Good Ol' Girls Club? Part I, Cele Hancock.

You don't have to spend much time observing the Judiciary before you come to the conclusion it's a Good Ole Boy's Club. (As John and Susan observed also observed on their own.) Indeed, in Arizona, except for JP's, you need to be a member of the State Bar to be a judge. That makes the Judiciary a de facto "club," since it's a subset of the larger State Bar club. Of which "We, the people" are not members.

Aside: I could get cynical here and point out that, more than being a member of the Bar, you have to be a member of the Bar "in good standing," whatever that means.

Maybe that only means you don't have to have any outstanding disciplinary matters against you, although JP judge Kenneth Ray II was censured and placed on probation for one year as an attorney, yet he was appointed a judge by former Presiding Judge Brutinel. So maybe that's not what it means? Or maybe that requirement doesn't matter for JP judges in Prescott? (Some who, like Judge Arthur Markham, un-"un-recuse" themselves to avoid a civil right lawsuit.)

I'm guessing "in good standing" in the Bar means you better not be a good citizen conservative boat rocker, like me. Worse, I'm guessing it means you might need to kiss bu kowtow to certain people or policies (i.e., compromise your principles) so as to be considered in "good standing" by those (Liberals) in power in the Bar who make that arbitrary determination about you.

The Good Ol' Boy's Club aspect comes from the incestuous nature of the Club, where judges do favors for other judges and/or don't report each other for misconduct. But it's not just for Boys anymore.

In addition to being a GOBC, I submit the Judiciary is also a Good Ol' Girl's Club too, complete with pseudo-nepotism. Exhibit 1 is the appointment of Cele Hancock to judgeship by former Presiding Judge Brutinel. (Why no photo on the Yavapai County website? Send a photo if you've got one. You can remain anonymous when you leave a comment. Send me a link to imageshack.us )

It turns out that Judge Brutinel was made presiding judge by the outgoing retiring former Presiding Judge James Hancock and that, in turn, lead to an easy election to continue in office. (See p 18 of Judge Brutinel's first application. Same info is in his second application.)

So is it merely coincidence that, before he left office to become Supreme Court Justice, Judge Brutinel similarly appointed Cele Hancock, daughter of James Hancock, a Superior Court judge? As with Brutinel, her being appointed assured an unchallenged election.

Maybe this is all legit and there's no nepotism involved. I presume the argument would be, "When a judge is needed to fill a vacancy, who better to make a decision than the Presiding judge?" That is, it's an expediency.

But as I reported before, Cele Hancock may be ethically challenged when it comes to reporting bad judges. (See my post in my blog about former judge hinson.) Perhaps more important though, when she applied for former judge hinson's vacancy, she was not chosen by Governor Brewer. So, in a way, Judge Brutinel did an end run around the system of checks & balances.

And that's what this post was about. Good Ole Girls Club or not? You decide.

By the way, to keep the judiciary above reproach, the solution to this is simple. Whomever the Presiding Judge appoints to fill a vacancy should not be given an unfair advantage over other attorneys who want to be judge. Whomever is appointed should not be allowed on the ballot for one term. They can finish up the cases they started as an interim judge, but nothing further. This would prevent abuse of "special blessings" from the Presiding Judge. (Good segue into my next post.)