Independence Day

I haven't been able or willing to keep up with the bad press this past month. Most recently, Joel Davis' Daily Times article: "Judge Under Judicial Conduct Review" with the bad photo my wife took of me in our front yard was troublesome. Like most folks I read the headline, saw the bad photo, and concluded: "Now that is a criminal if ever there was one." Wait a minute that's me you're talking about.

Does anybody care about the truth. My opponent in this judicial race has one thing right, judges are not supposed to say anything which would cause the public to lose confidence in the integrity or impartiality of the Judiciary. The only problem is he is standing behind the very persons who are engaging in a smear campaign on his behalf. I haven't seen my opponent clamoring to get to the front of the line and correct one single lie. Where is the integrity in that? I have been personally attacked enough. The lies from other judges and the lawyers who most benefit from maintaining the status quo have gone far enough. I am one judge who is independent from other public officials and lawyers and I will tell the truth.

Let's start with my October 2007 Order regarding the 202 defendants whose warrants or indictments had been waiting to be served for over a year, whose names had not been logged into the Clerk's Bridge Computer system and who weren't even being passively sought by having their names and information logged into the National Crime Information Center. Would anyone besides me consider that a backlog of unresolved cases in the Criminal Division of Circuit Court? Would my opponent or other judges think that it was fair or impartial to allow some defendants to go unprosecuted while others go to jail? Doesn't maintaining the confidence and integrity of the public in the judiciary require that each case and each individual defendant be treated the same way.