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This page contains a single entry from the blog posted on November 7, 2012 1:12 PM. The previous post in this blog was Write-ins for Portland mayor: 15,792. The next post in this blog is A day late and thousands of dollars short. Many more can be found on the main index page or by looking through the archives.

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Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Baldwin wins

Neither was predicted to prevail in the crowded fields that started the races last spring, but both our picks for the state's appeals courts, Richard Baldwin and James Egan, won.

Comments (3)

Good man, Dick Baldwin.

I'm glad. Popular elections for those types of nonpolitical technical positions can come up with poor results.

Am I naive in still thinking of judicial positions as nonpolitical? Has voting for them instead of appointing them turn them into defacto policy positions?

Why don't we have the governor + senate appoint appeals and supremes?

Jo: If the state followed the federal system of appointing with legislative consent we might end up with no judges at all if the appointments became political pawns, as they are in federal courts.
Appointments will always be subject to cries of cronyism. Regional elections would probably deprive us of most of the best talent, since good lawyers are usually near the big courts.
I say give the Bar veto power over any system. If the chosen one is a dope, political pawn or simply lazy the legal community will probably know it.




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