TAXPAYERS ARE PAYING THE DOUCEUR!

 Weekly Opinion Editorial

JUDICIAL REFORM!

by Steve Fair

    

 

     Oklahoma has the distinction of having the political scandal resulting in more indictments of elected officials in American history.  In 1980, 220 county commissioners and suppliers were convicted for their involvement in a scheme of kickbacks paid on orders for county road-building supplies, like timber and gravel.  The scandal reached 60 of the 77 counties and the graft had been going on for as long as anyone could remember.  The federal government was the chief agents in exposing and cleaning up the corruption.  But wait- Oklahoma has many scandals. 

     There have been a number of other improprieties by public officials in the Sooner state.  In 1965, three Oklahoma Supreme Court justices were convicted of federal tax evasion charges for accepting bribes to decide cases over a twenty-year period.  Justices N.S. Corn, Samuel Welch, and Napoleon Johnson either resigned or were impeached after it was exposed their decisions could be brought.  Once again, the feds exposed it, not state officials.

     After the bribery scandal, then Governor Dewey Bartlett, (R-Tulsa) pushed for judicial reform.  With the Democrat led legislature’s cooperation, two state questions were drafted and placed on the July 1967 ballot.  Oklahoma voters approved, by a narrow margin (52-48), two state questions (#447 & #448) amending the State Constitution and creating the Oklahoma Court on the Judiciary.    

     The two state questions abolished elected justices of the peace, the county court system, and special courts (replacing them with 77 district courts).  It created the Oklahoma Judicial Nominating Commission (JNC), replacing judicial elections with a retention system.  Appellate justices and judges are appointed by the governor from a list of three finalists provided by the JNC.  Once appointed, they face the retention ballot every six years.  Since Oklahoma went to the retention ballot system, no justice or judge has been removed.  Must be because they are doing such a stellar job.  But that could be changing…

     This election cycle, conservative think tank Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs (OCPA) has targeted three justices on the November retention ballot to dump.  Citing the justice’s inconsistency in rulings and overturning of conservative legislation, OCPA calls for Oklahoma voters to make history and kick the trio to the curb.  A ‘dark money’ group, allegedly associated with OCPA, has spent around $250,000 in broadcast media ads urging voters to not retain the three.  There is an opposing group planning to mount a campaign to keep the justices.  Expect the ‘battle of TV ads’ to be coming to your home soon.  Three observations:

     First, Oklahoma needs true judicial reform.  The current system wasn’t overwhelmingly popular when it was approved back in 1967.  Fifty-seven years ago, critics of #447 & #448 feared there would be no accountability for judges if they were not directly elected.  Their fear has been realized.  Lifetime appointments and a confusing retention ballot system has resulted in an activist judiciary in Oklahoma.

     Second, liberals control Oklahoma’s appellate courts.  That is because the JNC is loaded with liberals.  Many members of the commission may have an “R” behind their name, but their values are not conservative.  The JNC’s recommended appointees have made recent rulings not based on the state constitution, but on their personal value system.  The JNC system may have removed bribery from getting a favorable ruling, but it hasn’t removed unfair rulings.

     Third, the judiciary should be fair and impartial.  The Oklahoma Code of Judiciary Conduct says those two components are ‘indispensable to our system of justice.’  Justices and judges are to be independent, competent and trustworthy.  The current system’s ‘unintended consequences,’ have been legislating from the bench and no accountability to the public.

     Oklahoma voters can send a powerful message in November.  By removing three liberal justices, they can tell the legislature to reform the judiciary system in Oklahoma. 

     Sadly, not much has changed since the 60s- justices/judges are still making rulings favoring their liberal friends, but now the taxpayers are paying the douceur.