Editorial: Soliciting donations unseemly for judges
Texas Supreme Court Justice Nathan Hecht's latest controversy illustrates the problem with a system that turns judges into politicians. In February, Hecht received $16,000 from a political action committee largely funded by homebuilder Bob Perry, whose company had a pending case with a March hearing before the state's high court, the Dallas Morning News revealed recently.

Editorial: Soliciting donations unseemly for judges 
 04/11/2007
San Antonio Express-News
 
Texas Supreme Court Justice Nathan Hecht's latest controversy illustrates the problem with a system that turns judges into politicians.

In February, Hecht received $16,000 from a political action committee largely funded by homebuilder Bob Perry, whose company had a pending case with a March hearing before the state's high court, the Dallas Morning News revealed recently.plea for contributions to help pay legal bills stemming from his unusual endorsement of U.S. Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers has put Hecht in the spotlight recently.

The justice successfully contested an admonishment from the State Commission on Judicial Conduct for his endorsement of Miers, racking up $340,000 worth of legal bills in the process.

But the political action committee, HillCo PAC, also gave $20,000 to Texas Supreme Court Justice Don Willet in March, records filed with the Texas Ethics Commission show.

The Express-News reported that Perry made direct contributions last year to Hecht and his fellow high court justices Willet, Phil Johnson and David Medina.

A Perry spokesman told the newspaper that the cash support was "wholly normal behavior." That's true. None of this would have made the papers if not for Hecht's current high-profile status.

But judges collecting cash from potential litigants should not be normal behavior.

Jurists cast doubt on the impartiality of the judicial system when they accept campaign contributions from lawyers and parties that come before their courts.

State Sen. Robert Duncan, R-Lubbock, and Rep. Myra Crownover, R-Denton, have filed legislation in pursuit of a constitutional amendment that would eliminate the partisan election of Texas judges.

Under their plan, the governor would appoint judges, who would later have to face voters in nonpartisan retention elections to serve additional terms.

The plan would dramatically reduce, if not completely eliminate, the need for the corrosive practice of hustling contributions.

Odds are against the judicial reform effort, but the system needs changing. Hecht's headlines prove it once again.
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