Court Opinion

ID: 9530185
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 03:58:01.355173+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:28:01.204489
License: Public Domain

SCHULZ, Judge,
concurring in part and dissenting in part.
The Alaska Commission on Judicial Conduct (the Commission) found the petitioner violated Canon 2 of the Code of Judicial *1350Conduct.1 That finding compelled the further finding that petitioner’s conduct violated Canon 12 and AS 22.30.011(a)(3)(D) and (E).3
Based on an incomplete recitation of “facts” and an erroneous application of the objectively reasonable person test enunciated by this court in In re Inquiry Concerning a Judge, 788 P.2d 716 (Alaska 1990) (Judge II), a majority of this court today affirms the Commission’s findings in two respects.
I dissent.
In Judge II, this court said:
The duty to avoid creating an appearance of impropriety is one of taking “reasonable precautions” to avoid having “a negative effect on the confidence of the thinking public, in the administration of justice.” Otherwise stated, did appellant fail to use reasonable care to prevent objectively reasonable persons from believing an impropriety was afoot?
788 P.2d at 723 (quoting In the Matter of Bonin, 375 Mass. 680, 378 N.E.2d 669, 682-83 (1978)) (emphasis added).
That is the test which the court applies today. Unfortunately, the court has become very selective in determining what it is that the “thinking public” or “objectively reasonable persons” think about. For instance, the court either totally ignores, or gives far too little weight, to the fact that while petitioner used court stationery in a private matter, the stationery was provided for whatever purpose the justice wanted to use it.4 As the court points out, the petitioner used the chambers stationery to memorialize agreements between him and opposing counsel in litigation in which he was directly involved, and in which he was participating at the opposing parties’ request. Why it is that “objectively reasonable persons” have to ignore those facts is beyond my ken.5
*1351While I agree with the premise that an objectively reasonable person is not necessarily fully informed, (Maj.Op. at 1340-1341), it does seem that the objectively reasonable person should be aware of at least some of the surrounding circumstances and at least a little of the content of the letters before jumping to the conclusion, as the majority does, that an impropriety may be afoot.6 The court also concludes that petitioner’s meeting with the Governor created the appearance of an impropriety because “petitioner had substantial private business interests that were involved in litigation against the state, petitioner was a justice of the state supreme court, and petitioner met personally with the Governor to discuss this litigation in an attempt to persuade the Governor to intervene in a manner favorable to petitioner’s interests.” (Maj.Op. at 1342).
First, the court is simply wrong when it says that petitioner met with the Governor to discuss the petitioner’s business interests. That conclusion is not supported by the record in the case. Neither the nature of petitioner’s business interests nor the terms of the settlement agreement were ever mentioned in the meeting with the Governor. Petitioner met with the Governor because the petitioner had information that Evans, who represented AHFC in the litigation, and the Executive Director of AHFC were trying to torpedo a settlement process that CMC had entered into in good faith. Petitioner never asked the Governor to change anybody’s mind or to attempt to influence the AHFC board to accept or reject the settlement. Second, the court’s conclusion that the litigation concluded with a favorable settlement for petitioner is not supported by the record. According to the record, the settlement proposal was reached after the use of a well recognized “mini-trial” procedure and was ultimately approved by both parties. The record contains no information and the Commission made no findings on whether or not the settlement was favorable to CMC, to petitioner, or to AHFC. The record in this case would not support a finding on that point in any event.
Third, the court cavalierly suggests that petitioner could have avoided the appearance of impropriety by foregoing the meeting with the Governor entirely. (Maj.Op. at 1342). The court cites no authority for the proposition that the petitioner should roll over and play dead simply because he happens to be a justice, when confronted with at least delay, and quite probably deliberate obstruction, by executive branch officials. Until today, there was no authority for that proposition.
Next, the court suggests that petitioner could have done indirectly what he should not do directly by having someone on the CMC staff arrange a meeting and actually meet with the Governor. (Maj.Op. at 1342-1343). To suggest that such a manipulative course of action would avoid the appearance of impropriety only recognizes that it would be more difficult for the objectively reasonable person to find out about it. More troublesome, however, is the question of what test we apply in the case of a sole proprietorship without executive type staff.7 The court also considers it significant that the litigation concluded with a favorable settlement for petitioner. (Maj.Op. at 1343). What this has to do with the meeting with the Governor is not divulged by the majority probably because there is no evidence that the terms of the settlement were discussed at the meeting. In fact, the record discloses that the terms of the settlement and who it was favorable or unfavorable to were never discussed at the meeting.
Finally, since the court has correctly concluded that there was nothing wrong in asking for the meeting in the first place, it seems a strange leap in logic to conclude that the meeting itself somehow created an appearance of impropriety.
*1352I have absolutely no quarrel with the proposition that judges, because of the nature of their office, must maintain the highest standards of conduct in both their judicial and extra-judicial affairs, and, further, it must appear that judges maintain those standards. Until today, I had thought that Judge II provided a reasonably objective standard by which to measure that conduct in appearance of impropriety cases. Unfortunately, for the public and the bench, I am apparently wrong.
I agree with the majority that the Commission did not err in denying special counsel’s motion to dismiss. Otherwise, I dissent.

. Canon 2:

A Judge Should Avoid Impropriety and the Appearance of Impropriety in all His Activities

A. A judge should respect and comply with the law and should conduct himself at all times in a manner that promotes public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary.
B. A judge should not allow his family, social or other relationships to influence his judicial conduct or judgment. He should not lend the prestige of his office to advance the private interest of others; nor should he convey or permit others to convey the impression that they are in a special position to influence him. He should not testify voluntarily as a character witness.

. Canon 1:
An independent and honorable judiciary is indispensable to justice in our society. A judge should participate in establishing, maintaining, and enforcing, and should himself observe, high standards of conduct so that the integrity and independence of the judiciary may be preserved. The provisions of this Code should be construed and applied to further that objective.

. AS 22.30.011(a)(3)(D) and (E):
(a) The Commission shall on its own motion or on receipt of a written complaint inquire into an allegation that a judge
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(3) within a period of not more than six years before the start of the current term, committed an act or acts that constitute
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(D) conduct that brings the judicial office into disrepute; or
(E) conduct in violation of the code of judicial conduct;

. I express no opinion as to whether or not that is a good or a bad rule. If the rule is bad, however, the rule should be changed before we sanction someone for violating what I can only characterize as a highly subjective expectation for judicial conduct.

. It is interesting that the thinking public or objectively (emphasis added) reasonable persons of Judge II have become so selective. For instance, the record in this case makes it clear that petitioner took part in the settlement process in 1987 because he was asked by the other parties. They knew who he was, and apparently were not terrified by his position. Further, petitioner tendered all of his stock in the corporation at no cost to the corporation on December 29, 1987, well before this matter became a subject of public discussion. In short, whether the settlement was favorable or unfavorable to CMC or petitioner is irrelevant because petitioner took no part of the settlement in any event. The record is also clear that the merits of the settlement were never discussed between the Governor and petitioner at their meeting. The majority never addresses a central issue in this case and that issue is simply why all of the facts are not relevant and if all of the facts are not relevant, what is the test for determining what is relevant and what is not. So much for the objective test.

. The majority's conclusion on the use of chambers stationery cannot rest on a violation of some rule against using the stationery for the simple reason that there is no rule.

. This, of course, assumes that CMC had “staff’ that could arrange a meeting with the Governor and discuss the AHFC board meeting. The record seems quite silent on what sort of "staff’ options petitioner actually had.