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Sunday, September 30, 2007
Ind. Courts - More on: "Five applicants have submitted their names to be considered for the new Monroe County judge position that will open on Jan. 1, 2008"
Updating this ILB entry from Sept. 27th, the Bloomington Herald-Times yesterday had this thoughtful opinion piece ($$$) headed "Challenges loom ahead for new judge:"
Five attorneys have applied for the judgeship of Monroe County’s ninth circuit court, scheduled to begin Jan. 1, 2008. Pursuant to the new court’s enabling legislation, Governor Daniels will appoint a judge to serve for an initial term of one year. If the new judge wants to stay in office, he or she will have to run for election to a six-year term in November 2008.Some say the new judge has an unfair advantage; as an incumbent, even a short-timer incumbent, the sitting judge may have a head start on the candidates who have to run in the general election. But as illustrated by the case of former judge Jeffrey Chalfant, who received a one-year appointment and then lost in the subsequent November election, that advantage may be slight compared to the power of the political process.
Few dispute that anyone who volunteers to take on a one-year appointment to a new court under the current system faces a huge challenge. The new judge must hire staff, establish policies and procedures, organize and manage the case load, preside over court proceedings, and attend required judicial events. While these duties are expected for any judge, for a new appointee, there is yet another burden: as soon as he or she crosses the judicial threshold, it’s time to run for office — a job which any county officeholder would acknowledge requires planning, networking, volunteer coordination, and public appearances.
One solution would be to establish new courts with a general election instead of an appointment. Another would be to adopt legislation that would provide for a bipartisan commission to select new appointees instead of the governor, with the initial appointments being for a longer period of time before a general election is held. Even more radical would be the elimination of partisan elections for judges altogether.
Until a better system is adopted, a new judicial appointee to a newly created court faces a very busy first year in office. We trust these five candidates have their eyes fully open to the challenges ahead for the winner.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on September 30, 2007 12:31 PM
Posted to Indiana Courts