Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Ding, dong! The Judicial Selection Commission is dead!
In 1994, Lt. Governor John Wilder pushed through the General Assembly a bill to end the direct election of state judges. The bill was signed into law by then-Gov. Ned "Big Daddy" McWherter, and Tennessee was supposed to enter an era in which judges would be chosen free from the stink and stain of partisan elections. If only ...
The centerpiece of Wilder's select-not-elect law was the Judicial Selection Commission -- a body of legal professionals who, supposedly, would pick über-qualified, and middle of the road, sorts to serve on Tennessee's courts. Again, if only.
The Judicial Selection Commission has been as politicized a body that has ever been commissioned or created in Tennessee. It has been dominated by the trial lawyers lobby, and it has taken a healthy dose of instruction from the Tennessee Democratic Party.
Today's Wall Street Journal tells us that it was a "sunny day" last week when Tennessee's convoluted - and unconstitutional - system of selecting judges was successfully dismantled by Republicans in the General Assembly. I wholeheartedly agree. Check this out:
"The plan's demise was finalized last Tuesday after an 11th-hour attempt to save it by state Senator John Wilder. On his last day in office before retirement, Mr. Wilder attempted a rare legislative maneuver to bring it directly to the floor for a vote. No dice.
"The so-called merit selection plan will now go into a one-year wind-down, after which Tennessee will revert to its constitutionally mandated method of choosing judges by direct election. That means less influence from the coterie of lawyers groups that had controlled the Judicial Selection Commission and become a thorn in the side of even Democratic Governor Phil Bredesen, who balked at their manipulation of his appointments. ...
"The Tennessee plan was devised to reduce the role of politics in judicial selection. But as the political drama surrounding it amply demonstrated, the reality has been anything but nonpartisan. Tennessee now has a chance to restore transparency and accountability to judicial nominations – and to show other states the way."
One of the dumber statements uttered in the aftermath of the Judicial Selection Commission's termination came from the State Senate's Jackass-In-Chief, Senator Jim Kyle (D-Memphis). Kyle lamented the Commision's demise, and he told the Tennessean that the state's judiciary shouldn't be "for sale."
I wonder if it's ever occurred to Senator Jim Kyle - or any other member of the legislature who's agin' the direct election of state judges, for that matter - that the same groups and individuals who're likely to give money to judicial candidates also give money to legislative candidates? If their money has a corrupting influence on judicial elections, then surely Sen. Kyle thinks it also has a corrupting influence on legislative elections.
I'm of the opinion that Sen. Kyle should announce his intention to immediately return any contribution from any person or group who also gives money to a judicial candidate. We'll see what is, and what ain't, for sale. (Betcha that Kyle will sell out his convictions before he ever agrees to empty his campaign war chest of its largesse.)
The centerpiece of Wilder's select-not-elect law was the Judicial Selection Commission -- a body of legal professionals who, supposedly, would pick über-qualified, and middle of the road, sorts to serve on Tennessee's courts. Again, if only.
The Judicial Selection Commission has been as politicized a body that has ever been commissioned or created in Tennessee. It has been dominated by the trial lawyers lobby, and it has taken a healthy dose of instruction from the Tennessee Democratic Party.
Today's Wall Street Journal tells us that it was a "sunny day" last week when Tennessee's convoluted - and unconstitutional - system of selecting judges was successfully dismantled by Republicans in the General Assembly. I wholeheartedly agree. Check this out:
"The plan's demise was finalized last Tuesday after an 11th-hour attempt to save it by state Senator John Wilder. On his last day in office before retirement, Mr. Wilder attempted a rare legislative maneuver to bring it directly to the floor for a vote. No dice.
"The so-called merit selection plan will now go into a one-year wind-down, after which Tennessee will revert to its constitutionally mandated method of choosing judges by direct election. That means less influence from the coterie of lawyers groups that had controlled the Judicial Selection Commission and become a thorn in the side of even Democratic Governor Phil Bredesen, who balked at their manipulation of his appointments. ...
"The Tennessee plan was devised to reduce the role of politics in judicial selection. But as the political drama surrounding it amply demonstrated, the reality has been anything but nonpartisan. Tennessee now has a chance to restore transparency and accountability to judicial nominations – and to show other states the way."
One of the dumber statements uttered in the aftermath of the Judicial Selection Commission's termination came from the State Senate's Jackass-In-Chief, Senator Jim Kyle (D-Memphis). Kyle lamented the Commision's demise, and he told the Tennessean that the state's judiciary shouldn't be "for sale."
I wonder if it's ever occurred to Senator Jim Kyle - or any other member of the legislature who's agin' the direct election of state judges, for that matter - that the same groups and individuals who're likely to give money to judicial candidates also give money to legislative candidates? If their money has a corrupting influence on judicial elections, then surely Sen. Kyle thinks it also has a corrupting influence on legislative elections.
I'm of the opinion that Sen. Kyle should announce his intention to immediately return any contribution from any person or group who also gives money to a judicial candidate. We'll see what is, and what ain't, for sale. (Betcha that Kyle will sell out his convictions before he ever agrees to empty his campaign war chest of its largesse.)
# posted by Joltin' Django @ Tuesday, May 27, 2008 
