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DEL.ICIO.USHunstein wins Supreme Court race
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Voters swept Georgia Supreme Court Justice Carol Hunstein to a strong victory Tuesday, after a bitter, big-money contest for a seat on the state’s highest court.
Challenger Mike Wiggins, a former Bush administration lawyer, was Gov. Sonny Perdue’s pick in the officially nonpartisan race, which was marked by fierce attack ads and record-breaking campaign fund-raising.
“I really want to say that it’s not just Carol Hunstein who has won, I think it’s the citizens of the state of Georgia who have won,” Hunstein said shortly after 10 p.m. at a victory party at the Atlanta law office of Balch & Bingham, where former Georgia Attorney General Mike Bowers, a Republican and Hunstein supporter, is a partner.
Voters came through for the court’s presiding justice when “there was so much money in this race,” she said. “There were so many special interests that had come into the state. And, you know what? The citizens saw through all of that.”
Flanked by her three children, Hunstein thanked voters and said they sent a powerful message: “You cannot buy a seat on the Georgia Supreme Court.”
A 14-year veteran of the court, Hunstein, 62, of Decatur, had never faced opposition for re-election until this year. She had been re-elected twice since Gov. Zell Miller appointed her in 1992, as the second woman in state history to serve on the court.
Wiggins, 53, of Atlanta, voted in the morning, then stayed out of the public eye. He was not available for comment Tuesday night, and his campaign manager did not return phone calls.
Wiggins raised nowhere near the reported $1 million that Hunstein did. His candidacy, however, reaped substantial help from the Georgia Republican Party and the Safety and Prosperity Coalition, an independent committee that reported it had raised $1.67 million to unseat Hunstein. The coalition exists largely to guard Georgia’s 2005 changes in tort law, limiting liability for businesses when they are sued.
Eric Dial, coalition chairman, said late Tuesday night: “I’m disappointed for Mike and for Georgia. This race has changed forever how Georgia elects its Supreme Court justices. This is just the beginning. The legal reform movement in Georgia is gaining momentum; it’s alive and well.”
The Republican Party and the coalition pummeled potential voters with scathing television ads, portraying Hunstein as soft on crime. She fought back with one of the most personal attack ads of Georgia’s political season, saying that Wiggins’ mother sued him for taking her money, and that he threatened to kill his sister. Wiggins denied the allegations and called the ad “cruel.”
The negative ads “made me not want to vote for either candidate,” said Shawndell Hand, of Atlanta. But she chose Hunstein. “I have a friend who is well-versed about both candidates, and he sent an e-mail out listing a lot of facts about both candidates — and, clearly, Hunstein was the right choice.”
University of Georgia political scientist Charles Bullock said Hunstein benefited from her incumbent status. Wiggins was done in also, he said, by the nature of the ballot: Supreme Court candidates are not identified by political party. “There was not a partisan cue to help Wiggins,” Bullock said. “He tried to portray himself as a Republican, but it didn’t show up on the ballot.”
Staff writers Moni Basu and Ken Sugiura contributed to this article.
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