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Tuesday, September 07, 2010

Ind. Law - More on: New Indpls Bar Ass'n PAC "insulate attorneys from donating directly to Marion County judicial candidates" [Updated]

Re this ILB entry posted earlier this afternoon, a reader asks:

Instead of giving equally to every judge on the ballot, why not give equally to all judges who poll at least 80% on the IBA survey of lawyers? If a judge/candidate is polling in the 50s, I suspect many of the lawyers who contribute to the pac are probably not fans.
[Updated 9/8/10]

More comments from readers:

Why is this an improvement? The political parties in Marion County have agreed to avoid any contested races for Superior Court Judgeships by never having elections in which the public has a meaningful voice. The only contested races are in the partisan “slating” process, which are conducted out of the public view and without public scrutiny and accountability. Each party slates candidates for half of the positions and agrees not to run candidates against the other party’s candidates. Then each party runs a “Meet the Judges” fundraiser to shake down the law firms in town. What could possibly be more corrupt? How does it clean up the system to use the Indianapolis Bar Association to run the shake down? It’s not the political donations from lawyers to judicial candidates that is the problem. It is the anti-democratic collusion between the political parties that makes those donations meaningless. We need real elections, not backroom slating deals.
Another reader writes:
Why is the IBA PAC paying money to the judges after the primary? Marion County judicial candidates have no race after the primary because any Marion County judicial candidate on the ballot in the general election wins as soon as they get one vote. Judicial candidates have no challengers in the general election under the current system. Also, is it the intention of the PAC to release the names of and donations of donors to the "PAC" to the judicial candidates?

Posted by Marcia Oddi on September 7, 2010 04:37 PM
Posted to Indiana Law