Jul. 26, 2002
More Reasons to Reform Judicial Elections
By J. Barlow Herget
RALEIGH - How would you feel if you went to court over an insurance claim and you learned that the judge in your case had received thousands of dollars in contributions from the insurance company?
Not good, I suspect.
And the same for the political campaign system that the judge rode in on.
We’re going to be stuck with such feelings more and more if there’s no change in how judges are elected in this state. Recent events and decisions underscore the need for change.
Right now, judicial candidates in North Carolina face a mish-mash of rules on how they can run for office. They are ordered by legal canons that they are not to discuss issues that they may have to consider as judges.
It’s a reasonable restriction. Who wants to go before a judge who already has made a campaign promise that he’s against the death penalty (or that he’s for it?). Or that he’s against large plaintiff settlements or that he’s for them?
And if you’re a judicial candidate, how can you tell voters what you stand for? Or if you’re a voter, how can you tell the jerks from the judges?
The U.S. Supreme Court tried to straighten out the conflict in a June 27 decision in its opinion on Republican Party of Minnesota v. White. The Court ruled that the “announce” clause in Minnesota’s Judicial Canon of Ethics which prohibits candidates from announcing their views on issues likely to come before the court, was a first amendment violation.
Politics and judicial electioneering make an ugly mix. Unlike other political candidates, judicial aspirants who appeal to voters with outspoken opinions put themselves in hot water should those issues come before them on the bench.
The Court’s ruling may also open the door to a scandalous show of special interests trying to buy elected justice with campaign contributions.
Expensive judicial campaigns already are causing citizens to suspect the quality of our justice. The North Carolina Center for Voter Education (NCCVE) finds growing suspicion (78 percent of citizens polled) that judges’ opinions are influenced by campaign contributions.
These donations are mounting. Nationwide, state Supreme Court candidates, for example, raised 61 percent more in campaign contributions in 2000 than in 1998, according to the Brennan Center for Justice in New York. Five North Carolina judicial candidates in the 2000 Election each spent more than $200,000 in their campaigns for the Supreme or Appeals Courts.
Raleigh lawyer and incoming president of the American Bar Association A. P. Carlton argues, "We elect them (judges) to be impartial. We don’t elect them to have an agenda. We need to recognize that the system is broken, and we’ve got to find a way to fix it. We don1t want to let what’s happened in other states happen here."
Someone who knows what’s happened elsewhere is Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Thomas R. Phillips. In a July 2 discussion here sponsored by the NCCVE, Phillips spoke about his state’s infamous Supreme Court elections. "Everybody plays," he said, describing the special interests that have made the elections multi-million-dollar campaigns. "And the winners are always accused of being bought."
He has become a champion for reform and believes that North Carolina may lead the way. The state Senate, indeed, has approved and sent to the House a bill that would change the current system.
The legislation will make appellate judicial races non-partisan. It also introduces modest public financing as an alternative to special interest funding. (North Carolina judges, by the way, receive 70 percent of their campaign money from lawyers.) And the bill raises money to publish a voter’s guide describing the respective candidates. Phillips and a North Carolina counterpart, former Chief Justice Burley Mitchell, endorse the changes.
There is no guarantee the reforms will cure the current system. Recent history, however, clearly indicates that the system isn’t going to cure itself.
Barlow Herget served two terms on the Raleigh City Council and has been a consultant in statewide judicial campaigns.
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