Litigation

MO Plan ?Shield Against Corruption? Survives

By Peter Hardin

The drive for electing judges in Missouri is over, at least for now, and an admirer of Missouri’s merit selection plan says that’s a good thing:

“The non-partisan Missouri Plan has long shielded the state from the corrupting influence of money in judicial elections….Missourians know that when their state judges rule on a case, it’s not because a contributor forked over $200,000 in the last election.”

Barb Shelly authored the commentary in the Kansas City Star after Missouri’s secretary of state ruled Tuesday that critics of Missouri’s nationally recognized merit selection plan did not collect enough valid signatures to get a repeal measure on the ballot this fall (see Gavel Grab).

The commentary noted that businessman David Humphreys furnished nearly half a million dollars for the signature drive, and businessman Stanley Herzog another $275,000.

“Altogether,” Shelly wrote, “donors pumped an astounding $1.7 million into an attempt to enable donors to pour even more into judicial elections. Thank heavens it failed.”

Full post as published by The Gavel on August 04, 2010 (boomark / email).