"Our Man will select Our Judge" is how the Munster Times fashioned their headline to this Mark Kiesling column about appointing Lake County Judge Kouras' replacement. Some quotes:
It looks now like incoming Gov. Mitch Daniels will name Lake County's newest criminal court judge after all.Columnist Kiesling goes on to say:Early reports were that Lake County Clerk Tom Philpot wasted no time in getting the formal notification of a vacancy to members of the local commission that will select new judge candidates, but the committee will not be meeting until February.
By that time, Democratic Gov. Joe Kernan will be history and Daniels, his Republican opponent, will be in the governor's mansion or wherever Indiana governors live.
The original idea was to get the names to the governor before the end of the year, allowing Kernan to select a Democrat. Now the idea is said to be to pick candidates who are all vetted by the Lake County Democratic machine.
When a vacancy occurs, as it will Feb. 25 when Judge Joan Kouros will leave the bench, the local nominating commission seeks interested candidates.
State Rep. Charlie Brown, (D-Gary), has repeatedly called for the reintroduction of the judicial selection into the political process. I used to disagree, but after watching what's gone on the past few years, I'm beginning to agree with Brown.Posted by Marcia Oddi at November 29, 2004 07:49 AMSurely one cannot believe on the eve of the 2003 East Chicago mayoral election that it was coincidence that incumbent Mayor Bob Pastrick introduced new Criminal Court Judge Sal Vasquez to a predominantly Latino crowd at the Casa Blanca restaurant.
Or that it was a coincidence that when Criminal Court Judge Tom Stefaniak Jr. was named, it was Lake County Democratic Party Chairman Bob Stiglich -- not the governor -- who made the announcement.
Or that it was coincidence Kouros, the daughter of East Chicago Councilman Gus Kouros, was named by Gov. Evan Bayh, who grew up with the Pastrick kids and whose election as governor and his current position as U.S. senator he owes largely to Pastrick.
Being political does not mean being a poor judge. Being "merit" selected is no assurance of a quality judge.