Arkansas Supreme Court forms election reform panel
by March 31, 2016 9:02 pm 132 views
After two campaign cycles of “dark money” spending in state judicial races and a prominent legislative hearing to air concerns, the Arkansas Supreme Court announced it was forming a committee to study judicial election reform.
The court issued a press release declaring the new effort, which will be headed by Associate Justice Karen Baker.
According to the statement, the reform committee will “evaluate issues that have arisen in the most recent judicial elections that warrant further discussion and study with the goal of promoting public confidence in the independence, integrity, and the impartiality of the judiciary.”
In addition to Justice Baker, participants on the committee include Justices Courtney Goodson, Josephine Hart, Rhonda Wood, and Robin Wynne. Chief Justice Howard Brill and Justice Paul Danielson, whose terms will end in January 2017, are not part of the committee.
Out-of-state special interest groups have spent millions of dollars on Supreme Court races in 2014 and 2016 to influence the outcomes. Three candidates that they have targeted – Tim Cullen, Justice Goodson, and Clark Mason – were all defeated.
State lawmakers are discussing potential changes to state law that would call for greater disclosure of the “dark money” campaign spending. They have also discussed different ways to fund judicial races through quasi-public financing and have debated moving judicial elections to a “merit system” of selection.