Opinion ID: 2419685
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Commission's Lack of Jurisdiction

Text: Appellant further argues that review of the Kenton County Citizen's Courier by at least eight different lawyers involved in appellant's campaign and review of the Mary Gregory letter by her attorney established that appellant necessarily acted in good faith with respect to both documents. Consequently, she contends that the charges are beyond the jurisdiction of the Commission under SCR 4.020(2). SCR 4.020(2) provides: Any erroneous decision made in good faith shall not be subject to the jurisdiction of the Commission. It is obvious that erroneous decision is a term of art which refers to judicial decisions made by judges in the course of their official duties. We clarified this in Nicholson v. Judicial Ret. and Removal Comm'n, Ky., 562 S.W.2d 306 (1978), decided thirty (30) days after the effective date of the above rule, where we stated: The purpose of this addition was to make explicit that which we recognized to be implicit in our constitution and the rule. In a state which has an elected judiciary incompetence which is not gross and persistent can be safely left to elimination at the ballot box. Error can be adequately corrected by the appellate courts. Any other approach to the problem would destroy judicial independence by causing judges to keep one eye on their reversal rate and the other on the Commission. Both judicial eyes should be trained on the just disposition of the case at hand and not on the welfare of the sitting judge. Id. at 310. Certainly, SCR 4.020(2) does not exclude from the jurisdiction of the Commission campaign violations committed under claims of ignorance of the law or of advice of counsel. Neither document at issue in the present case was submitted to the Ethics Committee for its prior approval, and no Supreme Court rule excuses noncompliance based on the advice of attorneys working in a candidate's campaign.