Farewell, impartial judiciaries

By ALICIA CALDWELL

© St. Petersburg Times, published July 8, 2000

Voting for local judicial candidates always has been a little odd.

Potential judges are not allowed to talk about things you might rightly be curious about as a voter -- their beliefs on issues such as the death penalty or abortion. Or their political leanings.

The thought here is that a judge's objectivity is paramount.

An awkward process likely will get a little more unusual this election season.

The Pinellas Republican party probably will begin recommending judicial candidates in this November's election. The party won the right to do so in a 1998 lawsuit.

Bringing politics into these non-partisan races promises to change the judge game, and many observers are predicting that it will not be for the better.

"It bothers me," said Craig Laporte, a New Port Richey lawyer and vice chair of the commission that recommends Sixth Circuit judicial appointees to the governor. "Judges are not supposed to be involved in day-to-day politics."

The head of the Pinellas Republican Party said it's naive to think that politics aren't already involved in choosing judges. Now, said Paul Bedinghaus, the parties can exert a more direct influence. Already, the buzz is circulating at the Pinellas courthouse.

"I've actually had a lot of communication from people who want to be judges," Bedinghaus said. With the appointment this week of Bedinghaus' wife to the Sixth Circuit judicial nominating commission, the family Bedinghaus will have influence in another dimension of the judge selection process.

Susan Bedinghaus, a Pinellas-Pasco assistant state attorney, will serve on the commission through July 2004.

When qualifying ends July 21, Republicans will decide which judges races, if any, they'll look at.

Local Democrats, however, will not be following suit.

"We absolutely don't agree with a political party endorsing in non-partisan elections," said Larry Hyman, a St. Petersburg mortgage broker and the third chair of the Pinellas Democratic Party in four months.

Just how will the Republicans figure out who to get behind since they are precluded from asking even the most rudimentary political questions? Bedinghaus laughed at the question.

"There are ways," he said. "I don't want to get too specific really. They (the candidates) are not unknown to us."

The potential that judges would be chosen based on their positions on particular issues is troubling to Martha Barnett, president of the American Bar Association and a Tallahassee lawyer. Judges must remain impartial, she said.

"It's a critical component of public trust in the judiciary," Barnett said.

Local political consultant Mary Repper sees the maneuver as a power play by the Republican Party.

"Of course it's going to make the parties a lot more powerful, but I'm sure that's that they want," Repper said.

The folks at the Judicial Qualifications Commission, a constitutional commission with the authority to investigate complaints against Florida judges, will be keeping an eye on what happens. But they refused to predict enforcement.

"It really depends on the specifics of it and what is said," said Brooke Kennerly, JQC executive director.

Bedinghaus said he thinks any action against candidates who talk politics ultimately would be found unconstitutional. It's a battle, he said, for another day.

For the time being, Republicans will focus on exerting their influence in choosing who sits on the bench.

"Now the game has changed," Bedinghaus said. "We can help a lot and hurt a lot."

-- Alicia Caldwell covers Pinellas County politics. She can be reached at (727)893-8145 or by e-mail at alicia@sptimes.com.

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