AAS Editorial 1/27/08Judges wobbling off the straight and narrowBy The Editorial Board
Sunday, January 27, 2008, 06:58 PM
To ensure faith in the integrity of the courts, judges should avoid arousing public questions about their personal and professional behavior. Several justices on the Texas Supreme Court need to be more careful.
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Medina has another problem: a violation of a state ethics rule that bars a judge from spending campaign funds on personal uses. Medina had used $57,000 in campaign funds to reimburse himself for driving between Austin and his home in Spring. A lawyer for Medina said he had relied on an accountant for advice on whether he could use the money for personal travel between his home and court, and would pay it back.
Two other justices, Nathan Hecht and Paul Green, also have been accused of using campaign funds to commute to their home cities. But they say they spent the money legitimately on campaign travel.
Chief Justice Wallace Jefferson, like Green from San Antonio, said he cannot personally account for all of his colleague’s 272 trips to San Antonio since 2005, but that Green made many trips there at his request for court-related business. And it’s natural, he said, that judges - who are elected - would travel often to their political bases.
Be more careful? We're giving them a warning are we?
Sonia