Wednesday, December 19, 2018

Judge Must Repay Contribution

A judicial candidate must repay $18,814 from an incumbent circuit judge. The Special Committee on Judicial Campaign Intervention ruled that a Friends of (Candidate) "P" filed a campaign finance report that reported the contribution from a sitting circuit court judge, "Q".

The committee said that the Code of Judicial Conduct bars a judge from making a "contribution to a political organization or candidate." Thus Judge Q could not make the $18,814 contribution to candidate P.

The order states that contributions in circuit court races are limited to $2,500. Corporate contributions in such elections are limited to $1,000. The committee ruled that accepting the contribution over the corporate limit violated the code as well.


The Committee finished off the order with this decree:

The contribution greatly exceeded the limits placed on judicial campaigns by the Mississippi legislature and the Code of Judicial Conduct. The Special Committee is of the opinion that the Friends of P accepted an improper campaign contribution from an incumbent judge's committee and a contribution that exceeds the reasonable limits imposed by the Mississippi election law and the Code of Judicial Conduct.

The Special Committeemen instructs the Friends of P to reimburse the Committee to Elect Q the sum of$18,814.20 no later than January 15, 2019.

Further, the Special Committee has determined that it is required to repo1t this matter to the Commission on Judicial Performance for further consideration.
The next question to ask is who is the candidate? It appears this bit of campaign finance tomfoolery took place in Madison County.

Circuit Judge William Chapman did not see re-election to the bench this year.  Dewey Arthur won the election to replace Judge Chapman. The Committee to Elect William Chapman contributed $18,814 to the Friends of Dewey Arthur Committee on October 5 - the exact amount of the contribution stated in the opinion. The next reporting deadline was October 10.  However, the contribution was not reported until the November 1 report was filed with the Secretary of State and that report was filed on November 8, two days after the primary election. 





Madison County judges were sworn into office yesterday. 



29 comments:

Anonymous said...

BUSTED! Good work, KF.

The candidate may not have known about the violation, but that’s why he’s supposed to pick smart, honest people to handle that stuff. Guess Arthur doesn’t know anyone like that.

Anonymous said...

This is just a "process crime." No harm, no foul. Just a small campaign violation. Nothing to see here.

Anonymous said...

excellent reporting

Anonymous said...

Judges breaking the law and the DA sits quietly because they are white and in Madison County. The same DA that is all for hanging poor black folks on election technicalities. DA is about to make national news here in Canton for racial descrimination.

Anonymous said...

Dear 2:22pm The Racist,

"DA sits quietly by"

I guess the DA sat quietly by because The Special Committee on Judicial Campaign Intervention already had this one caught. And paying someone in cash and beer to cast an illegal vote is NOT an election technicality. It's a crime. Voter fraud.

Please continue to blame "whitey" for your woes. I find it humorous.

Fact of the day: 72% of black children in America are born out of wedlock


NEXT

Anonymous said...

What's with the silliness of redacting names? Were they minors or victims of rape?

Anonymous said...

Technicalities? TECHNICALITIES MY ASS! No doubt in hell that you're a democrat.

Anonymous said...

Ignorance of the law isn't a defense unless you are a judge.

Anonymous said...

@3:37, what support do you have for your rascist statistic?

Anonymous said...

Racism is alive and well in Madison County. Why bother indicting black votes in canton. Do what you really want and Lynch them on the courthouse grounds under the Christmas lights. ALL of you will pay for the sins cast against people of race one day!!!!

Anonymous said...

So we have a 2 corrupt judges!
GET RID OF THEM !

From The Bleachers.. said...

"DA is about to make national news here in Canton for racial descrimination."

No doubt a charge concocted by the same gang of 'victims' who filed suit against the sheriff for racial 'descrimination'. Meanwhile, the most active racists in Canton are other than white. Of course 2:22 already knows that.

Anonymous said...

And this is why we should not have elected judges in the first place. The talent it takes to get elected is different than the talent and experience it takes to do the job. We ensure mediocracy at best when we elected judges, treasurers and auditors, jobs that require specific skill sets. And add sheriffs to that list.

Anonymous said...

Looks like the old judge flushed out the campaign war chest to help the new judge. He could have just pocketed the money like Bryant is getting ready to do. Double dumb move.

Anonymous said...

This is more than just an FEC violation. This is grade A corruption and is illegal, especially if the candidate was still practicing with the DA's office in front of the Judge. The candidate may not have even known about it, but the Judge had to. Every call this judge has made should now be called into question. No telling the harm he's brought to the people. It will be interesting to see where Mike Hurst is on this. If memory serves, he ran a couple years ago against Jim Hood on his record of prosecuting corruption. Well here it is. Let's see if a federal indictment comes down.

Anonymous said...

C'mon man, you don't really expect judges to know and follow the law, do you?

Anonymous said...

CLEAR violation of the campaign laws of MS. CAN WE GET A PROSECUTOR?

Anonymous said...

Madison County Prosecutors handbook say: “but he paid it back” (response when white republicans)
“Indict immediately” (response when democrat)

If you are ever unclear call Mother Mary.

Anonymous said...

Oh how I love all the backseat lawyers who know nothing of which they speak. Giving more contribution to a campaign than is allowed is not a crime. The overpayment just has to be reimbursed.
But paying some to vote for you or giving something of value to someone to vote for you is a crime.
As for the assertion that Judge Chapman could and should have kept the 18k for himself, you may recall that a year or two ago the legislature enacted a law that elected officials can no longer cash in and keep campaign contributions for personal use when their term is over any more.
But thanks for playing.

Anonymous said...

708, I hope you are not practicing law in this judge's court - or any for that matter - since you obviously know nothing about which you blather.

This is not a FEC violation; FEC stands for FEDERAL Election Commission. This was a state election and subject to state campaign finance laws.

Mike Hurst is the FEDERAL U S Attorney. Again, this is a state crime, and not subject to his jurisdiction.

As for the DA, it's not his turn yet. The special committee has just made its finding on the case, and has set the penalty. But as noted, it has now been referred to the Judicial Performance to determine any other penalties.

To everything there is a season. You are not even close to being in the correct year.

Anonymous said...

To 2:04

Ouch... Defensive much? I agree with you that the FEC governs federal elections, but there are instances when misconduct in a state election implicates federal law, and in those instances federal law preempts. I don't know anyone over there in Rankin/Madison. All I do know about the situation is what I read in the article, which implicates far more than a campaign finance issue. If the findings are accurate and that candidate was an ADA practicing in front of that Judge when the money changed hands there are a number of laws, state and federal, that could be at play. From the tone of your response, I'd say you probably know those guys, and if that's the case maybe you know the facts and it really was just that simple. I would certainly prefer that to what it looks like it was.

Anonymous said...

The money went from a committee to elect to another committee to elect. No ethical issues. The amount was too large.

Anonymous said...

9:49, actually no - I don't know either of these two guys. I also recognize that there are some, in fact several, election violations that could involve federal jurisdiction. But that's still different from the FEC - who has no jurisdiction in this case. The reporting requirements for judicial elections are with the state and the FEC has no role to play or even informed.

The violations that are involved do involve state campaign finance laws, and appear to violate state judicial canons. But neither of those rise to the jurisdiction of US Attorney Hurst either.

While I don't know either of the players in this case, I do know something of both the state campaign finance laws and the judicial code as pertain to campaigns. In my opinion both the outgoing judge and the recently elected judge have violated serious parts of the judicial cannons, and those will trump in importance the campaign finance limits violations.

Anonymous said...

Look at what the winner and his handlers paid for this election result? Something smells in Toledo.

1957 Maybe said...

Knock Knock. Who's there? Dewey? Dewey who? Do we remember when judges were honorable people?

Anonymous said...

1:52
Obviously you did not read the opinion. The candidate and the committee to elect the candidate along with the Judge's committee not only violated Canon 5 of Judicial ethics, but also violate Campaign Finance LAW by accepting and giving amounts in excess of our clearly established law. This contribution and amount had the same effect on votes (because it was money spend to get votes) as the violations by the Canton people who were arrested for paying for votes. Tell me why you thing a violation of one law does not carry the same weight and deserve similar punishment as another? Where is the new DA Bubba Bramlett on this?

Anonymous said...

Who was Dewey's campaign finance manager in charge of this? None other than a fellow Asst. Dist. Attorney who worked For Madison/Rankin DA.!!!!! You would think they should know the law and should be held accountable!!!!! The new DA Bramlett should appoint a special prosecutor to investigate this just like those who committed similar violations in Canton.

Anonymous said...

I have looked at the campaign finance filing by this candidate, the dates due, the dates filed, and when the questioned amount was received. Looks like a clear violation of both Judicial ethics and the law to me. No brainer!!! Also looks deliberate and intentional. Goes to integrity and character!!!

Anonymous said...

Does anyone know if these two will be charged?



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