State Of Alaska
Office Of The Governor
JuneauSeptember 3, 2004
As an individual/group/friend I wanted to let you know about an important issue the Governor is tackling -- the current practice for selecting judges.
This is neither an attack on any nominee nor the members of the Council. It is the Governor's continuing effort to change "the way we have always done it" mentality.
The issue boils down to whether the Judicial Council should prevent qualified judicial applicants from being forwarded to the Governor for his consideration.
The Judicial Council has forwarded names to the Governor it views as "most qualified" and withheld names of other qualified applicants from the Governor. The names the Judicial Council has been forwarding is the result of subjective, "Executive Session" deliberations.
As an example, the name of an applicant for a current vacancy was not forwarded to the Governor this time. However, the same person's name had been forwarded to the Governor on two previous occasions. What was the basis for this decision? Who knows? The criteria for forwarding the names of qualified applicants should be public and transparent, but they are not.
Governor Murkowski believes that the Judicial Council should exercise its discretion to decide only which applicants are qualified. Instead, the Judicial Council is screening out qualified applicants during "Executive Sessions." As the only elected person in the process the Governor, and not the lawyers, is accountable to the people. Therefore, the Governor should have the names of all qualified applicants forwarded to him for selection.
Your comments regarding this issue, or others, are encouraged.
Sincerely,
James F. Clark
Chief of Staff