They met in a traffic accident. The driver in front of her stopped short. She stopped short. Her future husband didn't.

"It's not important who hit whom," insists Charlie Meyerson, 54, ever the newsman, who was recently named news director of WGN-AM. "No tickets were issued and no one was injured."

Pam Meyerson, 50, who is running for judge in the Feb. 2, 2010 primary, reserves judgment. If she wins election, her first assignment in Cook County's 11th subcircuit will be traffic court.

Besides, if he hadn't hit her, they might never have met. They chatted while waiting for the police and he seemed "a nice enough guy." They exchanged phone numbers for insurance purposes.

Charlie recalls Pam was driving her father's Buick LeSabre, which suffered a cracked taillight. "I was driving a Volkswagon Rabbit, which folded like an accordion." Her first words, he remembers, on exiting her car were both endearing and compassionate.

"Your poor car," she said.

"And she was cute," he added.

The accident happened in Naperville on July 27, 1978. At the time, Pam was working at the Fox Valley Mall. Charlie was beginning his long career in radio news in Aurora. They call it their "crashiversary." This year on July 27, Charlie and WGN reached agreement on his new position.

"July 27 is a lucky day for me," he said.

After the accident, Charlie said he felt bad, so he called and asked her to lunch. Their first date was seeing Second City at the Paramount Theatre in Aurora. For their second date, she made him an apple pie.

"My fate was sealed," he said. "She's an outstanding piemaker. That's not on her Web site."

The Web site is votemeyerson.com. You can't start too soon when it comes to running for judge in Cook County, where a lot of voters mark their ballots based on how Irish the names sound. Listing her family-of-origin surname, Pamela McLean Meyerson, should help.

Staying active

Charlie and Pam Meyerson got married the day after Pam graduated from law school (University of Chicago, 1983). They moved to Oak Park and have been here since. Pam worked for a mid-sized law firm for six years, then went into private practice in Oak Park, which gave them the flexibility to start a family.

It also allowed her to get involved in the community. She served on the Festival Theatre board from 1989 to 1996, including two years as president. In 1999, she served as co-chair of the referendum campaign for the new middle schools, then as District 97's middle school volunteer coordinator. She also served on the Oak Park and River Forest High School Citizens Advisory Council and was a member of the Park District of Oak Park's Skate Park Task Force.

In the process, she learned that "people here are very vocal about what they want. People want to have a voice, and it's best to give it to them before making decisions. I learned to listen to lots of viewpoints and weigh all sides. That's absolutely good training for being a judge."

To be a successful judge, she says, you need "the experience and legal training, plus the intelligence to understand the issues, and the willingness to listen to all sides."

But you also need the demeanor to control your courtroom, which means showing respect for people and having a "high tolerance" for noise, but also the ability to take control when necessary.

"It's not that different from leading a public meeting in Oak Park," she said.

Pam had been thinking of running for judge county-wide, but made her decision when Judge Barbara Riley announced she would be retiring from the 11th subcircuit. In her own law practice, Pam handles civil cases involving consumer fraud, real estate and fair housing issues as well as contract disputes. So she's spent plenty of time in circuit court already.

What it takes to run for judge is "a lot of feet on the ground," many of whom are out collecting signatures to put her on the ballot. The official kickoff of the campaign will come in September and filing the nominating petitions takes place at the end of October/early November. She and her supporters plan to be at block parties, the farmers' market, the el stations and walking the precincts. But they will also be covering Bellwood, Maywood, Chicago and the other communities in the subcircuit to gather a representative sample.

If she wins, her new duties will reduce her community involvement, but she'll still be connected with non-profits (she's currently the secretary of the Community of Congregations) and the schools.

Staying connected

Charlie's in a similar predicament. He's already discussed the situation at length with WGN's ethics guru on how to avoid conflicts of interest during the upcoming campaign.

"The candidacy poses challenges," he acknowledged. "After a long career of trying not to get involved, I'll be featured in a campaign flyer."

At work, he'll have to recuse himself from judicial election coverage decisions.

Charlie Meyerson has been a journalist since he graduated from the University of Illinois. in 1977 and landed his first radio news job in Aurora. He spent a decade at WXRT-FM, then became news and public affairs director at WNUA-FM before joining chicagotribune.com as senior producer and columnist.

There he discovered "what I really loved was writing. The best news is well-written news." (He also served a stint in the '90s as a Wednesday Journal columnist.)

His goal at WGN is "to bring radio and the Internet together," noting, "I hope to avoid doing the splits."

The challenge, he says, at WGN is similar to the challenge facing newspapers. "We need to build or rebuild radio news for an era when news nuggets are available instantaneously on cell phones, BlackBerrys [and] computers. Why stick around when you're getting Tweets on the latest celebrity death or the score of the Cubs' game?"

Though he doesn't consider himself a workaholic, his work is such that he needs to be "plugged in" most of the time. Pam tells him he should leave his BlackBerry home sometimes.

"But I like my BlackBerry. I enjoy the work I do, especially if I can do it without leaving my family, and the BlackBerry makes that possible. I enjoy being connected and plugged in. The nice thing," he kids, "is I always have something to read."

Hockey mom and dad

High-powered or not, The Meyersons still find time to enjoy their village. They have lived for 25 years in a house located one block from Beye School, four blocks from OPRF and eight blocks from Percy Julian Middle School. Everything is in walking distance, including West Suburban Hospital where their three sons, Ben, Joel and David were born.

It is "a dream location," said Charlie, but the biggest influence turned out to be the Ridgeland Common ice rink. They thought it might be nice for the boys to learn to skate, and the next thing they knew, Coach Paul Hruby had recruited them for hockey, which eventually consumed every weekend and turned out to be "a wonderful experience."

Now the kids are older, which partly explains the increased public exposure.

"It's an exciting time in our lives," he admits, "and having some new hobbies is nice."