(Re: ‘Report: Public discipline recommended against 3 judges in 2019…,’ July 7)

Shouldn’t the very low number (three out of 217) of actual 2019 disciplinary actions against erring Colorado judges raise a red flag?

Why should even the contents of all such proceedings be kept secret, as is now mandated under misdemeanor penalty by Colorado law? 

Why should disciplinary actions against judges being considered for higher court positions be kept secret from nominating committees – and voters?

Shouldn’t the annual rejection rate of 97% of all complaints against judges since 1993, when Colorado’s Supreme Court rewrote the disciplinary rules, seemingly favoring its own, call for investigation and much-needed reforms? 

Shouldn’t the very composition of the present Commission on Judicial Discipline (four Judges, two lawyers, six legal professionals, and only four citizens) raise questions regarding its objectivity?

Why is even the commission’s budget kept secret from our legislature?

Shouldn’t the judging of the judges and others be done elsewhere?

Why should Colorado be an outlier on secrecy when 34 states, the American Bar Association and the American Judicature Society presently mandate judicial transparency?

Wouldn’t we have better judges if their records were made public?

Shouldn’t Colorado Politics resurrect the fight for judicial integrity, a former citizen-led project which was castrated by Amendment 71’s hobbling of the initiative process? 

Rusell W. Haas

Golden

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