July 19, 2005
Deceptive Drew Broach...
While I agree with Broach in his column yesterday that Alan Green should be "retired" since he was convicted in federal court, he's pretty clueless about the political fallout of Green's conviction. On Judge Martha Sassone, he writes:
Judge Martha Sassone, prime mover behind the federal investigation that resulted in convictions of Green and Judge Ronald Bodenheimer, lost a 5th Circuit race in 1998. She could run again, but she also has talked of leaving the bench altogether when her current term expires in 2008.
He's got the facts staring right in front of him. Sassone is considering leaving the bench because she was the "prime mover" behind Wrinkled Robe. Since Bodenheimer's arrest, people walk into Sassone's chambers wondering if they're still bugged, or if she's wired. There's a trust issue here, and it's hard to see her ever recovering from it.
On other judges in the 24th:
Most of the rest seem to retain political aspirations, either on the District Court or as 5th Circuit candidates. At least three -- Joan Benge, Kernan "Skip" Hand and Ross LaDart -- have seen their reputations tarnished a bit by the federal investigation of Gretna courthouse corruption and might have to answer tough questions if they run again.
The reputations of these judges weren't so much tarnished by Wrinkled Robe as they were by Broach's paper. Da Paper tried to beat the notion that Joan Benge was in some way corrupt like a dead horse. In spite of clear evidence that she did not get involved in fixing a verdict for a buddy of Bodenheimer's, Da Paper published numerous articles trying to paint her as on the take. If Benge was corrupt, why did the guy she supposedly help appeal her decision to the 5th Circuit because he felt her judgement award was too low?
The other aspect of judicial elections in Jefferson Parish that Broach doesn't grasp well is his idea that these judges have to "answer tough questions." Tough questions from whom? To be a judge, you have to be a lawyer first. Lawyers in Jefferson Parish don't often run against sitting judges unless the incumbent is a sitting duck, and none of the three Broach mentions (Benge, Hand, LaDart) are in that position. The lawyers who want to be judges still have to appear before these folks regularly, and that's a good incentive to wait for an open seat.
It would take more than a few dubious articles in the newspaper to give an opponent ammumition to run against a sitting judge in the 24th.