Citizen Will

Opening statements. I botched Mr. Stein’s statement. Later this week I hope to retrieve a video copy from the cable telecast.

youTube link to opening statements.

Closing statement.

youTube link to closing statements.

This was one of the most interesting questions of the evening. Essentially, what did the candidates think if Mr. Stein was elected to serve only 2+ years of an 8 year term.

Judge Anderson dodged and weaved. Judge Fox left it to the people. Mr. Stein defended the propriety. Judge Baddour, in the most direct and thoughtful response, spoke of how a short-term can harm the system around justice – that beyond the public interest, litigants and court personnel alike will be impacted.

youTube link to video on Mr. Stein’s “built-in” obsolescence – a pre-determined exit less than 1/3 of a way through his term.

youTube link to video on electing Superior Court judges.

youTube link to video on judicial temperament.

youTube link to video on staying current with the law, the legal profession and trends thereof….

A quick reminder of tonight’s Superior Court District 15B forum. This one will be telecast, so I’ll probably not create a bazillion youTube clips like Oct. 11th’s forum.

From the N&O calendar:

The 15B Judicial District Bar will hold a forum for District 15-B Superior Court judge candidates at 7 p.m. Monday in the Chapel Hill Town Hall. The forum will be broadcast live on Time Warner Cable channel 18 in Orange and Chatham counties. George Doyle will moderate with questions coming from lawyers Barry Winston, Nat Smith, Ed Holmes and Sam Williams. You may submit questions by e-mail beforehand to Winston at btw@winstonandmaher.com.

Chuck Anderson asks how the current system for selecting our judges (by election) might be modified to better serve the public.

Carl Fox and Chuck Anderson were omitted because I ran out of juice for my camera.

And then the last of my batteries went kaput. I apologize to Carl and Chuck for not capturing their last answers of the evening. My notes of their answers:

Fox – appellate selection – most current appelate judges haven’t served as superior judges, electing of judges then have a retention election

Anderson – unlikely we can change the way NC selects judges – legislative actions – how many folks of high quality are discouraged form running? the current system kind of screens out good candidates – don’t want to expose themselves to election – %85 of electorate (Timson) doesn’t know candidates or issues in current election….

Carl Fox starts with the observation that 9 out of 10 people sitting in his court audience are young African-American males.

“What are we doing wrong that is causing so many males to end up in court and what can we do to fix the situation?”

What experience do you have?

What is the most important thing, if elected, you’ll accomplish over the next 8 years?

Adam Stein talks about how he can only serve about 1/3rd of a term (about 2 years).

What role should political parties play in judge elections?

Importance of community? Your role in the community?

Oct. 16th’s UNC Young Democrat Superior Court 15B forum. Candidate openings.

In an effort to clean up the original post and make the page load faster, here’s a playlist version.

At least, not much snoozing as participants have reported on local ‘blog OrangePolitics.org.

I appreciate the time and effort Mark Chilton, Gene Pease, Fred Black and Dan Coleman put into real-time reviews.

I hope some of our other “known” blog commenters (Anita, Linda, Aaron, Andrea, Diane ?) get in to the act.

[UPDATE:] Anita and Frances Henderson joined in.