June 4, 2003 Spokesman Recorder Editorial By: Pauline Thomas
Are County Judges Really Elected By The People?
In Minnesota, according to our State Constitution, county judges are supposed to be elected by the People. The problem is that politicians regularly scheme to keep the People from having a real voice in judicial elections.
Have you ever wondered why so few lawyers run for judge? Why do voters have so few choices on the ballot? I believe that lawyers are afraid to run against incumbent judges for fear that they will be punished by the judges. Lawyers are afraid that they will lose their cases, or lose their careers if they speak out against a judge in a campaign. And other lawyers are afraid of endorsing them for fear that they will be punished by sitting judges.
This is a fear of speaking out against the King that was supposed to die in the American Revolutionary War. But it continues to this day -- right here in Hennepin County. I think we'd all agree that judges should be held accountable for misconduct; that's something I'll explore in upcoming columns. For the time being, we have good, bad and outright racist judges sitting as incumbents. How do we remove the bad and racist ones from office?
If we can't get lawyers to run against incumbent judges, the next step is to explore why so many judicial elections involve incumbents. In other words, judges are retiring and resigning all the time. Why, then, does almost every single judicial race printed on the ballot contain the designation "incumbent"?
Instead of having new judges voted in by the People, judges in Minnesota are overwhelmingly appointed by politicians. This makes for real problems.
By appointing judges, the political party that appoints them can put political pressure on judges, rather than having them decide cases fairly. Do you think judges should be serving a small handful of politicians who appoint them, or serving the People? Perhaps this may explain part of the reason why so many African Americans land in prison. Appointing judges all the time also violates our state constitution. Do you think these people should be allowed to break the law?
Pay close attention: Here's how they do it. Judges can be appointed to fill a vacancy in a judgeship. This is supposed to ensure that the work gets done. It's not supposed to be abused by politicians. The problem is that politicians are using this loophole to fill 99 percent of the judgeships. They know they are doing it, and you will even find people in the system defending this deliberate violation of the law. These people are smart enough to know that if they don't like the way the constitution reads they can try to get it rewritten. Yet they continue to deliberately violate the current constitution rather that uphold it.
You know what happens when a Black man steals $5 worth of goods from a convenience store. Yet these white-collar politicians are violating the law all the time without consequences. They get retiring and resigning judges to time their resignations so that a small handful of politicians can appoint the next judge rather than letting the judicial election go before the People! Then, when it comes to the next election, that judge who was appointed (and never ran for election by the People) gets to put "incumbent" by his/her name -- even if they have only been serving for a couple of months! And that word "incumbent" almost assures them of winning the election.
They should not be allowed to put "incumbent" on the ballot unless they have been elected by the People. Otherwise, we will never have any voice. Remember, it is our current incumbent judges who have given Minnesota the worst record of any state in the nation for the disproportionate conviction of Blacks. Do we want this system to continue without any input from us?
The political appointment people got caught doing this once. In June 2001, Judge Eugene Atkins of the First Judicial District wrote a letter saying he would resign one day before his term ended. The Governor's Judicial Appointments Coordinator told the secretary of state not to put it on the upcoming ballot, because the governor was going to appoint somebody to fill this "vacancy." That meant that the politicians would, once again, appoint a judge and bypass the People. An attorney, Todd P. Zettler, had wanted to file for the open seat that would have been vacated by Judge Atkins. So he sued the governor and the secretary of state, and the Minnesota Supreme Court said Zettler was right. The Minnesota Constitution says that judges must be elected, and it is illegal to try to avoid the election process with cleverly-timed resignation dates.
Now here's the interesting part: Once the supreme court ruled that the judicial election had to go on the ballot as an open election (no incumbent listed), more than 10 lawyers ran for that judge seat. So you see, it's not that lawyers don't want to be judges. It's that they fear running against incumbent judges. We need to stop the process whereby judges are appointed and then get to list their names as "incumbents" on the ballot. Let's demand that the People be given a real voice in judicial elections.
The case was decided by the Minnesota Supreme Court on August 30, 2002. Law librarians can help you find a copy of the case if you tell them ***"Zettler v. Ventura***, 649 N.W.2d 846."
TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.)
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