Litigation

IA Judicial Candidate Gave to Governor?s Campaign

By Peter Hardin

A candidate for the Iowa Supreme Court donated $7,500 months ago to the political candidate who soon, as governor,  will make three appointments to the bench. The judicial candidate said he never knew, when he made the donations, that there would be any vacancies.

Yet “appearances count in politics,” according to Drake University political scientist Dennis Goldford, who was quoted in a Des Moines Register article about the political donations. Goldford suggested that the contributions could work as easily against the candidate as for him.

The newspaper reported that its review of campaign finance records showed that attorney Thomas Waterman gave $7,500 to the campaign of Republican Terry Branstad and $250 to the campaign of an attorney general candidate, Brenna Findley, who now is Gov. Branstad’s legal counsel and will help him interview finalists for three state Supreme Court openings.

Waterman was one of 60 candidates recently interviewed by a screening commission. It recommended nine finalists, in turn, to Branstad. The high court openings were created after Iowans voted to oust three justices for their role in a unanimous ruling that permitted same-sex marriages.

The newspaper also reported that lawyer John C. Gray donated $1,175 to former Democratic Gov. Chet Culver in four installments. Branstad defeated Culver in November.

Vanderbilt University law professor Brian Fitzpatrick said it is important that political donations from potential judges be disclosed, to uphold public confidence in the courts.

“It raises the appearance that all of these people are lobbying and politicking and positioning themselves for these commission spots, these judgeships, et cetera,” Fitzpatrick explained.

Full post as published by The Gavel on February 03, 2011 (boomark / email).