Should Arkansas Supreme Court justices continue to be popularly elected every eight years with unlimited re-elections, or appointed by the governor to a single 14-year term?
That's the issue members of a task force for the Arkansas Bar's House of Delegates unsuccessfully tried selling to its membership. Too bad their recommendation was rebuffed.
I believe appointing rather than electing our state's justices remains the wisest idea; 22 states already are doing just that.
But the proposal fell short of vote totals required. The proposed constitutional amendment would have seen members of our Supreme Court appointed by the governor after recommendations and a review of candidates by a qualified and diverse commission.
The need for reforms in the way Arkansas selects its highest court was highlighted by revelations in this newspaper's in-depth series, "Cash and the Court." Those January stories revealed questionable campaign contributions made to justices from six class-action law firms, most of which are outside Arkansas.
The rancid process of lavishing money on our elected justices naturally raises ethical questions about potentially corruptive influences. How could it not?
Under the present system, Supreme Court candidates aren't supposed to know who contributes to their campaigns (wink, wink). That's even though they inevitably meet and greet other lawyers attending their fundraising events.
The newspaper series also reported that, since 2004, 11 justices received campaign contributions totaling $452,000 from those six firms who've argued cases before the court.
I'm especially partial to the opinion of retired appeals court judge David Stewart, who calls the current system "an abomination" that most definitely encourages good ol' Arkansas politickin' laced with campaign contributions from firms to secure sympathetic ears.
Stewart said today's tainted process of hawking votes and soliciting money puts overwhelming pressures on judicial candidates since it's naïve to believe many contributors from law firms aren't seeking to buy influence and decisions.
Still, I just gotta say, valued readers, this foolish system of feigned unawareness we've embraced reeks worst than a sprawling hog factory in mid-August. I imagine a blindfolded Lady Justice holding scales in one hand while grasping for campaign cash with the other.
OK, I'm all through with my Mikey snit. But feel free at any time to ask me how I really feel.
Fullest truth be told, even by gubernatorial appointment, it's impossible to cleanse politics entirely from the way we seat our justices. But an effective candidate screening process and 14-year appointment, which is what the task force was advocating, is a far better idea.
Stewart again cut to the bottom line when he was quoted by reporter Ron Wood: "Judges are not politicians ... yet we treat them like politicians when we decide to elect them."
Retired Little Rock trial attorney Sam Perroni told Wood that appointing justices wouldn't necessarily solve the problem, saying that even then, the members of selection committees also would be subject to political pressures and influences.
After all, we are a small state with a relatively small Bar Association filled with endless human connections, loyalties and obligations.
Although all this hot air is a moot point since the Bar's vote fell short, my hope is that between the Bar Association, Gov. Asa Hutchinson and the Legislature, Arkansas can and will arrive at a more professionally suitable alternative to the raw politics of repeatedly groveling for gaveling.
Salute to the VA
Finally a bit of good news about Veterans Affairs!
After writing a gaggle of columns over the years about serious deficiencies and violations found at the Veterans Home in Fayetteville, it did my heart good to see the latest three-day inspection found not a single deficiency.
A few years ago this VA facility was routinely providing horror stories of resident mistreatment and neglect.
But under the administrative leadership of Kriss Schaffer and, since last June, Jay Green, the 102-bed Fayetteville home has done nothing but vastly improve its overall conditions and performance.
In fact, the federal agency responsible for oversight on Medicare and Medicaid gave the Fayetteville facility its finest five-star rating, the first awarded to a state-operated veterans home.
It goes to remind us that the quality and caring expressed by those who work atop the pyramids of our organizations, as well as among the rank and file, from nursing homes to newspapers, all are responsible for making positive differences in their final products.
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Mike Masterson's column appears regularly in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Email him at [email protected].
Editorial on 12/27/2016