Wednesday, June 2, 2004

Superior court judge’s race: Hankinson has the qualifications

In a political year it’s important to be informed about the candidates who are running for each office. While trying to be informed, I have collected information about Steve Harris, Fayette County’s first solicitor general.

Among the information that I gathered were letters to the editor that Mr. Harris wrote and items that he handed out or mailed to various people in and around Fayette County, while he is running for the office of judge of superior court in the Griffin Judicial Circuit.

In a letter printed in The Fayette Citizen, dated Jan. 7, 2004, Mr. Harris wrote: “Dirty politics is a campaign based on lies and attacks instead of touting your own credentials in a head to head comparison with your opponent.”

However, in that same letter Mr. Harris wrote: “I will be opposing [Roy] Barnes’ lame-duck appointee from Upson County, an appointment based on cronyism and party loyalty instead of qualifications.”

A letter Mr. Harris circulated for the purpose of soliciting campaign donations reads, in part, “I am running for the seat held by Tommy Hankinson a lame-duck appointment by Roy Barnes. I am committed to seeing to it that judicial appointment based upon party and friendship rather than experience and competence are challenged. This year will be a new opportunity to say ‘NO’ to that style of politics.”

Other letters from Mr. Harris’ office refer to the fact that Judge Hankinson’s marital status is a “lifestyle choice,” which renders him unqualified to preside over cases involving divorce, child custody, juvenile, and other family issues.

Apparently any judge who chooses not to marry or have children is, in Mr. Harris’s opinion, unqualified. An example of a highly respected man and judge who remained single until his late 50s, and who never had children, was Superior Court Judge John McGehee of the Griffin Judicial Circuit who took the bench in 1955. He served as our judge, including judge emeritus, for the rest of his life.

What Mr. Harris fails to do, in any of the above letters or campaign materials, is to take his own advice, and tout his own credentials in a head to head comparison with his opponent. Let’s do so.

Judge Hankinson: 1973 graduate University of Georgia School of Law; 1974 graduate United States Judge Advocate General’s School; 1974-1977 Captain, United States Army, Judge Advocate General’s Corps; 25 years private general practice of law; Special Assistant Attorney General for state of Georgia 1987-2001; judge, Superior Courts, Griffin Judicial Circuit, 2003- present; member of the Special Committee on Family Law, Council of Superior Court Judges, state of Georgia; admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of the United States, Supreme Court of state of Georgia, all federal and state courts of Georgia.

Mr. Harris: Police officer for city of Atlanta for eight years; security manager for Wachovia Bank; associate professor of law, John Marshall Law School (unaccredited institution); 1988 graduate of John Marshall Law School (an unaccredited school); 1996-present, solicitor general, Fayette County (responsible for prosecution of misdemeanor cases in Fayette County).

The above information is not subjective opinion; it is objective fact.

Interestingly, none of Judge Hankinson’s campaign materials refer to the recent drunk driving conviction overturned by a Fayette judge, due to what was found to be “prosecutorial misconduct” by Mr. Harris.

Here’s what I have to say about Mr. Harris’ behavior: Inconsistent, hypocritical, rude and absolutely in poor taste.

It is apparent that Mr. Harris is not running on his own merits; maybe he doesn’t have any merits to run on. However, he is the first solicitor general of Fayette County, so obviously he is smart.

But when it comes down to it, how smart is he? He wants to become a judge, one who is supposed to be non-partisan, objective and impartial. Yet he runs around touting that he is a Republican. That kind of information is needed in the voting booth, not in a court of law.

Incidentally, Judge Hankinson also is a Republican, yet he does not include that information in any of his hand outs.

Mr. Harris’ behavior does not reflect that he is fair, impartial, objective or gentlemanly in his comments about his opponent Judge Tommy Hankinson. Therefore, why am I to assume he would be fair, objective, impartial or gentlemanly toward others?

Mr. Harris was among the 15 or so nominated for this judgeship, but the Judicial Qualifications authorities did not select him for the “short list.” So basically he did not make the cut.

Maybe his bashing of Judge Hankinson, calling him “Barnes’ Lame Duck Appointee” is just a bad case of sour grapes.

Judges make decisions that could, and do, affect private lives and the public good. We need a judge who makes good solid decisions, one who is fair and impartial, one with impeccable character, one who can run and stand on his own merits.

I am disappointed that Mr. Harris makes remarks which indicate he lacks the temperament and wisdom necessary to be a superior court judge.

As for this being a new year, wherein judicial service is “based on experience and competence” and voters have the opportunity to “say NO” to dirty politics, Mr. Harris should hope, for his sake, that the new year has not yet arrived.

When you go to the polls, whether you live in Fayette, Pike, Spalding or Upson County, remember before you vote; you could be the one subject to the decisions made by a judge. Do you really want someone like that as your judge?

Debbie Black
Publisher
The Upson Citizen
Thomaston, Ga.

[Editor’s note: The Upson Citizen and The Citizen here in Fayette are not related other than sharing the same last name journalistically.]

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