Judge Ark’s actions make him a Political Hack
First off, Judges should be above politics. All Judges. A Democratic Judge vs. a Republican Judge simply makes no sense to me. Everyone is equal under the law. I would add that I have an issue with attorneys arguing cases in front of a Judge that they or their practice may have contributed to during a campaign. I also have an issue over a Judicial obligation to “the party” because after all that is how they get elected.
But that is the system we live in. We vote for Republican or Democratic Judges.
So it comes as a surprise and disappointment when Judge Ark refuses the endorsement of the Democratic committee on September 28th. Here is a link from the City Newspaper. Don’t recall reading this in the D&C.
Some guy refuses a cross endorsement? Why would a Judge who serves all the people, and doesn’t have an opponent, refuse?
Well, the speculation is
The county Democratic committee backed Ark because it thought he was qualified and had a good record, Democrats say. They speculate that Republicans may worry that if Democrats have a candidate on the first line of the ballot, voters could follow the entire party line.
That a thought like that entered the equation at all is pathetic but sadly it might be true. Ballot position, straight line voting and all that are considerations.
Apparently years ago that is what happened.
Miller also suggests that sitting judges who are ranked as “qualified” or better by the Monroe County Bar Association be cross-endorsed by parties. In 1988, Miller, Republican chair Barbara Zartman, and Conservative chair Tom Cook led their parties in cross-endorsing five judges.
So who has their eye on a bigger prize? Well, it isn’t Ark - he wins - no opponent. Um, who might decide that a candidate– a Judge– who is cross-endorsed by all major parties would be a liability?
Um - Steve Minarik. Somehow his finger prints are on this as he working hard for Cara Briggs and his vulnerable Republican Legislators.
The Law should be above Politics - apparently here it isn’t.
I agree with the premise of your post, but I have to ask the question, why wasn’t there a Democratic candidate, and why did the Democrats endorse a candidate they weren’t sure would accept their endorsement?
Besides, how good could this judge be, seeing that his character is such that he has opted to be another Minarik minion.
I can’t answer why there is no Democratic Candidate that is a Joe Morelle thing.
I think we need additional information before we assume The Dems knew that Ark would not endorse and they chose to endorse him anyway.
I didn’t mean to suggest that the Dems endorsed someone they knew wouldn’t accept their endorsement. Rather, I was wondering whether they had in fact confirmed that Judge Ark would accept their endorsement. I think its kind of silly to endorse someone who might very well turn around and reject you. I’m of the belief that you should have your ducks in order when making such decisions.
I heard from someone that did attend the convention that Joe Morelle and Jim Vogel said they hadn’t received assurance from Judge Ark that he would in fact accept their endorsement. I heard that some delegates were wondering why they even convened the convention if the Dems didn’t have a reliable candidate. Still, this is second-hand information, which is why I didn’t share this in my first comment.
I think it’s ridiculous that we have a Democratic party in this town that hasn’t run candidates for two major positions - County Executive and Supreme Court. Are you telling me that in a county this size there weren’t any suitable candidates for either position? And if the Democratic leaders in this town can’t run a candidate for the highest position in the county, should we consider whether they’re doing an effective job? Even if the candidates weren’t going to win, they would provide greater visibility to the Democratic party, and (okay this is crass, but a fact of electoral politics) require that Minarik spend some of the Monroe County GOP’s money on those races, preventing them from having it all for the other races.
I hear ya. Frustrating…
Still, I think stlo is right, the main issue in regards to this situation is why would a judge who is expected to be impartial accept only one party’s endorsement. Bipartisanship is a good thing. He should be happy that both sides think he’s done a good job.
Unfortunately, the other side has become so corrupt that such a scenario has become unworkable for a Republican candidate.
In retrospect he probably knew about David Murphy….
http://www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071015/NEWS01/710150324/1002/NEWS
Itchy -
Excuse me? The logic in your sentence is flawed. If Ark “knew” about Murphy - they maybe the Democrats “knew” about Murphy since they would have had to nominate him. And maybe they would not have attempted to endorse Ark.
Look - the Dems founds someone else because Ark would not accept their cross-endorsement. That bit was not in the article.
The premise of this post is that - for political reasons - Ark chose or Minarik chose not to accept a cross endorsement.
[...] Court - Ark (R) over Murphy (D). Remember, the Democrats originally wanted to endorse Ark. He refused the Democratic endorsement and the Dems, at the last minute, asked Murphy to run. Someone who, as of a news article on October [...]