Who says the Republicans are choosing judges based upon ideology. These are Republicans after all. Salon shows that judicial appointees are actually based upon donations to key Republicans. Is this privitization of the judicial appointment process? Will Republicans respond by showing how the free market is doing a better job of picking judges? From Salon’s report:
At least two dozen federal judges appointed by President Bush since 2001 made political contributions to key Republicans or to the president himself while under consideration for their judgeships, government records show. A four-month investigation of Bush-appointed judges by the Center for Investigative Reporting reveals that six appellate court judges and 18 district court judges contributed a total of more than $44,000 to politicians who were influential in their appointments. Some gave money directly to Bush after he officially nominated them. Other judges contributed to Republican campaign committees while they were under consideration for a judgeship.
Republicans who received money from judges en route to the bench include Sens. Arlen Specter and Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, Sens. George Voinovich and Mike DeWine of Ohio, and Gov. George Pataki of New York.
There are no laws or regulations prohibiting political contributions by a candidate for a federal judgeship. But political giving by judicial candidates has been a rarely scrutinized activity amid the process that determines who will receive lifelong jobs on the federal bench. Some ethics experts and Bush-appointed judges say that political giving is inappropriate for those seeking judicial office — it can appear unethical, they say, and could jeopardize the public’s confidence in the impartiality of the nation’s courts. Those concerns come as ethics and corruption scandals have roiled Washington, and on the eve of midterm elections whose outcome could influence the makeup of the federal judiciary — including the Supreme Court — for decades to come.
A nice interview article about Granholm.
The AmwayGuy declined to be interviewed.
http://www.northernexpress.com/editorial/features.asp?id=2130
As a New Yorker I can report Pataki has received a number of highly questionable donations. I’m so pleased his tenure is about to come to a close as we elect Eliot Spitzer as New York governor.
As will Rogers said, it’s the best government money can buy.