Posted by
NOTLEGALROADKILLYET on Sunday, February 25, 2007 3:42:47 PM
Has anyone ever noticed how quick the Denver Post and other papers are to write about judicial ethical lapses in other states, and how reluctant they are to do so in their own state?
Today, the Post is printing an AP story about sleeping judges in Utah:
A letter published in this month's edition of the Utah Bar Journal is being characterized as a "wake-up" call to the state's judges and the pun is intended.
Sent anonymously, the letter complains about judges dozing on the bench during court hearings.
This past week I attended a House Judiciary Committee hearing on HB 1227. I didn't realize that the Denver Post had a reporter in the room until I discovered a report on Representative Debbie Stafford's anti-cruelty bill. Humorously, the report includes a photo of Rep Stafford with me out of focus in the background.
HB 1227 was heard immediately after Rep Stafford's bill, so I have to assume that the reporter remained in the room.
There was some pretty interesting testimony on 1227, including an admission that lawyers consider judges to be their "employers," and so don't criticize them by name, or even privately when asked.
The bill involved the make up and appointment of retention commission members, and the public comment was that the bill provided that six of ten members would be lawyers, which was too many. A committee member remarked something to the effect that "if four attorneys couldn't handle a commission, we were all in trouble."
I will be writing more on my experiences, but I can't help observing that the Denver Post found none of the testimony, or even the bill's quick demise interesting.
It is just so much safer writing about judicial ethics lapses in other states. The judges aren't the only ones sleeping on the job!