Judges Tougher than He Is?

Paul Goetzke was originally elected Circuit Court Judge in Anne Arundel County on a platform (actually more of a yard sign) declaring that he was: "A judge as tough as you are." Tapping nicely into the demographic who thought that past sentencing by the sitting judges had been too lenient, and likely didn't have the faintest clue about what past sentencing patterns had been, Goetzke swept to victory.

It's taken less than a year for the rhetoric over track-record approach to campaigning to bear rotten fruit. The Sunday Sun reported on the rebuking of Goetzke by a panel of Anne Arundel County judges for his unilateral increase of penalties in a teenager's plea agreement and illegally fining the teen and his lawyer.

The case involved a juvenile who had vandalized a car by shooting it with marbles. The initial agreement required the perp to pay $500 for the repair and undertake 64 hours of community service. That, apparently, was not enough for Goetzke, who tried to tack on an additional $250 for the victim's "inconvenience" for having to show up for court, a provision not covered in the law (Later, the victim wanted to be reimbursed for lost wages, but lacked documentation of the claim). No, no, no, said the three-judge panel.

With all this hue and cry about activist judges, could it be that we have one here, in our very midst?

Checking the Supremes

On Tuesday and Wednesday, both the Capital and Post ran coverage of the Republican press conference announcing that the State GOP intends to try to pass a constitutional amendment to protect private property from government seizure. The precipitating event for this grandstanding (and that of the Democrats trying to introduce a similar bill in the legislature) is, of course, the US Supreme Court's ruling in the Kelo v. New London, CT case, where it was decided that the city of New London could legally require residents to sell their property so that the city could put it to the "public use" of redeveloping it into property which will generate greater tax revenue for the city.

This ruling set a horrible precedent, and I support the legislature in taking the steps to protect state residents from having their property stolen. I just wish they would have done it about 6 years sooner. You see, in the 2000 legislative session, former Baltimore County Executive (and current US Representative) Dutch Ruppersberger, several of his cronies, and a number of complicit senators and delegates from around the state (even at least one from Anne Arundel County) set their eyes on a tract of property in the Essex-Middle River area.

The plan was to "revitalize" the area by tearing down the water accessible properties of working class people and replace it with high-end condominiums. And, the plan would have worked (the bill passed) were it not for the tremendous efforts of the people who lived in Essex-Middle River and their allies to get a referendum on the ballot and have it overwhelmingly overturned by the voters of the state.

Penguin Politics

The November elections led to the defeat of two sitting Circuit Court Judges in Anne Arundel County, and may lead to a change in the way judges are selected in the future. The defeat of David Bruce and Rodney Warren, both appointed by Democratic governors, by Paul Goetzke and Paul Harris (nominally "independents", but both Republicans), has led some, including Senator John A. Giannetti Jr. (D-Laurel), to support an amendment to the State Constitution to dispose of the system in which the governor appoints a judge, who then stands for election to a 15-year term. Senator Giannetti offered, "What it reflects is there's an understanding that the way we elect our judges is wrong."

Curious that the Senator (and others) should get religion on this issue after things have turned out the way they have. It's tremendously difficult not to see this as a case of sour grapes, and it certainly shouldn't be used as an excuse to tinker with the State Constitution to further create systemic barriers to change.