Published: October 31, 2008 10:06 am            

With two good judge candidates, Clouse is our pick

Voters in Madison and Clark counties must choose between two well-qualified candidates Tuesday to elect a new judge for Kentucky’s 25th Circuit.

Both District Judge Bill Clouse and Family Judge Jeff Walson are long-experienced, well-respected jurists.

While Madison County residents may be better acquainted with Clouse, choosing a judge should be based on ability and record, not name recognition or popularity.

In addition to his 15 years as district judge, Clouse previously served five as county attorney and four years as a state senator. Between his time as county attorney and district judge, he pursued a private legal practice that included cases in circuit court. He also has worked for the Kentucky League of Cities.

That varied experience, plus his record as district judge, makes him the better candidate.

That is not to say judges are above criticism. Any judge who has been on the bench as long as Clouse can look back at cases he or she might have handled or decided differently.

Unhappy litigants, defendants and prosecutors are free to take a district judge’s decisions to circuit court, and Clouse rarely has had a case appealed or overturned.

Clouse is not afraid to admit the possibility of mistakes. “I don’t claim to be perfect,” he told us.

Willingness to reflect and learn from a mistake, however rare, is a healthy attitude.

District court is where most of the public meets the judicial system, from traffic cases to settlement of loved ones’ estates. It also includes some jury trials, most often for those charged with driving under the influence.

His more than 20 years in district court, as either prosecuting county attorney or judge, should serve Clouse well as circuit judge.

Walson also has a distinguished record, five years as family court judge and 10 years as district judge. He was chosen by the Kentucky Supreme Court to join one of Kentucky’s first experiments with the family court system. The justices were impressed by his work with domestic cases. He volunteered to take the majority of those cases when they were handled in district court.

While district judge, he help start the drug court and the teen court.

By all accounts, he has done an exemplary job in family court. Because those proceedings are not public, judging the judge in those cases, much less second-guessing, is difficult.

With the 25th Circuit’s other family judge, Jean Chenault Logue, unopposed in her bid to become a circuit judge, we would not want our highly successful family court system to start over with two new judges.

At age 46, Walson would still be younger than Clouse is now, 56, when the remaining six years of Adams’ term expires.

While we questioned Clouse about his actions in three cases that caused us concern, we were disappointed to have Walson bring those up in his discussions with us, even if not in his public campaign.

In at least one of those cases, Clouse appears to have made the correct decision and is willing to admit criticisms of the others may have merit.

We were even more disappointed by Walson’s dubious claim, both to us and in a campaign mailing, that Clouse has never tried cases in circuit court.

In his private practice, Clouse litigated cases in circuit court, he told us. As county attorney, he at least took defendants to circuit court for non-payment of property taxes.

Even if true, such an issue should not be a major factor in electing a judge.

Clouse has accepted campaign contributions from lawyers, while both he and Walson have accepted donations from doctors and business owners.

While lawyers are routinely in court, doctors and business owners appear before judges more often than they would like.

Regardless of a donor’s interest, however, to say that a $1,000 campaign donation, even if matched by a spouse or professional partner, could influence a judge is somewhat of a stretch.

We have weighed the evidence to the best of our abilities and urged voters to send Bill Clouse to the circuit court bench.



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EDITORIAL BOARD: The editorial board consists of publisher Nick Lewis, editor Jim Todd, assistant editor Lorie Love, news writer Bill Robinson and chief photographer Nancy Taggart.

        

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