Let's make THIS a headline issue in the next campaign season!

[Kitty C.]

 
Dear Members,
 
This is an issue that we will be dealing with very soon, Judges. Imagine how many Judges would be out of a job if they had to share with the public their biased views about divorce, how they view the father and their position against JPC!
 
Mark Griebel


IOWA FAMILY POLICY CENTER

'Strengthening Iowa's Families!'

 
 ACTION
 



"What can you tell me about the judges on my absentee ballot?"


We continue to receive numerous phone calls and emails from people who are have received their absentee ballots and don't have enough information about the judges to vote responsibly.


This has been the greatest voter frustration we have encountered in the last several election cycles.  Iowa law says judges must be on the ballot every four to eight years, to give the people a chance to keep or oust the judges who serve us.


Briefly, numerous people have tried over the past decade to create a system where voters could be educated on judges, so their vote could be more informed.  Questionnaires have been created to find out judges' philosophies on a variety of matters that come before them, but judges rarely answer them, saying they can't tip their hand on how they're going to rule on specific matters.  This is often a smokescreen, since the U.S. Supreme Court has said that judges can answer these types of questions, and voters have a right to know their answers.[1]


This creates the situation where the only information is from the judges' reputations and/or a few (if any) high-profile rulings or statements that get in the news.  Once in a while a bold attorney will speak about judges, but most attorneys are reluctant to say anything negative about any judge before whom they might have a case in the future.  


Focus on the Family has set out this year on a multi-year project to go state by state and find out more about judges.  They are meeting with significant resistance, having to sue in several states just to get questionnaires answered.  They have not been able to get to Iowa yet, but hope to do it here, and nationwide, eventually.  Therefore, this election cycle, we in Iowa have very little information to go on, or to pass on.


Our only direct involvement with judges has been:

1.)    In 2003, friends of our organization contacted us about the Iowa Supreme Court's refusal to accept a gift of a framed copy of the Ten Commandments, as part of a ten-document display of our founding legal documents.  They were willing to accept the other nine.  This same ten-document display had been approved earlier by a Federal court as being Constitutional, and was allowed to be hung in the State Capitol this year.


Three times privately and once publicly we gently and respectfully asked the Supreme Court to reconsider their position.  They refused to do so.


2.)    In November 2003, our office was contacted by Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), when they discovered that Judge Jeff Neary of Sioux City had granted a lesbian couple a divorce.  Our legal arm, the Iowa Liberty and Justice Center, along with ADF and several state legislators, appealed this ruling to the Iowa Supreme Court.


If anyone has good info on judges' rulings, statements, and background information that would shed light on their judicial philosophy regarding marriage, right to life, obscenity and pornography, gambling, parental choice in education, and other pro-family issues, please contact us.  As we have the manpower to investigate and report accurately, we hope to provide this vital voter education service for upcoming elections.





--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[1] Republican Party of Minnesota v. White,  536 U.S. 765 (2002).


 
 
 
 

[MYSONSDAD]

"Children learn what they live"

[StPaulieGirl]

I agree.  Their persepective records on such things as criminal and family law need to be judged for themselves.  Pardon the pun ;)

[Kitty C.]

Just received an e-mail from Mark Griebel of Iowa CNBP, asking for help in ousting a judge in our District 8A, the judicial district I live in.  Apparently this female judge has an abhorent track record in family court.  I am awaiting details on this judge and plan to write letters to the editors of every newspaper in my county and the county seat newspaper of every other county in the district.

People go to the voting booths and see the ballot for judges and, unless they've had direct dealings with that judge, they have NO CLUE what this particular judge's views are.  IT'S TIME TO GET THE WORD OUT!  Luckily, I live in a family-based, close-knit community.  I have a good feeling that, just by writing an editorial about this judge, I will have a strong opportunity to sway a lot of voters in my area alone!

[Kitty C.]

Just received an e-mail from Mark Griebel of Iowa CNBP, asking for help in ousting a judge in our District 8A, the judicial district I live in.  Apparently this female judge has an abhorent track record in family court.  I am awaiting details on this judge and plan to write letters to the editors of every newspaper in my county and the county seat newspaper of every other county in the district.

People go to the voting booths and see the ballot for judges and, unless they've had direct dealings with that judge, they have NO CLUE what this particular judge's views are.  IT'S TIME TO GET THE WORD OUT!  Luckily, I live in a family-based, close-knit community.  I have a good feeling that, just by writing an editorial about this judge, I will have a strong opportunity to sway a lot of voters in my area alone!