Adam Smith Foundation press release:

(Jefferson City) – This evening the non-partisan, not-for-profit Adam Smith Foundation expressed its disgust with the blatantly liberal panel announced by the Appellate Judicial Commission. “Today the Non Partisan Court Plan proved it has devolved into the Partisan Court Sham” stated John Elliott. Clearly, the ‘non-partisan’ court plan has ceased to fulfill the intent of its namesake. This panel not only fails to reflect the broad spectrum of applicants, but as an insult to all Missourians it blatantly disregards the original intent of the plan which voters approved to remove political agendas from the judicial system.

A substantial number of qualified, conservative and moderate applicants were rejected by the Appellate Judicial Commission orchestrated by Chief Justice Laura Stith.

“The process was nothing more than a cheap magician’s charade orchestrated to trick Missourians into believing that this plan is fair, non-partisan and reflective of their values and beliefs. Once again, the implementation of this plan has been abused and proven obsolete” stated Tom Shupe, Jr. As an example of this, many hours before the completion of candidate interviews, members of the Adam Smith Foundation had already been informed of who would be included in the final panel.

The Adam Smith Foundation calls on citizens across Missouri to demand that the system be updated to contain the level of transparency that is expected in a democracy and that voters deserve in any government entity. “While we appreciate that commissioner Bill Burch of Sikeston chose to show applicants pictures of our Adam Smith billboards during their interviews, we are disappointed that he did so in lieu of using that time to discuss their experience and qualifications,” continued Tom Shupe, Jr.

To demonstrate their good faith and respect for the concerns of voters, we call on the Appellate Judicial Commission to release transcripts of questions asked to individual applicants so this information may be available to any Missourian who wishes to be fully informed prior to casting their ballot in future judicial retention votes.

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Related:

Sam Adams Alliance & Foundation: “Mr. Smith Goes to Missouri”

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