This is going to be a little unusual post. If you have followed this blog for a while, then you’ll notice that I have largely backed off from discussing politics in this Trump era. The primary reason for dialing back my thoughts is that it makes me unhappy. That’s it. Why does it make me unhappy? The primary dominant political philosophy in the U.S.A. is division accomplished through the twin pillars of evil: lying and deceit.

NOTE: For the foreign and non-Californian readers who follow this blog for the music, just skip this post and wait for the next post which I assure you will have the next edition of Tales From The Drop Box. I have been off the radar for a few weeks as the job interferes with pleasure – musical pleasure.You can stop reading now. Have a great day!

Political discourse and political thought have a checkered past. America’s history books are filled with the bloody and tortured pathway to where we are now. However, in order to have a government “for and of the people”, its elected representatives have to believe that the primary function of a representative government is to represent all of the people. Government does not work when the elected representative believes that they were elected to represent only the people who voted for them. The duty seems clear i.e. to act in the best interest of the people. Reasonable minds can differ on how to accomplish that goal, but it seems to me that you can’t lie in performing your duties. We need to elect honest, ethical and intelligent individuals who care more about accomplishing the will of the people than their own individual agendas. You get the idea. Our nation should not be represented by some fucknut who lies via twitter to the people every day. But it is.

Politically, we have lost our collective soul. America is more about what divides us rather than what unites us. The trickle down effect of this proposition is that the divisiveness exists in our communities and in our local politics. If we are going to reestablish the ethical and moral integrity of our political system, an integrity lost when Trump was elected, then we all must vote.

Hence, we now arrive at the reason for this post. As you might have noticed if you are following the news at all, the rule of law is under attack. The very foundation of our democracy is premised on the idea that our nations laws must be respected. Without the rule of law, all we have is chaos. A fair, balanced and effective judicial system is vital to the people. Consequently, the election of judges in a community has important ramifications both inside and outside the courthouse. A community that believes that the judges are not fair or competent loses its respect for the rule of law. This must not happen. Local courts deal with millions of individuals each year in California. We need good judges.

So, for those of you who are in Los Angeles, each election cycle the Los Angeles County Bar Association (LACBA) evaluates the candidates for various judicial districts. These evaluations are, in my opinion, a fair and accurate guide to evaluating whether a particular judicial candidate is qualified for the responsibilities of the job. I practice in various courthouse throughout California but primarily in the Central District of Los Angeles County. The Los Angeles Superior Court system is the largest single unified trial court in the United States. The court has nearly 5,400 employees, operates nearly 600 courtrooms throughout the county, and has an annual budget of $850 million. There are approximately 2.7 million new cases each year:

• 1.7 million traffic tickets
• About 500,000 criminal cases
• Nearly 120,000 family law cases
• Over 150,000 civil lawsuits

Judicial case loads are very high. Qualified candidates need, among other things, a superior knowledge of the law but also and more importantly a good temperament.So how do you decide who you vote for when you see a list of judicial candidates on your ballot? LACBA evaluates judges from the perspective of the people who are going to likely see them more often than the average citizen i.e., the lawyers who are going to have to appear before them in courtrooms throughout the county.

Los Angeles needs good judges who respect the rule of law. Here are the latest evaluations:

Vote June 5th. It is very important to each and all of us.

I promise I’ll be back shortly with the music you’re all going to love!

KFR