McCann

PROVIDENCE — Governor Carcieri potentially made a dent in the number of vacancies on the state bench Friday by nominating three people, including his chief of staff, to fill judicial openings.

Carcieri selected Brian P. Stern, of East Greenwich, to fill the Superior Court opening created by Mark A. Pfeiffer’s retirement in January. Stern, 42, became the governor’s chief of staff in March 2007 after working for the Departments of Administration and Business Regulation.

The Ethics Commission in March gave Stern the OK to seek state judgeships, ruling he wouldn’t run afoul of the state’s revolving-door law. Stern applied for Pfeiffer’s position and to be the next chief District Court judge, a post that remains unfilled.

The law is aimed at preventing lawmakers and other state officials from using inside influence to land judgeships, but it contains an exemption for people with at least five years of uninterrupted state service.

The commission found that Stern is exempt based on the eight-plus years he worked in state government prior to his appointment as chief of staff. Before that, Stern worked eight years for the state in various capacities in the Department of Business Regulation and the Department of Administration.

“Brian Stern is a dedicated public servant and a distinguished attorney,” Carcieri said in a statement. “Brian has served my administration with honesty, intelligence, integrity and fairness. I am confident those traits will serve him and the people of Rhode Island well as a member of the judicial community.”

Stern holds a bachelor of arts degree from Clark University and a law degree from Brooklyn Law School.

The Judicial Nominating Commission in June forwarded the names of five finalists to the governor for Pfeiffer’s seat. The other candidates were Assistant Attorneys General William J. Ferland, Rebecca Tedford Partington and Stacey Pires Veroni, and John R. Gowell Jr., a private-practice lawyer from East Greenwich.

The governor on Friday also nominated Joseph Terrence Houlihan Jr. to replace District Court Judge Walter Gorman, who retired in March 2008. Houlihan, 44, of Portsmouth, has worked as a partner at the Newport firm Houlihan, Managhan & Kyle since 1996, representing clients in domestic, criminal and civil matters. He is a former special assistant attorney general.

Houlihan was chosen from among five contenders forwarded by the JNC: Joseph A. DiPietro, Laura A. Pisaturo, Margaret M. Lynch-Gadaleta and Paul D. Ragosta. He earned a bachelor of arts degree at Boston College and a law degree from Boston College School of Law.

And the governor Friday selected John E. McCann III as the nominee for the Family Court vacancy that arose from Judge Gilbert T. Rocha’s death in December. McCann, 59, of Barrington, has concentrated on family law at the Cranston law firm Kirshenbaum & Kirshenbaum for the past 32 years. He is a former member of the state Supreme Court’s disciplinary board and was a 2003 finalist for a Family Court judgeship.

McCann received a bachelor of science degree from Boston College and a law degree from Suffolk University Law School.

He was selected above four other JNC picks: Jennifer Hoopis D’Ambra, Frank J. DiBiase, Family Court Magistrate Angela Bucci Paulhus and Lia Stuhlsatz.

All of the governor’s nominees must win state Senate approval.

In making the nominations, the governor narrowed the number of judicial openings to four. Two of those the JNC has forwarded lists for: chief District Court judge and Family Court. The JNC has begun the process of choosing candidates for the high court seat left vacant by Paul A. Suttell’s elevation to state Supreme Court chief justice. The JNC will interview candidates this week for the opening created by Presiding Superior Court Judge Joseph F. Rodgers Jr.’s retirement.

By law, the governor “shall” select a nominee within 21 days of receiving the commission’s list of finalists from the JNC. The governor has said he considers that deadline advisory.

kmulvane@projo.com