At present we have a system where a bipartisan committee reviews candidates for positions on the court bench in this state. Then they pick a short list that goes to the governor for the final choice. After they are appointed judges must run in one partisan race in order to keep the seat. There after they must run in retention elections to keep the seat. At present there are not life time appointments to our state benches.
Questions have arisen in the southern part of the state about the possibility that at least one judge though he could buy a position on the bench. This would require that the judge was able to corrupt the selection process by the bipartisan committee and then buy off the governor. Even with that done then he would have had to still run in a partisan race, so he would also have had to find a way to corrupt the election process to ensure that he was elected to office.
The idea of appointing someone to a seat on one of our courts has been a difficult issue because most judges don’t feel that they should have to run for office. Judges feel that they are above the people they judge and therefore should not be answerable to the general public when it comes to our legal system. Some of our judges drive fancy cars and only socialize with other judges and lawyers. At present the courts are trying to make a new rule that would only encourage that type of behavior because it forbids our judges from taking part in politics unless they are running for retention. This type of behavior only encourages a lack of respect from the general public toward the rule of law. If voters don’t see that the judiciary cares about the people then the judiciary has failed to respect the spirit of the legal system in this country.
The lack of education in this state when it comes to how judges are chosen is appalling to say the least. Judges run for election and then disappear for public view until the next time they are forced to run for retention. They have failed to provide public outreach where they teach the general public about the legal system. They leave that duty up to the jury division of the court system. The lack of education has allowed the public to think that one could just buy a seat on the courts by paying off one powerful political individual.
To thinks that some judges would hope to change the system so that it allowed the governor to appoint judges to the bench without any elections where the voters could have their say only fosters the view that judges are corrupt individuals who don’t care about the voting public. There is no easy answer to these problems since most judges are self absorbed workaholics who hate public life.
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Quotes:
Senator Edward M. Kennedy (Teddy)
"For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives and the dream shall never die."
The O'Coilean (O'Collins)
'A great host with whom it is not fortunate to contend, the battle-trooped host of the O'Coileain."
Abraham Lincoln
"With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations."
From NPR Radio
"Rosa sat so Martin could walk.
Martin walked so Obama could run.
Obama ran so our children can fly!"
Ralph Waldo Emerson
"I awoke this morning with devout thanksgiving for my friends, the old and the new."
Unknown
"Friendship is loving someone no matter what is in their past. It is accepting the fact that they are human and that they have made their share of mistakes over a life time. Trust is being able to tell your friend the most private secret knowing that they will not judge you. A life is not lived well without that one true and trusted friendship."
Mary Harris "Mother" Jones
"My job is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable"
Albert Einstein
"Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind."
Will Rogers
"I don't belong to an organized party--I'm a democrat."
President John F. Kennedy, Democrat
“If by a ‘liberal’ they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people—their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, and their civil liberties—someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad, if that is what they mean by a ‘Liberal,’ then I’m proud to say I’m a ‘Liberal.’”
Martin Luther King Jr.
"Faith is taking the first step, even when you don't see the whole staircase."
Lora O'Brien
"All I can do is share one person's experiences on her own path, not tell you how to walk yours. If a guru is what you are looking for, find another! If I am a teacher, it is because I am already walking the path that you, Dear Reader, may wish to be on. Although each of us must make our own way, I can put up signs at least, and make the way slightly less hazardous for those who wish to walk a similar path."
C. S. Lewis
"Affection is responsible for nine-tenths of whatever solid and durable happiness there is in our lives."
"For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives and the dream shall never die."
The O'Coilean (O'Collins)
'A great host with whom it is not fortunate to contend, the battle-trooped host of the O'Coileain."
Abraham Lincoln
"With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations."
From NPR Radio
"Rosa sat so Martin could walk.
Martin walked so Obama could run.
Obama ran so our children can fly!"
Ralph Waldo Emerson
"I awoke this morning with devout thanksgiving for my friends, the old and the new."
Unknown
"Friendship is loving someone no matter what is in their past. It is accepting the fact that they are human and that they have made their share of mistakes over a life time. Trust is being able to tell your friend the most private secret knowing that they will not judge you. A life is not lived well without that one true and trusted friendship."
Mary Harris "Mother" Jones
"My job is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable"
Albert Einstein
"Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind."
Will Rogers
"I don't belong to an organized party--I'm a democrat."
President John F. Kennedy, Democrat
“If by a ‘liberal’ they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people—their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, and their civil liberties—someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad, if that is what they mean by a ‘Liberal,’ then I’m proud to say I’m a ‘Liberal.’”
Martin Luther King Jr.
"Faith is taking the first step, even when you don't see the whole staircase."
Lora O'Brien
"All I can do is share one person's experiences on her own path, not tell you how to walk yours. If a guru is what you are looking for, find another! If I am a teacher, it is because I am already walking the path that you, Dear Reader, may wish to be on. Although each of us must make our own way, I can put up signs at least, and make the way slightly less hazardous for those who wish to walk a similar path."
C. S. Lewis
"Affection is responsible for nine-tenths of whatever solid and durable happiness there is in our lives."
A Female Democrat
1/1/10 A new year and a number of future elections to cover. The budget will be a major issue this year and we must work hard to protect the core values of our party.