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CONTACT PERSON:
VALERIE WILLARD
PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICER
(504) 599-0319
| JULY
17, 2000 |
FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
Chief Justice Pascal
F. Calogero. Jr. announced today the Louisiana Supreme Court's
recent establishment of the Ad Hoc Committee to
Study the Creation of a Judicial Oversight Committee. The
Ad Hoc Committee has been charged with studying
and then recommending to the Court whether a permanent Judicial
Campaign Oversight Committee should be created to serve as
a resource for judicial candidates and to help facilitate
ethical campaigning in Louisiana for judicial office. Information
from the American Judicature Society indicates that seven
other states have created similar committees.
During the course of
its review, the Ad Hoc Committee will be studying
the following issues, among others: (1) the duties and authority
to be given to such a committee; (2) whether such a committee
should be charged with educating judicial candidates in appropriate
judicial campaign conduct; (3) whether judicial candidates
should be asked to sign a pledge to engage in ethical campaign
conduct; and (4) whether and how such a committee can expeditiously
address ethical concerns which often arise during judicial
campaigns.
It is anticipated that
a public hearing will be held in mid-September at which the
public and interested parties will be invited to comment on
a tentative proposal for creating a permanent Judicial Campaign
Oversight Committee. Thereafter, the Ad Hoc Committee
will consider the comments received at the public hearing
and report its final recommendations to the Court.
The members of the
Ad Hoc Committee to Study the Creation of a Judicial
Campaign Oversight Committee are: Chief Justice Pascal F.
Calogero, Jr., Co-Chair; Retired Judge Graydon K. Kitchens,
Jr., Co-Chair; Judge Melvin A. Shortess; Judge Anne Lennan
Simon; Judge Wilson R. Ramshur; Judge Eugene W. Bryson, Jr.;
Judge Jimmy N. Dimos; Judge Ronald D. Cox; Judge Ernestine
S. Gray; Senator Jay Dardenne; Representative Arthur A. Morrell;
Harry S. Hardin, III; John S. Keller; John B. Scofield; Professor
T. Wayne Parent; Barry Irwin; James C. Brandt; Sibal S. Holt;
and E. Phelps Gay.
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