David Noker for Prothonotary

David C. Noker has announced his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for Indiana County prothonotary and clerk of courts.

"After careful consideration and considerable encouragement, I have decided to run for this office," Noker said in a release. "Accessibility and a hands-on management style are what people require and what prompts me to believe that I am the best person for the job."

Noker, born and raised in Indiana, graduated cum laude from Indiana University of Pennsylvania with a degree in English/pre-law. After graduating, he attended Ohio Northern Law School and received his law degree in 1984 in the top 15 percent of his class. He was a member of the Law Review and served as the lead articles editor.

Upon graduation, he moved to Philadelphia where he practiced law as a trial and appellate attorney, concentrating in complex tort litigation. In this role, Noker dealt with the prothonotary offices on a constant basis in Philadelphia, Montgomery, Bucks, Delaware, Chester, Berks and Lancaster counties. He also had extensive dealings with the prothonotary offices of the Pennsylvania Superior Court and Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

In addition, Noker managed the paralegals and helped develop a customized computer program to efficiently and cost-effectively handle the caseload. Through this effort his office was able to get the needed information and proper legal documents to the courts via the prothonotary, he said.

"While I am known in Indiana and the surrounding townships, I feel that my goal is to get the rest of the folks in Indiana County to get to know me," he said. "Those that already know me expect a lot from me. I am not a career politician, so this is relatively new to me. I am confident that once my credentials are known to the people I have yet to meet, they will come to the conclusion that I am a loyal individual, a go-to guy and a man for the job."

Noker moved back to Indiana in 2002 to help with family matters and now is the banquet manager at The Coney Island restaurant as well as a government contract specialist for a local land-surveying company.

"Juggling the responsibilities of two jobs over the past year and a half has not been easy, but it simply goes to show the work ethic my mom instilled in me since I was 16 years old, working as a bag boy at the old Thorofare Market next to Hills, persists to this day. I worked two jobs while at IUP and worked in law school while achieving high academic accomplishments. Hard work is nothing new to me. And that is what I bring to this office."

He is a member of the Elks and Downtown Indiana Inc. and has been a Democratic committeeman for Indiana 3/1 since 2002.