Sunday, April 02, 2006
Hit and run
No, no actual car accidents have befallen me or mine, don't worry!
I a little less than an hour I will be marking the true return of spring. You will find me shuffling along the rows of many books on tables at the Friends of the Library sale, picking out books to hand off to my minions (insert Evil Laugh here) who will be boxing and guarding them until we haul the booty home. After we pay, yeah.
So the last few days have been busier than usual, getting ready for this and other shindigs.
Friday was our County Assembly, where the Prowers County Democrats get together to vote about what we will hand off to the state Dems. We did this at a yummy gourmet spaghetti dinner. I happened to get to sit at a small table with Dan Slater, the first Vice Chair of the Colorado Dems, and we all had a fine old time talking smack about various Colorado Republican politicians. Such as our current governor, about whom I said, "If he was ever found beat to death in a dumpster in an alley, there would be 500,000 suspects in the police lineup."
I was also happy that my big ol' plate of deep dish brownies sold for $30 in the fund-raising auction. It's a fun tradition--the attendees bid on the desserts people bring, but then share them around with everyone else.
Oh, yeah, and I was chosen to be a delegate to the state convention in May. Woo hoo!
So I came home Friday, and soon crashed into bed to prepare for Saturday. That was when I drove to La Junta for a training session for the Judicial Review Board.
It was presented by a woman with mad l33t sk1llz in putting on trainings. Fast paced, excellent handouts and Powerpoint, just enough funny to keep you engaged, a delicious free lunch AND we got out early!
I'd had a general idea before about how judges get to be, and stay, judges, but NOW I know the gory details! Did you know in some states they run for office and campaign just like any other politician? (A minority of the states, not here in Colorado or other right-thinking places.)
Did you know they had to pass a law in Texas that judges could not keep a Rolodex on their bench? Why? Because they were using them to check and see if people in the cases before them were campaign contributors!!! (And I don't think it was so they could recuse themselves in situations of conflict of interest, either!)
So what I and the others on the assorted Judicial Review Boards will be doing is looking at results of surveys sent out, reading statements from the public, assessing judges at work in court and later interviewing them. Then we write up our review, which will recommend retention (or NOT!), and it will go into the Blue Book which gets mailed to voters before each election. And then the voters decide whether to keep these guys on the bench for another 4 (County) or 6 (District) years.
Checks and balances, baby. That's how we do it here in the wild, wild West.
I a little less than an hour I will be marking the true return of spring. You will find me shuffling along the rows of many books on tables at the Friends of the Library sale, picking out books to hand off to my minions (insert Evil Laugh here) who will be boxing and guarding them until we haul the booty home. After we pay, yeah.
So the last few days have been busier than usual, getting ready for this and other shindigs.
Friday was our County Assembly, where the Prowers County Democrats get together to vote about what we will hand off to the state Dems. We did this at a yummy gourmet spaghetti dinner. I happened to get to sit at a small table with Dan Slater, the first Vice Chair of the Colorado Dems, and we all had a fine old time talking smack about various Colorado Republican politicians. Such as our current governor, about whom I said, "If he was ever found beat to death in a dumpster in an alley, there would be 500,000 suspects in the police lineup."
I was also happy that my big ol' plate of deep dish brownies sold for $30 in the fund-raising auction. It's a fun tradition--the attendees bid on the desserts people bring, but then share them around with everyone else.
Oh, yeah, and I was chosen to be a delegate to the state convention in May. Woo hoo!
So I came home Friday, and soon crashed into bed to prepare for Saturday. That was when I drove to La Junta for a training session for the Judicial Review Board.
It was presented by a woman with mad l33t sk1llz in putting on trainings. Fast paced, excellent handouts and Powerpoint, just enough funny to keep you engaged, a delicious free lunch AND we got out early!
I'd had a general idea before about how judges get to be, and stay, judges, but NOW I know the gory details! Did you know in some states they run for office and campaign just like any other politician? (A minority of the states, not here in Colorado or other right-thinking places.)
Did you know they had to pass a law in Texas that judges could not keep a Rolodex on their bench? Why? Because they were using them to check and see if people in the cases before them were campaign contributors!!! (And I don't think it was so they could recuse themselves in situations of conflict of interest, either!)
So what I and the others on the assorted Judicial Review Boards will be doing is looking at results of surveys sent out, reading statements from the public, assessing judges at work in court and later interviewing them. Then we write up our review, which will recommend retention (or NOT!), and it will go into the Blue Book which gets mailed to voters before each election. And then the voters decide whether to keep these guys on the bench for another 4 (County) or 6 (District) years.
Checks and balances, baby. That's how we do it here in the wild, wild West.
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