Friday, June 12, 2009
Hicks From the Sticks / Kotz / Law and Order / Legislature Basic Bribery and the Problem with Elected Judges
Posted by Pete Kotz on Fri, Jun 12, 2009 at 5:22 AM
But there's a greater problem than just electing fruitcakes. We turn your attention now to our friends in West Virginia, where the U.S. Supreme Court has just settled a small matter of legalized bribery. There, Supreme Court Justice Brent Benjamin refused to recuse himself from a case involving a company that spent $3 million in attack ads to defeat his opponent.
Now a normal person might think, "Hey, doesn't $3 mil buy a whole lotta conflict of interest?" Yes, you would be right. But Justice Benjamin didn't think so. He not only participated in the case, but voted in favor of the guy who put up the $3 mil to help him.
Fortunately, the U.S. Supreme Court recently slapped the ruling down. But it likely took tens of thousands of extra dollars to pursue the obvious.
So welcome to Dewayne Bunch's vision of Tennessee justice, boys and girls. Now if everyone could just pull out their checkbooks and start writing, he'd be grateful. And don't be stingy with the zeros!
Comments (4)
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Politics will always find its way into the selection of judges. That applies whether we have a modified Missouri plan, or the judges seek office by a full blown election. In Tennessee politicians pick the commissioners who recommend candidates to the governor. The governor is a politician. Political influence cannot help but be a pervasive part of the selection process.
On the other hand, if you can figure out a purely platonic method of judicial selection, more power to you.
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The major problem with the Tennessee plan is that it is not what the Tennessee Constitution calls for. Senator Dewayne Bunch is a hero and is standing tall for us.
Constitution,
You fail to understand that Mr. Kotz is so much smarter than the rest of us that he alone can decide when words mean one thing and when they mean another. I am sure that if the people of Tennessee continue to choose representatives who do not measure up to his standards, he will start arguing that popular elections are not needed because voters let their self-interest play too much of a role. After all, if the word 'elect' doesn't mean popular vote for judges, why should it mean that for any other office?
Sorry folks Mr. Kotz here (a/k/a Einstein) is still learning the difference between an election finance corruption problem and a citizen's Constitutional right to vote.
Kotz... little tip here to up your investigative journalism cred.....
Turn your attention to local State court judges and review which law firms, whose members practice before these courts "donated," (a/k/a bribed them), their campaigns.
She how much they paid and if they paid it before or after the election.
Also, search for the term "retired their campaign debts."
