The Court of Appeals race, Part VIII -- Don't let Mead buy this important seat; let's help Debra Bernes!!! We've only got 2 weeks.
The runoff for the important seat on the Georgia Court of Appeals is two weeks from Tuesday. Debra Bernes needs our help. She is deserving of our help.
If you have a professional relationship with an attorney whom you not only use but respect, you know that the practice of law is an honorable calling.
This seat is an important seat, and is making history as being the first time in the history of this state that someone is attempting to buy it.
Let's show Mr. Mead that the seat is not for sale.
Hopefully we can do a better job this time in getting out the word in South Georgia. If you have ideas for any part of Georgia to help in this campaign, please email me.
Regardless of where you are, doing something will reap large dividends because of the difficulty of getting folks to the polls for a runoff, especially when we as a Party are as discouraged as we are given the happenings of Nov. 2.
But life goes on, and Debra Bernes needs our help, and we need her willingness to serve us.
Excerpts from past posts:
-- Part V: The 10-31-04 post: According to the 10-31-04 PI, . . .the content of [recent pre-Nov. 2] robo-calls emphasized "that Mead's two opponents, Debra Bernes and Mike Sheffield, were part of the Republican plot to take over the Georgia judiciary."
Comment: Come on Mr. Mead or Bobby Kahn -- whichever one of you penned such foolishness -- either this is supposed to be joke or you take us as the electorate to be idiots.
-- Part III: The 10-31-04 entitled in part "Georgia Court of Appeals: Bernes, Sheffield & (not Tom, Dick or Harry) Mead," noted that The Atlanta-Journal Constitution (ajc), in its Oct. 15, 2004 endorsement of her, said that "Bernes the best blend of legal expertise and judicial termperament."
The ajc also noted that "[a]s a prosecutor, Bernes worked on many high-profile cases, including handling legal motions in the Cobb County prosecution of Fred Tokars, the Atlanta lawyer convicted of arranging the brutal 1992 murder of his wife, Sara."
This post notes that the Savannah Morning News, The Augusta Chronicle and the Albany Herald also endorsed her, among others noted on Ms. Bernes' website.
Comment: The only group that I can find that has endorsed Howard Mead is Georgia Equality. But as stated in Part VI (11-01-04 post), Mr. Mead is going to some length to distance himself from this endorsement, noting to the Savannah Morning News that "he doesn't know why Georgia Equality endorsed him because he never told them or anyone his stand on social issues."
Well Mr. Mead, the Southern Voice quotes the board chair and interim executive director of Georgia Equality about how you attended the Atlanta HRC dinner in May of this year, and showed an interest in learning about the issues affecting the gay community.
The Southern Voice also now reports that Mr. Mead rubbed many progressive voters the wrong way with his negative television advertising campaign, and this publication goes on to praise Ms. Bernes’ good standing among activists in the women’s rights movement.
Mr. Mead, there is something here called character, and you are trying to have it both ways son, going to the gay community and saying hey, your interests are my interests, but once this commendable contact becomes public, you tell the press, say what? What in the world did Georgia Equality endorse me for, I never told nobody nothing.
Remember Sir, you reap what you sew, and here I think it is safe to say that your having sewn deceit, you have sawed off any support you might have had.
And no Sir, we are not counting your claimed law endorsement endorsements. As shown in Part III (10-31-04 post), your TV commercial claiming that "police and prosecutors across Georgia have endorsed Howard Mead for Court of Appeals" is a fraud, a deception, something you would seek damages for a client had you ever set foot in a courtroom in real practice.
As noted in that post, "[w]hen asked which law enforcement officials have endorsed him, Mead ticked off a number of sheriffs and prosecutors, including District Attorney Danny Craig of Augusta . . . .
"But Craig said he is endorsing Bernes and has put up signs promoting her candidacy around the Augusta area.
"'Mr. Mead's ads are despicable,' said Craig."
Character, again I say "Where's the character?"
-- Part IV: Although having difficulty with the way an unofficial group seemingly held itself out as official as explained in Part IV (10-31-04 post), I know many attorneys in Georgia agree with such group's assessment that this man seeking to be elected to one of Georgia's highest legal offices has engaged in conduct that is "misleading," "improper," "unethical" and appears to be in "violation of the Code of Judicial Conduct."
-- Part VII: The 11-03-04 post noted that "Mead has never represented a client before a jury or an appeals court."
Comment: Laymen out there, listen to me, an attorney, tell you something. Because of his complete lack of courtroom experience alone, if Mr. Mead were seeking to be appointed to a vacancy as a superior court judge, he would not be recommended by the Judicial Qualifications Committee, and without such recommendation from the Committee of the State Bar, he could not be appointed to fill a vacancy for such a judgeship by the Governor of this State.
Yet he thinks we ought to elect him to the Court of Appeals. This is crazy, but as we all know, a couple of million dollars goes a long way in TV ads.
The real irony of all of his ads is this. Assuming Mr. Mead will lose to Ms. Bernes as I believe he will despite his having spent more than $1.5 million on TV, it will be these very TV ads that will prove to be his undoing.
Had he just put his name out there in a positive way without the negative, and the other candidates not having a couple of million to have countered, he would not have gotten the negative publicity that in the end I think spell defeat for him.
Who said life isn't fair? Sounds pretty fair in this case to me. You can't fool the people. I think the man is getting what he ought to get.
Conclusion:
President Lincoln's observation is indeed ageless:
"If you once forfeit the confidence of your fellow citizens, you can never regain their respect and esteem. It is true that you may fool all of the people some of the time; you can even fool some of the people all of the time; but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time."
If you have a professional relationship with an attorney whom you not only use but respect, you know that the practice of law is an honorable calling.
This seat is an important seat, and is making history as being the first time in the history of this state that someone is attempting to buy it.
Let's show Mr. Mead that the seat is not for sale.
Hopefully we can do a better job this time in getting out the word in South Georgia. If you have ideas for any part of Georgia to help in this campaign, please email me.
Regardless of where you are, doing something will reap large dividends because of the difficulty of getting folks to the polls for a runoff, especially when we as a Party are as discouraged as we are given the happenings of Nov. 2.
But life goes on, and Debra Bernes needs our help, and we need her willingness to serve us.
Excerpts from past posts:
-- Part V: The 10-31-04 post: According to the 10-31-04 PI, . . .the content of [recent pre-Nov. 2] robo-calls emphasized "that Mead's two opponents, Debra Bernes and Mike Sheffield, were part of the Republican plot to take over the Georgia judiciary."
Comment: Come on Mr. Mead or Bobby Kahn -- whichever one of you penned such foolishness -- either this is supposed to be joke or you take us as the electorate to be idiots.
-- Part III: The 10-31-04 entitled in part "Georgia Court of Appeals: Bernes, Sheffield & (not Tom, Dick or Harry) Mead," noted that The Atlanta-Journal Constitution (ajc), in its Oct. 15, 2004 endorsement of her, said that "Bernes the best blend of legal expertise and judicial termperament."
The ajc also noted that "[a]s a prosecutor, Bernes worked on many high-profile cases, including handling legal motions in the Cobb County prosecution of Fred Tokars, the Atlanta lawyer convicted of arranging the brutal 1992 murder of his wife, Sara."
This post notes that the Savannah Morning News, The Augusta Chronicle and the Albany Herald also endorsed her, among others noted on Ms. Bernes' website.
Comment: The only group that I can find that has endorsed Howard Mead is Georgia Equality. But as stated in Part VI (11-01-04 post), Mr. Mead is going to some length to distance himself from this endorsement, noting to the Savannah Morning News that "he doesn't know why Georgia Equality endorsed him because he never told them or anyone his stand on social issues."
Well Mr. Mead, the Southern Voice quotes the board chair and interim executive director of Georgia Equality about how you attended the Atlanta HRC dinner in May of this year, and showed an interest in learning about the issues affecting the gay community.
The Southern Voice also now reports that Mr. Mead rubbed many progressive voters the wrong way with his negative television advertising campaign, and this publication goes on to praise Ms. Bernes’ good standing among activists in the women’s rights movement.
Mr. Mead, there is something here called character, and you are trying to have it both ways son, going to the gay community and saying hey, your interests are my interests, but once this commendable contact becomes public, you tell the press, say what? What in the world did Georgia Equality endorse me for, I never told nobody nothing.
Remember Sir, you reap what you sew, and here I think it is safe to say that your having sewn deceit, you have sawed off any support you might have had.
And no Sir, we are not counting your claimed law endorsement endorsements. As shown in Part III (10-31-04 post), your TV commercial claiming that "police and prosecutors across Georgia have endorsed Howard Mead for Court of Appeals" is a fraud, a deception, something you would seek damages for a client had you ever set foot in a courtroom in real practice.
As noted in that post, "[w]hen asked which law enforcement officials have endorsed him, Mead ticked off a number of sheriffs and prosecutors, including District Attorney Danny Craig of Augusta . . . .
"But Craig said he is endorsing Bernes and has put up signs promoting her candidacy around the Augusta area.
"'Mr. Mead's ads are despicable,' said Craig."
Character, again I say "Where's the character?"
-- Part IV: Although having difficulty with the way an unofficial group seemingly held itself out as official as explained in Part IV (10-31-04 post), I know many attorneys in Georgia agree with such group's assessment that this man seeking to be elected to one of Georgia's highest legal offices has engaged in conduct that is "misleading," "improper," "unethical" and appears to be in "violation of the Code of Judicial Conduct."
-- Part VII: The 11-03-04 post noted that "Mead has never represented a client before a jury or an appeals court."
Comment: Laymen out there, listen to me, an attorney, tell you something. Because of his complete lack of courtroom experience alone, if Mr. Mead were seeking to be appointed to a vacancy as a superior court judge, he would not be recommended by the Judicial Qualifications Committee, and without such recommendation from the Committee of the State Bar, he could not be appointed to fill a vacancy for such a judgeship by the Governor of this State.
Yet he thinks we ought to elect him to the Court of Appeals. This is crazy, but as we all know, a couple of million dollars goes a long way in TV ads.
The real irony of all of his ads is this. Assuming Mr. Mead will lose to Ms. Bernes as I believe he will despite his having spent more than $1.5 million on TV, it will be these very TV ads that will prove to be his undoing.
Had he just put his name out there in a positive way without the negative, and the other candidates not having a couple of million to have countered, he would not have gotten the negative publicity that in the end I think spell defeat for him.
Who said life isn't fair? Sounds pretty fair in this case to me. You can't fool the people. I think the man is getting what he ought to get.
Conclusion:
President Lincoln's observation is indeed ageless:
"If you once forfeit the confidence of your fellow citizens, you can never regain their respect and esteem. It is true that you may fool all of the people some of the time; you can even fool some of the people all of the time; but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time."
posted by Sid Cottingham | 10:28 PM
1 Comments:
I am just elated Mike Sheffield is out. But you can count on me to give Bernes another vote.
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