Ok the new law per the California State Bar website:
Disqualification of judges — AB 2487 requires judges to disqualify themselves from any matter in which one of the attorneys or parties contributed more than $1,500 to the judge’s future election campaign or last election that took place within the previous six years. (The non-contributing party can waive the disqualification.)
Implication:
Who is going to watch this? Soft money is included, right? I wonder if this applies to a District Attorney's "office" where a lot of $99.00 contributions were made by Deputy DA's to help a fellow Deputy DA get elected and/or judge get re-elected (at $99.00 the names of contributors do not have to be disclosed so the only gatekeeper would be the DA's office?)--private firms are obviously required to disclose that data (which means they will have to get statements from their associates, partners and secretaries/other paraprofessionals of who gave what to whom. Would a FOIA-type request (under state law the California Public Records Act) be appropriate for the judges? To get listed on the ballot insert is about a $25,000 proposition and filing fees are roughly $2,000. Having sign contractors put up 2,000 signs and the cost of signs is about $40,000 to $50,000--someone is paying for that! We need to know. Maybe the presiding judge should require disclosure from each judge of a list of contributors which is available to counsel upon case assignment?
No comments:
Post a Comment