders are unchanged, David Strouse and David Lindsay.

The position carries an annual pay of $58,053.

Long is a Central Mountain High School graduate. She received a BA in English from the University of Scranton in 2009 and her law degree from Widener School of Law in 2012.

While in law school she was president of the Women’s Law Caucus and student representative on the school’s curriculum committee.

She had interned for Clinton County District Attorney Mike Salisbury in the summer of 2010 and later interned at the Harrisburg firm of Wion, Zulli and Seibert. She had been county law clerk from August 2012 until accepting her new position.

County President Judge Craig Miller attended the commissioners meeting and said she would be “a great public defender” and applauded the commissioners for their appointment.

Long is the daughter of Marybeth and Lenny Long of Lock Haven.

The Thursday meeting also saw commissioner Pete Smeltz reassume his board chairmanship. He had filled that position until suffering a heart attack in late March of 2013; while Smeltz resumed his work a month later, fellow Republican commissioner Jeff Snyder filled in as chairman until the Thursday reorganizational meeting.

Smeltz thanked Snyder and fellow commissioner Joel Long for their support and noted how well all three work “as a team.”