{"id":31021,"date":"2011-08-10T08:31:25","date_gmt":"2011-08-10T14:31:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=31021"},"modified":"2011-10-20T10:00:46","modified_gmt":"2011-10-20T16:00:46","slug":"the-way-to-a-better-judiciary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2011\/08\/the-way-to-a-better-judiciary\/","title":{"rendered":"The way to a better judiciary"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Heath Haussamen<\/p><\/div>\n

We\u2019ve watched several New Mexico judges go down in flames recently. I have to wonder who around our judges is holding them accountable when they are out of line and offering help when they need it.<\/h4>\n

We all remember when Ted Haggard<\/a>, who was president of the National Association of Evangelicals, was forced to resign all leadership positions because of a scandal involving same-sex prostitution and illegal drug use.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been around evangelical culture long enough to know that many pastors operate without accountability. Many people assume their religious leaders are doing OK in their personal lives because they\u2019re the ones teaching us how to live better lives, so no one checks in with their leaders to see how they\u2019re doing.<\/p>\n

Ego also gets in the way. Some pastors feel like they can\u2019t ask for help because they\u2019re not supposed to be the ones struggling, or they refuse to seek help because they fear what would happen if people learned their secrets.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s no wonder, then, that many of them crash and burn in a very public way, like Haggard did several years ago.<\/p>\n

Religious leaders sit high up on pedestals, and it can be lonely at the top.<\/p>\n

Judges going down in flames<\/h3>\n

I\u2019ve been thinking about that lately as we\u2019ve watched several New Mexico judges go down in flames.<\/p>\n

There was Robert E. Robles, a man who served with integrity for nearly 18 years as a district and appellate judge before he ran a red light in Albuquerque earlier this year while speeding and drunk<\/a> and nearly crashed his car into a police officer\u2019s vehicle. That horrible choice ended his career<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As someone who knew Robles long before the DWI, I was saddened to see his career destroyed by a single act. But once that act was committed, there was no other option.<\/p>\n

There was Albert \u201cPat\u201d Murdoch,\u201d who was a criminal judge in Albuquerque for 26 years and presided over many high-profile cases before being charged last month with raping a prostitute and, of course, resigning<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Though Murdoch hasn\u2019t been convicted, and there are questions about whether the rape charge will hold up, the fact that a man who judged others was apparently having sex with a prostitute \u2013 which is illegal \u2013 is such an egregious violation of the public trust that it had to end his judicial career.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also Mike Murphy, a Las Cruces district judge on suspension while he fights bribery charges related to soliciting a bribe<\/a> and trying to make a deal with another judge<\/a> over who would be the court\u2019s chief judge.<\/p>\n

Murphy claims innocence, but the fact remains that, even if he\u2019s not guilty of bribery, he told others that he paid for his appointment and said applicants who wanted judgeships had to do the same.<\/p>\n

Whether he committed a crime or is simply guilty of braggadocio, Murphy has tainted the judiciary\u2019s integrity. Most I\u2019ve talked with would be surprised to see him ever return to the bench.<\/p>\n

Judges are humans<\/h3>\n

We place our judges on pedestals just like we do our religious leaders. I don\u2019t know what was going on in the personal lives of Robles, Murdoch and Murphy, but I have to ask: Did any of Judge Robles\u2019 friends see a meltdown coming? Did they offer to help? Was he willing to ask for help?<\/p>\n

If not, would such support have helped Robles through whatever was going on? Would he still be an appellate judge today?<\/p>\n

What about Murdoch? How did he reconcile his personal actions with his day job? Did anyone know or have reason to suspect something wasn\u2019t right?<\/p>\n

Other judges knew about Murphy\u2019s outrageous claims but didn\u2019t report the potential ethics violations to the Judicial Standards Commission, even though they should have done just that<\/a>. Who was around to hold Murphy accountable as he shot his mouth off? Was he aware that he had a problem, and did he seek help?<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not saying for a moment that these judges aren\u2019t responsible for their actions. They are. If they needed help upholding the standards of their offices, they had a duty to seek that help.<\/p>\n

But the reality is that they\u2019re humans and, just like the rest of us, are capable of making spectacular mistakes. We know little or nothing about their personal lives. For example, Robles clearly had a breaking point, but don\u2019t we all?<\/p>\n

Who is willing to help?<\/h3>\n

There are many excellent judges in New Mexico, but even they need help from time to time. Who around them is willing to hold them accountable when they step out of line and support them when they need help? Will those judges ask for help when they need it?<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve covered enough judicial scandal<\/a> over the past several years to know there are also some bad apples in the judiciary. Who is holding them accountable? Why didn\u2019t the judges who knew about Murphy\u2019s bribery claims report him? Which other current judges need to be held accountable for ethical misdeeds? Who will make sure that happens?<\/p>\n

I write a lot about the need for structural changes to improve government. This isn\u2019t one of those columns. This is about how people can individually improve government. If we did a better job of recognizing that judges are human beings like the rest of us, and offered help to those with whom we\u2019re close before it\u2019s too late, we might see fewer good judges fall. If we did a better job of weeding out the bad judges, we\u2019d have fewer of them committing acts that erode public confidence in the judiciary.<\/p>\n

That would mean a judiciary with more integrity, one that does a better job of earning the public\u2019s trust. That\u2019s a goal we should all seek.<\/p>\n

This article has been updated to clarify that Murphy is charged with soliciting a bribe.<\/em><\/p>\n

Haussamen bio<\/a>\u00a0\u2502\u00a0Commentary page<\/a>\u00a0\u2502\u00a0Feed<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We\u2019ve watched several New Mexico judges go down in flames recently. I have to wonder who around our judges is holding them accountable when they are out of line and offering help when they need it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192,10],"tags":[216,161,177],"class_list":["post-31021","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary","category-haussamen-columns","tag-judge-murphy","tag-judiciary","tag-religion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31021","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31021"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31021\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}