The Court of Appeals Election, Part IX -- The Dean shares his input; & Sid says, Let's keep Pandora's Box tightly sealed

In a 10-31-04 post I noted:

"Today on The Georgia Gang Bill Shipp said if Howard Mead wins, it will change judicial politics forever.

"It sure will. This go round it might be his money. If it works, and he is elected, Pandora's Box is already open."
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On the day I wrote the above, the Dean wrote a column telling us just how important it is to keep Pandora's Box firmly sealed. His column follows:

Court contest may be preview of things to come

If Howard Mead wins Tuesday's election for a seat on the Georgia Court of Appeals, look out:

* Mead's near-saturation TV campaign may set a precedent for future judicial elections. We may shortly witness contests for judges that are as fancy and expensive as those for governor and senator. (Other states have already experienced such changes in their judicial elections.)

* Georgia's leaders may finally decide the state needs to change the way state judges are selected. Popular adversarial elections may be seen as too corruptive - or, worse, unpredictable. Besides, for-sale signs would clash with the dark-wood interiors of most judicial chambers.

* A self-appointed committee of silk-stocking lawyers may, at last, give up on inhibiting the exercise of the First Amendment in judicial campaigns.
If you're looking for drama and suspense in Georgia on Election Day, you may have to look all the way down the ballot to the appeals court race. The presidential and Senate bouts are statewide yawners.

Here's a bit of background on the appeals court contest. The 2004 Court of Appeals race to select the successor to retiring Judge Frank Eldridge was meant to be settled last summer in a "non-partisan" primary runoff.

A smart and well-qualified lawyer, Debra Bernes, 49, led a six-candidate field in the general primary but failed to win a majority of votes.

Mike Sheffield, 54, a candidate closely identified with the Christian Coalition, ran second.

Mead, 44, a key decision-maker in the administrations of Govs. Zell Miller and Roy Barnes, came in third - out of the money for a runoff slot. That preliminary round should have concluded with Bernes and Sheffield as finalists for a runoff.

Alas the election did not work out that way. On some Laurens County ballots, Howard Mead was listed as Thomas Mead. Mead sued, contending that misidentifying him as Thomas rather than Howard cost him votes and a runoff election slot. Mead, by the way, had already spent a bundle on media advertising for the primary.

In a rare move regarding election outcomes, the Georgia Supreme Court intervened and, by a 4-3 vote, tossed out the balloting. It ordered a new joust among Bernes, Sheffield and Mead. (The Georgia Trial Lawyers Association, the dreaded fire-breathing dragon of Georgia politics, lost its place in the judicial race. The GTLA's candidate, Lee Wallace, decided to drop out.)

Mead, a Harvard law graduate and former clerk for a federal circuit court judge, has come out swinging with a new multimillion-dollar TV campaign, picturing him as perhaps the greatest legal mind since Louis Brandeis and his opponents as a pair of high-priced Clarence Darrow wannabes. Mead also declares repetitively that he is not beholden to special interests, which may be true since he has plowed about $1.5 million of his own cash into the quest for this $150,000-a-year job.

Thanks to his video campaign, Mead's name ID has skyrocketed among voters. According to the polls, it's right up there with senatorial candidates Johnny Isakson and Denise Majette.

If Mead wins, we'll get to see lots of black robes on TV commercials in the future. We'll also see hefty campaign contributions from insurance companies, plaintiffs' law firms and everybody else with a legal axe to grind and a yen to influence the state's high courts.

Meanwhile, as the election approaches, an ad hoc lawyers' group, the Georgia Committee for Ethical Judicial Campaigns, decided it abhorred Mead's TV spots.

The barristers said they were offended by Mead assailing Bernes and Sheffield as "high-priced criminal defense lawyers."

So Mead now pictures himself not only as high-quality judicial material but also as a crusading candidate despised by fat-cat big-city lawyers and possibly some of the mob's leading mouthpieces. By contrast, Bernes, designated the "most qualified" candidate in a state bar poll, has struck back with a limited TV campaign touting her considerable legal background.

No doubt the Georgia Committee for Ethical Judicial Campaigns has only the loftiest motives, though at least one member is a financial supporter of Sheffield. Perhaps the group should consider a retreat to revise its mission statement. Before the Bernes-Sheffield-Mead affair, the panel decried using candidates' records in negative advertising. The committee also meddled in the Georgia Supreme Court contest featuring incumbent Justice Leah Sears, a judge with acknowledged liberal tendencies, and former Judge Grant Brantley, celebrated for his conservative views. Sears galvanized the Democratic vote, beat Brantley in a runaway election and, in the view of some observers, set the stage for the Mead campaign.