Comments on Advance Indiana™: Star Report Asks If Marion County Judges "Pay To Play"

Gary, How can any law be considered valid that di...

2014-03-16T19:33:53.650-05:00

Gary,

How can any law be considered valid that divides public offices between two private companies?

The parties are just corporations created for political benefit. How can anyone argue that any corporation is entitled to half of the political offices in any county?

This is rank immorality.

Well if the Star is to be believed Saint Joe Hogse...

2014-03-16T18:36:57.805-05:00

Well if the Star is to be believed Saint Joe Hogsett will go fearlessly after corruption! If you like fiction read this in the Star note his pathetic response to his "Critics". You seem to be getting someones attention Gary!

http://www.indystar.com/story/news/crime/2014/03/16/us-attorney-hogsett-ratchets-up-effort-against-public-corruption/6498341/

Anon. 4:24, A law passed by the Indiana General As...

2014-03-16T17:37:03.599-05:00

Anon. 4:24, A law passed by the Indiana General Assembly creates the judicial election process we have in Marion County. Different counties have different laws. For example, judges in Lake and St. Joseph Counties are selected through a merit selection system.

There is one way to express displeasure with the s...

2014-03-16T17:23:27.817-05:00

There is one way to express displeasure with the slating process. Vote for a candidate who was not endorsed by his party. While there are no choices available this year in the Republican Primary, three non-slated candidates are on the Democratic Party ballot: Greg Bowes, David Hennessy, and Christopher Starkey. Keep in mind that your vote becomes stronger if you "bullet vote" by not using all eight of your choices and vote only for the candidates you support.

Under what law do two parties get to split judge s...

2014-03-16T16:24:06.130-05:00

Under what law do two parties get to split judge seats?

Anon. 2:54, That recitation of the status of the f...

2014-03-16T15:11:09.840-05:00

Anon. 2:54, That recitation of the status of the federal case sounds correct. I know that the district court judge denied the state's motion for summary judgment, which is always the biggest hurdle in federal court to overcome.

Gary, I thought the issue of the constitutionality...

2014-03-16T14:54:34.760-05:00

Gary, I thought the issue of the constitutionality of the slating process was currently before the federal court. The last I heard a pretrial conference was set for January 17 in Common Cause Indiana v Indiana Secretary of State following Judge Young’s dismissal of the state’s motion to dismiss the suit. Common Cause and the ACLU are challenging the slating system in Marion County, and the complaint seeks to block future enforcement of the process, derided by many as corrupt, the question being whether a citizen’s vote in the general election matters, since the only people on the ballot have paid a fee to be there. “The failure of Indiana law to permit registered voters in Marion County to cast a meaningful vote for all seats on the Marion Superior Court violates the First Amendment to the United States Constitution,” the complaint says.

LamLawIndy, there is no way to improve slating. Th...

2014-03-16T14:45:11.353-05:00

LamLawIndy, there is no way to improve slating. The fact is they're always going to rig the system and adopting rules that would be enforced by the very parties that rig the system in the first place is not going to fix the problem. Marion County is virtually the only place in the country that has slating. We need to do away with it.

This is a terrific commentary by Gary. He's spot on about the slating process being a joke. It kills me how many PCs get involved thinking they actually have a say on who is slated. They don't.

What us interesting is the Star went to Tim Oakes ...

2014-03-16T11:08:33.795-05:00

What us interesting is the Star went to Tim Oakes for a comment on this story. The Star obviously didn't bother to do it's homework on Oakes he has no business giving any opions on ethics considering he killed someone when he was 18! And yet he is deemed fit to be a judge!

Doesn't the AG have a role here?

2014-03-16T09:11:09.651-05:00

Doesn't the AG have a role here?

If voters choose not to vote in primaries,that'...

2014-03-16T08:13:29.360-05:00

If voters choose not to vote in primaries,that's their problem & not the parties' problem. There are ways to improve slating, but a trope about how voters don't usually vote in primaries is meaningless.

We need to cut the legislators and the governors p...

2014-03-15T22:34:31.478-05:00

We need to cut the legislators and the governors pay now! Bosma, Pence and Long are useless!