Litigation

Election 2010: IA Radio Ad Urges Keeping Justices

By Peter Hardin

A newly formed group that includes a former Republican governor has launched radio advertising to support reelection of three Iowa Supreme Court justices in retention elections this fall.

At the same time, one of those judges who has been targeted in an ouster effort, Chief Justice Marsha Ternus, used some of her strongest language yet to respond to critics. The ouster campaign aimed at her and two other justices is an effort to intimidate judges, Justice Ternus warned.

Iowa is a political battleground this fall, for its  judicial retention elections have grown unusually contentious. Iowa for Freedom, a group in the forefront of the ouster drive, aired a TV ad in September (see Gavel Grab).

Former Gov. Robert Ray is a leader of the new advocacy group, Fair Courts for US. The group began airing today a radio ad in seven markets across the state, according to an Associated Press report. It opens with background sounds of a football game and fans reacting to a controversial call, according to a Fair Courts press release, then Ray urges listeners:

“We’ll never agree with every call, but you shouldn’t fire the good referees over just one call. The same is true for the Iowa Supreme Court.”

Ray urges voters to cast a ‘yes’ vote for retention of the three justices, and concludes: “There’s enough politics out there?we don’t need it in our courts.” Social conservatives are pressing to dump the three justices, who participated in a unanimous ruling that legalized same-sex marriage in Iowa.

Other members of the new group include former Lt. Gov. Art Neu and Christie Vilsack, whose husband is former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, now the U.S. secretary of agriculture, the Des Moines Register reported.

Meanwhile Justice Ternus lit into the critics, saying they “are blinded by their own ideology. They simply refuse to accept that an impartial, legally sound and fair reading of the law can lead to an unpopular decision,” the Des Moines Register quoted her as saying in a speech.

On still another front, the Interfaith Alliance of Iowa criticized a group supporting the ouster drive, Iowa for Freedom, and an allied out-of-state group called the American Family Association, and said they were attempting to bully the Iowa justices, according to a separate Des Moines Register article. To learn more about the retention elections in Iowa, click here for Gavel Grab.

Full post as published by The Gavel on October 15, 2010 (boomark / email).