Opinion ID: 2419685
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: the mary gregory letter

Text: Criticizing an opponent's handling of a case does not constitute a pre-election commitment to a certain position. Patricia Summe did not violate the rules of judicial ethics by using the Mary Gregory letter in her campaign. There must be clear and convincing evidence to support charges brought by the JRRC. Wilson, supra ; SCR 4.160. Under Wilson , the Supreme Court must accept the findings of the JRRC unless they are clearly erroneous. In the instant case, the Commission's decision must be based on evidence which clearly supports a finding that Patricia Summe made a pre-election commitment to the voters that she would not probate child abusers. There is no such clear evidence. By her own testimony, Patricia Summe stated that she was not committing herself to a particular position on the issue of probating child abusers. In fact, Summe asserted that she was merely criticizing the way her opponent handled one particular case. The testimony of Mary Gregory further indicates that Patricia Summe was only attempting to get across the point that justice would be better served if Summe were to be elected. In Ackerson v. Kentucky Judicial Ret. and Removal Comm'n., 776 F.Supp. 309 (W.D.Ky.1991), a federal court held that under current Kentucky law, judicial candidates may discuss and debate any legal issues which may come before the court on which they are seeking a position, but they may not commit themselves to any particular position on those issues, restating SCR 4.300, Canon 7B(1)(c). Accepting Summe's statement that she was criticizing her opponent does not justify the conclusion that comments made in the letter constituted a commitment to the voters. Instead it is a discussion or debate about Judge Trusty's decision in a particular case. As such, her statements are placed in line with the holding in Ackerson . While Patricia Summe stated that she did not agree with Judge Trusty's handling of the case and would have acted differently in that particular case, she did not state that she would always act in a certain way. Thus, the evidence introduced at trial does not clearly and convincingly prove that Patricia Summe committed herself to a particular position. In fact, the only contradictory testimony given was mere speculation and strained inference. As such, the findings of the JRRC were unreasonable and clearly erroneous as to the alleged violation of SCR 4.300. Patricia Summe also testified that she read the letter in question against the rule to check for possible violations. She believed that she herself could make the statements contained in the letter and that it would therefore be satisfactory for Mary Gregory to make the same statements. This letter went through the same strict scrutiny and careful evaluation to which all other campaign materials were put before they were allowed to be distributed. Various other testimony showed that there was great concern in the campaign to stay within the rules for judicial conduct. This letter was written by Mary Gregory entirely on her own initiative after seeing photographs of the abused child and hearing how the case was disposed of. Patricia Summe did not encourage the writing of the letter, nor did she tell Mary Gregory what to say in the letter. The only reason that this letter became part of the campaign was Summe's concern with the financial campaign laws dealing with donations in kind. In order to steer away from such problems (and any appearances thereof), Summe stamped her name on the letter and paid for the stationary and postage. Since the letter was not written by Patricia Summe, as noted above, it is unreasonable to charge her with a supposed commitment to preclude probation for convicted child abusers. The paid for by disclosure may be seen as attributing the statements to Patricia Summe. Nevertheless, if the statements are attributed to Patricia Summe, they still do not amount to a commitment to any position on the disposition of child abuse cases. The majority sets forth the opinion that the obvious crux of the wording in the letter is that Patricia Summe is committed to the prevention of probating child abusers. The majority goes on to quote Shaman's Judicial Conduct and Ethics, saying that any statements which could be interpreted as a pledge to take a particular approach to certain cases is prohibited. Section 11.09, p. 372 (Michie 2nd ed., 1995). This quote is very powerful, except for the fact that Summe never made any pledges to the voters. Again, we are confronted with the situation of whose words are on the page. If Patricia Summe wrote the letter, a closer look would be necessitated, but since these are the words of Mary Gregory they cannot reasonably be attributed to Summe as making a pre-election commitment to this issue. It may be argued that a layman would read the Mary Gregory letter as saying that Summe would prevent the probation of child abusers. However, as stated before, a strict reading of the letter shows that the only claim made therein is that justice would be served. This recapitulates the mandate in Canon 7B(1)(c) to promise only to faithfully and impartially perform the duties of the judicial office. Again, Patricia Summe followed the letter and spirit of the Canons as they were written and interpreted at the time of her actions.