Georgia’s next governor may make an impact on the judiciary right after being sworn in next January because a Paulding County judge tried to make his bench hereditary, so to speak.
The commission overseeing judicial conduct and elections has reached an oral agreement with Superior Court Judge James Osborne and his daughter Elizabeth Osborne Williams that in exchange for neither seeking election the commission won’t investigate them, said Lester Tate, a Cartersville lawyer and vice-chair of the Georgia Judicial Qualifications Commission.
“We’re not pursuing any ethical charges,” he said, noting the agreement stopped Osborne from re-qualifying.
Judicial canons require judges and judicial candidates to conduct themselves in a way that promotes confidence in the judiciary and not allow family relationships to affect their actions.
Osborne’s recent conduct sparked a firestorm of criticism. He qualified for re-election last week, then withdrew on March 7 shortly before the qualifying deadline while he was still unopposed, since lawyers rarely challenge a sitting judge for election.
Williams, a Dallas attorney, then qualified to run for the seat unopposed, causing watchdog groups and legal ethicists to cry foul.
The agreement with the Judicial Qualifications Commission means that if Williams withdraws — as of Friday she was still a candidate — Georgia’s next governor will appoint a judge to fill the vacancy left by Osborne’s departure because qualifying has closed in the non-partisan race, said Jared Thomas, spokesman for the Georgia secretary of state.
“This is an extraordinary circumstance that we’ve never seen before,” Thomas said.
That has left some watchdogs frustrated.
“We’re going to push in whatever way we can in the hope that the secretary of state is wrong and we can give voters a choice,” said William Perry, head of Georgia Common Cause. “The good thing that is happening is that somebody who is dishonest will not get the position, but the bad thing is that voters will not get a choice.”
Attempts to reach Osborne and Williams for comment were unsuccessful. But the legal newspaper, the Fulton Daily Report, quoted Williams as saying she never conspired with her father, but she thought he had tried to do her a favor.
“He just wanted to give me the best opportunity to serve in the position and work in the community,” the newspaper quoted her as saying, adding that the two discussed his retirement. “I thought it was a great opportunity, and I thought I would work hard and do a good job as a superior court judge.”
Legal ethicist Stephen Gillers of New York University wrote in a letter to the Daily Report that while he couldn’t call the Osbornes’ move unethical, it “certainly harms the reputation of the judiciary.” A judgeship shouldn’t be seen as a hereditary position, he said.
“It is apparent that the judge and his daughter meant to game the system,” he told the newspaper.
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