judicial discipline overhaul faces many obstacles

​Hopes for judicial reform have dimmed with the selection of the judicial discipline interim committee members.

How are we to expect legislators who have repeatedly sponsored judicial branch bills to now turn around and hold the judicial branch accountable? Don’t they have a conflict of interest?

The prime sponsors of SO many bills sought by the judicial branch are on the interim committee. Senators Pete Lee, Bob Gardner, Julie Gonzalez, who are all on Senate Judiciary, are on the committee. Representatives Terri Carver, Mike Weissman, Jennifer Bacon and Mike Lynch, who are all on House Judiciary, are on the committee.

​​Senator Mike Holbert resigned from the Senate. It is anticipated that Kevin VanWinkle is taking Holbert’s seat and will fill the remaining spot on the committee. If so, he would be the only member on the committee who is not currently on a judiciary committee.

Why do we need the interim committee? Because the legislators on the judiciary committees have completely failed to keep checks and balances on the judicial branch. That’s why the judicial scandal happened.
 
So now we’re expecting the legislators who have failed to keep checks and balances on the judicial branch, and who have continuously run bills at the request of the judicial branch, to create responsible and reasonable proposals to improve Colorado’s judicial discipline system?
 
And that’s not all.
 
Recently, we learned that the Denver DA alleges she could not bring criminal charges against the judicial branch employees involved in the judicial scandal because the judicial branch was withholding documents. She says the statute of limitations expired before she could get the necessary information.
 
Senators Lee, Gardner, and others were schmoozing with the Supreme Court earlier this year to try to see what the justices would accept regarding discipline reforms. 

Legislators asking judges about what laws to pass is not how government is supposed to function. ​
 
What the senators should have been doing was subpoenaing the documents needed by the DA for criminal prosecution. Instead, while the statute of limitations was running out, they were asking the justices to please support some sort of reform.
 
These legislators created the situation where the judicial scandal could happen, and they failed to help uncover information that would help those involved be held accountable. The legislators’ inaction literally helped the former judicial employees evade criminal prosecution.
 
So please forgive us for being skeptical that any responsible proposals are going to come out of this interim committee. The legislators are simply too deferential to the judges in the judicial branch.
 
Oh, did we mention that Representative Lynch’s brother is a district court judge?
 
We’ll do our best to advocate for responsible reforms. But the judiciary has these legislators in its pocket.
 
The first meeting of the interim committee is scheduled for June 14th at 10 a.m. The public can comment at that meeting.