A vacancy on the Marion County Superior Court was created following the appointment of Judge Robyn Moberly as a federal bankruptcy judge for the Southern District of Indiana. Eleven applicants filed applications with the office of Gov. Mitch Daniels by Friday's deadline, including one former judge, Gary Miller, and one current judge, Carol Orbison, who both were dumped during controversial slating sessions conducted by the Marion County Republican Party. Orbison's term on the bench will end at year's end. Fellow blogger Paul Ogden, an unsuccessful, non-slated candidate for judge during this year's May primary is among the applicants. Gov. Daniels, who fills vacancies on the court, has criticized the Republican and Democratic Parties' practice of handpicking Marion Co. judges in backroom meetings where candidates are typically nominated without respect to their qualifications and only after the candidates pay slating fees to their respective party in excess of $10,000 in exchange for being endorsed for a judicial slot. The system is viewed as being one of the most corrupt systems for picking judges in the United States. Per the Indiana Law Blog, here is the complete list of applicants:
Gary L. Miller
Steven J. Rubick
Paul K. Ogden
Curtis J. Foulks
Jeffrey M. Gill
Patrick J. Dietrick
Maura J. Hoff
Stanley E. Kroh
Tiffany U. Vivo
Gary W. Bippus
Carol J. Orbison
1 comment:
I have found out that slating fees are actually a lot more than that. They are actually $23,100...$13,100 before the slating convention and $10,000 afterward. That's been confirmed. They are all ponying up another $10,000 on the Republican side. That is consistent with previous elections where the slating fee on the Republican side was about $25,000.
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