Judges Aren’t Political, Right? Right, Unless You Were Just Lobbied By One.
The Tennessee Plan is supposed to ensure we keep the politics out of selecting our judges. Note: I say supposed to. As the Tennessee Plan expired last year, a new law is needed to continue this scheme concocted by trial lawyers for trial lawyers.
Because our judges like the fact that they don’t have campaign or raise money, and because trial lawyers don’t want to have dilute their own campaign influence by having to raise money for judges too (not just legislators!) our Tennessee justices are as one State Senator told me, “lined up out the door” to lobby on behalf of keeping the plan. Surprise, surprise! Who would have ever thought it?
Judges lined out the door to lobby against your right to choose the best candidate? How non-political does that make you feel? Duty, love, and obligation to care and work for my family keeps me from a visit to Nashville to meet with our elected officials. It’s not really possible for me to travel to Nashville during the work week during work hours. It’s not possible for many of you to do it either.
BUT WHO IS GETTING TO LOBBY? WHO IS GETTING TO MEET WITH OUR ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES? Yes, you guessed it. Our judges. While you work hard and want your constitutional right to vote on your Supreme Court Justice just as you do the local judge, these very same judges are lining up in Nashville to work against you. (And don’t forget, you pay their salaries.)
Now do these judges have a conflict of interest? Is this a violation of judicial ethics? It’s a legitimate question that I intend to study.
For now, I’ve filed several public records requests asking for any written documentation that members of our Tennessee Judiciary have sent to several members of our legislative branch as well as Governor Bredesen and Lt. Governor Ramsey.
I also requested the names of the Judicial officials who made appointments for a meeting with Lt. Governor Ron Ramsey to discuss the issue.
Lt. Governor Ramsey’s office complied with my request and here are the names of those judges meeting with Ramsey to discuss the Tennessee Plan as released by Ramsey’s office to me on April 9th.
Meetings with members of the Judiciary – 2009
Circuit Court Judge John Wooten, 15th Judicial District
Judge Holly Kirby – Court of (Civil) Appeals
Supreme Court Justice Bill Koch
Judge Andy Bennett – Court of (Civil) Appeals
Judge Andy Bennett – Court of (Civil) Appeals
Judge John Everett Williams – Court of Criminal Appeals
Judge David Farmer – Court of (Civil) Appeals
Supreme Court Justice Gary Wade
NOTE: Andy Bennett’s name is on the list twice because he in fact met twice with Lt. Governor Ramsey.
9 Comments so far
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Justice Koch is one of the greatest legal minds in Tennessee
By Joe on 04.22.09 10:49 am
I thought it was against the rules for judges to be politically active in any way, shape or form. It’s true, I know, for our local judges. They are acutely aware of what they can say or do while they are in office. Most of them are “no comment” type responses. They MUST appear neutral on ALL issues!!!
By TNOPINION on 04.22.09 3:36 pm
If so Joe, he’ll have no problem winning election, will he?
By Terry on 04.22.09 7:22 pm
Can you just imagine if other jobs had this type of arrangement? This situation kinda reminds of Hugo Chavez or Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in that they will basically stay in office until they die since they can’t realistically be voted out by the citizenry.
But lets take this a step further shall we? (This is not an attack on any law enforcement so don’t take it this way, I am only trying to illustrate the absurdity of it all.) Suppose the Sheriff of “Any County, TN” was elected by his deputies and the law enforcement agencies that surround his jurisdiction. The citizenry could only try to raise a big enough stink to try to vote that sheriff out and we would be asking to vote out one without knowing who the deputies and other law enforcement would put in. Would that make sense? Would the average voter feel as if their opinion mattered? Would they feel involved? Would they feel as if they had a stake in the process and in their own community?
What is this plan trying to protect? Me? From myself? I think our last presidential election showed that to be a pipe dream. A crack pipe dream to be specific. I’m grown up enough to pay for a party bunker I didn’t get to vote on, pay higher taxes I didn’t get to vote on, budget increases I didn’t get to vote on. Why can’t I vote on the judges that interpret the vary laws they expect me to obey? Who is afraid and what are they afraid of?
By BCB on 04.22.09 8:15 pm
You’re bringing it, Ty and BCB. You’re bringing it and I like it!
By Terry on 04.23.09 3:51 am
[...] And note: when you read the letter, he notes meeting with Senator Woodson and Senator Stanley. Wonder how many others he has met with? We know from my records request that he also met with Lt. Governor Ron Ramsey. [...]
By terryfrank.net » Judge Kirby Goes To Nashville to Lobby for Tennessee Plan on 04.23.09 9:47 am
All the judges and lawyers are going to gang up and lobby the legislature in order to keep the plan. Someone should read the proposed bill by Senator Mark Norris and give some opinion about it.
Judges and lawyers don’t want any change now . They love the system of selection so they can put their cronies on the bench and have their way in court. This is a way for lawyers to control the bench.
The first step should be to stop the secrecy surrounding the complaints made about judges.
Mark Norris has offered a solution and this should be studied.
By Rosine Ghawji on 04.23.09 10:00 pm
[...] I only requested written documentation from members of the Judiciary. I did request a copy Lt. Governor Ramsey’s calendar, and as I’ve shown, several judges who will be directly affected by this year’s [...]
By terryfrank.net » Supreme Court Justice Koch: Judicial Lobbying Raises Ethical Questions on 04.26.09 7:01 pm
[...] as I’ve noted here, Judge Bennett met with Lt. Governor Ramsey not just once, but twice, to discuss the legislative [...]
By terryfrank.net » And Yet Another Justice Lobbying to Keep You From Voting on 04.27.09 6:22 pm
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