Judicial campaigns and partisan politics came under the blogoscopic review of blogger Mark Nickolas and the BlueGrass Report (www.BlueGrassReport.org ) as he focuses in on Marcus Carey's candidacy for the Supreme Court and his appearances at partisan political rallies.
Again, welcome to the new political reality of judicial campaigns where everybody knows your name, web sites are like daisies, and digital documents everything.
Here is a link to his story which makes for good reading about judicial candidates not only popping in on partisan meetings but actually emceeing the event.
Let me start by posting a few portions of Canon 5 of the Kentucky Code of Judicial Conduct which governs the conduct by judges and judicial candidates as it relates to inappropriate political activity. * * *
A judge or candidate shall not identify himself or herself as a member of a political party in any form of advertising, or when speaking to a gathering. If not initiated by the judge or candidate for such office, and only in answer to a direct question, the judge or candidate may identify himself or herself as a member of a particular political party.
So, along these lines, it concerned me to read this in Pat Crowley's story in today's Kentucky Enquirer:
Lawyer Marcus Carey, a candidate for Kentucky Supreme Court, * * * received the Jim and Mary Bunning Award for service to the party.
...And this snippet on the website of the Oldham County Republican Party:
Oldham County GOP's 18th Annual 2006 Lincoln Dinner was held Sunday, February 19 at the Oldham County Community Center in Buckner. The dinner drew its largest turn-out ever, with over 170 Oldham County Republicans and guests in attendance. Nearly all Oldham County Republican candidates for office for 2006 attended the dinner.
Former 4th District GOP Chair Marcus Carey once again served as the emcee for the event. Marc has filed to run in the non-partisan race for Kentucky Supreme Court Justice.
Does this mean that a judicial candidate may not purchase an ad in the program for a partisan fundraising dinner?
Posted by: | Wednesday, May 24, 2006 at 10:35 AM