Judge In Coleman-Franken Case Donated To Coleman Campaigns

[Are_grits_groceries]

Last week, I took a look at the political leanings of the five Minnesota Supreme Court Justices who will decide Republican Norm Coleman's likely appeal. Of one of the five Justices, Justice Christopher J. Dietzen, I suggested that he "has the clearest partisan background" of any of the Justices, pointing to facts including Dietzen serving as a campaign lawyer on Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty's 2002 campaign.
<snip>
Contributor Occupation Date Amount Recipient
Chris Dietzen Larkin Hoffman 12/3/01 $250 Coleman, Norm (R)
Chris Dietzen Larkin Hoffman 1/21/04 $250 Coleman, Norm (R)

FYI, Larkin Hoffman is one of the law firms that Dietzen worked at before becoming a judge.

http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/4/13/35146/9228

Another shoe drops. How many shoes do we have now?

[LiberalFighter]

1. Minnesota newspapers and blogs need to be hit with this.

[Bozita]

2. K&R

[Canuckistanian]

3. Why do judges and lawyers donate to political campaigns?

Do they not realize that it may come back and bite them in the ass some day?

I don't care if you're a Republican, Democrat or Independent. A judge giving money to a political party is ASKING for be accused of "Conflict of Interest" or "partisanship" when these kind of cases come up.

Are there no ethical rules on this?

[gratuitous]

7. He made the donations before becoming a judge

So I'd hesitate to say that any profession should be barred entirely from making political donations. That being said, however, it would be meet and proper for this judge to have recused himself from the case, so as to avoid even the appearance of impropriety. But I have a low enough opinion right now of Minnesota jurisprudence that this development doesn't really faze me.

[librechik]

4. scratch the surface and it's clear we are still ruled by the invisible fist

of the Bush Family Republicans.

[DCKit]

5. And that damn Babs never uses enough Crisco on her bony fist. n/t

[lyonn]

6. Reagan, Bush I and Bush II were busy, busy packing the courts

for years. We will see the fall-out for years to come.