Indeed, the Adam Smith folks or others haven't gone back and looked at the judges chosen over the past decade or longer and pointed to egregious errors of judgment. They haven't said the judges that have been chosen are doing a bad job. They haven't pointed to a single decision by a state judge that is unconstitutional or clearly outside the bounds of proper legal discourse.
They are right that the commission upon which Garner sits is dominated, at the moment, by Democrats. That's the result of the state having elected two Democratic governors in a row before Gov. Matt Blunt won the seat. Over time, Blunt will appoint more people from his party to the commission, and the tide will turn, maintaining the political balance desired by the voters of Missouri.
The critics can't attack the judges. They have no evidence.
This blog features observations from Randy Turner, a former teacher, newspaper reporter and editor. Send news items or comments to rturner229@hotmail.com
Sunday, August 05, 2007
Messenger: Attack on judicial selection system is malarkey
In his latest column, Springfield News-Leader Editorial Page Editor Tony Messenger rips into the naked power play by Governor Matt Blunt, political operative Jeff Roe, out-of-state interests, and the newly formed Adam Smith Foundation to scrap Missouri's judicial selection plan:
Rather than attack the process, we should look at the individual judges. Its about time we evaluate the product produced by the Judges and their effective use of time and resources. Associate Judge in Dade county abuses his docket,extreme bias and prejudices in divorces. This Judge's total reliance on lawyers' briefs for women.
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