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Sunday, January 3, 2010

Justice, Ohio Style - Is Chief Justice Moyer's proposed reform, reform at all?

POST-SCRIPT:
SissCoKids has been informed that Ohio's Chief Justice Thomas Moyer has been appointed to an eleven member advisory committee that is part of a new national effort aimed at assisting state-based efforts to end the election of judges entitled the O'Connor Judicial Selection Initiative as reported in the Republican leaning corporate newspaper, The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, Ohio in Editorials Christmas Cheer(s) published on Christmas Day, 2009. The below article stands corrected that this initiative to take away your vote is not merely Ohio based and is now a national effort and the prescription below still stands.

Don't be fooled. This push to take away your vote is not to ensure integrity in the judicial system. It is to cover up the money trail that leads right to the top!

Appearances of Impropriety! Republished, January 3, 2010!

Chief Justice Thomas Moyer wants to change the way justices are selected for the Ohio Supreme Court. He is concerned about the amount of fund raising and campaign donations needed to secure this high office, opting instead for a structural change in which the Governor and a review panel (no doubt comprised of lawyers) would select Supreme Court Justices, or in the alternative, a system of public financing of judicial election campaigns! (see The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, Ohio, November 17, 2009, Page B2.

In plain words, Chief Justice Moyer wants to take away your vote.

It would appear now for reasons protected by confidentiality clauses that are imposed on parties and citizens (complaining), constructed by the judges and lawyers themselves, and written into the Ohio Administrative Code, the Ohio Revised Code, as well as the Rules of the Court and the Disciplinary Counsel Rules, that the Chief Justice is suddenly concerned that the money trail so prevalent in the lower courts just might be traceable to one or more Supreme Court Justices or candidates thereof, demonstrating major appearances of impropriety.

Doesn't it make one wonder what is occurring behind these moves? And if Chief Justice Moyer is successful in his campaign, will it actually rid the courts of these major improprieties, OR will it just destroy the money trail that is easily traceable and trackable through campaign finance disclosure laws?

Right now under the present system, you can trace the money from the lawyers, firms and/or businesses hands directly to the judge at the local court, the county court, the court of appeals, the campaign caucus(es), clear up to the Ohio Supreme Court.

Should the system change, do you really believe or think that lawyers and judges will stop doing their dirt, OR is the real goal to get rid of the money trail that proves their dirt with motivation?

Appearances of propriety are just that -- an appearance. My solution: Get rid of the confidentiality clauses and start holding these lawyers, judges and justices to a higher standard as leaders of the community and officers of the court and have a rotating public citizens panel (whose members are publicly randomly selected) review the complaints filed against offending officers of the court for their misconduct, with their infractions being sternly dealt with, instead of the present review in secrecy by their potentially equally infracting peers, creating a quid pro quo environment. Limit all donations to these campaigns to $25 per individual and/or corporation with full disclosure codified (written into law) and free and equal public service air time. Prevent judges from ever presiding over any case where they have received any gift and/or contribution from any party, forcing them to take cases where they have no vested interest.

The current system by which attorneys and judges are reviewed is a joke and rarely holds accountable the offending party (ies), despite what you see on the carefully scripted public television display (Channel 25.2 Cleveland). The decisions rendered by the courts of Ohio are all too often made in the back rooms of the court houses and area taverns with the courtroom just being the theater where the actors play out what is already decided in secrecy. One would be hard pressed to find integrity and honor in Ohio, although it may exist somewhere within. You can bet the recent high jacking of our country's financial system had attorneys at the root of the rotten vine, engineering and protecting the greedy at the expense of the masses. Let us not forget that most of our legislators that helped to codify these confidentiality laws are attorneys themselves. For the most part, they are the only ones that could afford to buy these offices. You can bet in most instances, you don't become a legislator without being an attorney, unless you have sold your sole to the caucus (also staffed by attorneys) for money to do their biding.

Should I have an inkling of what is really going on behind the scenes to initiate such a conference to change Ohio's Legal System (and I may very well), I would be prevented by law from telling you. So much for free speech and whistle blower laws! Under the present system, it is more important to the lawyers and judges to protect the appearance of integrity with secrecy in the midst of corruption, rather than revealing the truth! Their much aligned reputation, in my opinion and experience, is often well deserved.

Happy New Year Ohioians and Citizens of the United States!

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