Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Fake GOP Candidate for Michigan Supreme Court Violated Judicial Code of Ethics


From Michigan Democratic Party:
Michigan Democratic Party Files Complaint Alleging Unethical Conduct by Mindy Barry
LANSING – The Michigan Democratic Party today filed a complaint with the Judicial Tenure Commission over the unethical campaign conduct of fake GOP Supreme Court candidate Mindy Barry, who is currently serving as her campaign’s treasurer despite a prohibition against judicial candidates doing so in Michigan.
“Fake GOP candidate Mindy Barry violated the Code of Judicial Conduct on the very first day of her candidacy,” said Michigan Democratic Party Chair Mark Brewer. “Not only is she a fake candidate, but an unethical and incompetent one as well, given that she can’t follow well-established ethical requirements.”
In order to prevent judicial candidates from engaging in inappropriate political activity, Canon 7 of the Michigan Code of Judicial Conduct forbids judicial candidates from personally soliciting or accepting campaign funds, a prohibition that has been interpreted to include serving as a campaign committee’s treasurer (see, for example, JI-14, 1989).
Barry, a longtime GOP voter, activist, and donor, and former law clerk to Republican Chief Justice Robert Young Jr., was nominated by the Taxpayer Party as its first-ever Supreme Court candidate.
“Not since Speaker Bolger and Roy Schmidt left an incriminating trail of text messages about their election fraud scheme have we seen such bungling by a fake GOP candidate,” said Brewer. “Maybe she should enroll in an ethics class at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law, where she teaches.”

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