WASHINGTON, D.C. - 'Toxic effects of money' cited

REMEMBER: MONEY, POWER, & PERKS + FRAUD, WASTE, & ABUSE =

CORRUPTION

When a person spends millions of dollars to get elected or become a judge, power and greed are the reasons why.

CORRUPTION IS THE END RESULTS!

To reduce the role of money and politics in the courts, states should scrap the practice of electing judges or at least make changes so judicial campaigns rely less on big contributors and are run more cleanly, a commission says.

For about 70 years the American Bar Association has supported a merit system in which governors pick judges with the help of independent boards. An ABA commission, in a report released Friday, renewed its call to end elections, now used in about 40 states.

Spending in state high court races in nine states, including Mississippi, topped $1 million in 2000. In the 2000 Mississippi Supreme Court race, six candidates raised more than $4.8 million, which doesn't include the more than $900,000 the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is believed to have spent on television ads.

Judicial election reform has been a hot topic in Mississippi since news broke in October that federal investigators are trying to determine if trial lawyers paid off campaign and other loans for state court judges.

The influx of special-interest money coupled with several polls that show that the public believes that contributions influence judicial decisions prompted the ABA to look at the state of the judiciary.

"The time has come to inoculate America's courts against the toxic effects of money, partisanship and narrow interests," the report said.

But the commission also realized that many states are reluctant to abandon electing state court judges. The commission recommended some changes to judicial elections, including longer terms for judges, public financing of some elections, donor limits, an end to partisan races, and voluntary rules of conduct for candidates.

Some of the reform efforts proposed by the commission have been suggested in Mississippi but failed. Mississippi voters defeated an option to extend terms for chancery and circuit court judges from four to six years in November. The measure was one of six reforms proposed by a special commission on judicial elections appointed by the Mississippi Supreme Court last April.

Gov. William Winter created a merit system for appointing judges in the early 1980s. The governor is responsible for appointing judges to fill vacant positions between elections. The merit system was used through two other administrations but was dissolved during Gov. Kirk Fordice's administration in the 1990s.

The ABA membership will decide in August whether to endorse the commission's recommendations. The study was developed by a group that included state Supreme Court chief justices, a former governor, law professors and others.

Judicial elections also have received attention since a Supreme Court ruling last June that required states to revise restrictions on judicial candidates' speech.

The 5-4 ruling freed judicial candidates to talk more openly during their campaigns about controversial issues such as abortion and school prayer. Critics said the decision would make elections more contentious and costly.

ABA President Alfred P. Carlton Jr. said that in states with elections, "we've seen an escalating battle for control of the courts, which in the end really affects public trust and confidence in the courts."

The report said candidates are having to run traditional campaigns "making judges appear increasingly dependent on their contributors, making judicial office increasingly available only to candidates with wealth or with wealthy contributors, and making judges look and act like stereotypical politicians."