Tribune article examines Missouri judicial selection method

One of the state's top reporters, Terry Ganey of the Columbia Tribune offers a thorough examination of the ongoing debate over Missouri's judicial selection method, which is currently under attack from Governor Matt Blunt.
The attacks on the judicial selection process are a naked power grab by the governor and his point man on the campaign, political activist Jeff Roe. When Governor Blunt attacks judicial activists, it appears that his definition of judicial activist is someone who disagrees with his point of view.
It is also becoming increasingly clear that the governor's push to tear down a system that has worked remarkably well over the years goes hand in glove with other moves he has taken over the past three years to put the reins of government, in everything from health care to education in the hands of a few wealthy individuals and businesses. That point is made in the article:

Missouri Supreme Court Chief Clerk Tom Simon said the Missouri Plan was better than the federal system that ends up being "a tug-of-war in which the post sometimes doesn't get filled." He said candidates for federal judgeships face the daunting task of getting confirmed in highly charged partisan situations where "people are looking for ways to attack."

"We've got the best system," Simon said.

The attempts to undo the system in the legislature would put the job of picking judges "back in the political arena," Simon said. "The political process is governed by money," Simon said. "If you owe a political contributor who gave you $100,000, he could tell a governor who should be on the Supreme Court."

Anyone with the belief that monied interests are not pulling the strings in the Blunt Administration should simply examine the record. All Children Matter poured nearly $200,000 in the last minute negative campaign against Claire McCaskill in 2004, and voucher supporters Rex Sinquefield, David Humphreys, Ethelmae Humphreys, and Charles Norval Sharpe contributed $325,000 to the Blunt campaign in the first quarter of 2007. Blunt has had four opportunities to appoint members to the State Board of Education, three of them, Donayle Whitmore-Smith, Debi Demien, and Derio Gambaro have been out-and-out voucher supporters, while the jury is still out on the fourth, Rev. Stanley Archie, but he does have a long private school background.

One Blunt appointee after another to important state positions has a history of providing money to the governor's campaign committee as I have reported over the past three years on this blog.
As has been the case with many of the ideas Governor Blunt has foisted on Missourians, the attack on the judicial selection plan has been heavily funded by out-of-state interests (just like Governor Blunt).