Lee Erwin Reporting
lerwin@clarksvillenow.com
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – The Kiwanis Club of Clarksville hosted a current and a former Tennessee Supreme Court Justice at their meeting Tuesday, July 22. Justice Cornelia “Connie” Clark and former Justice Bill Koch who recently retired spoke to the Kiwanis Club about the issue of judicial retention in the state.
Local Attorney Mark Rassas who introduced Clark and Koch at the Kiwanis meeting, talked about the retention issue and said the Tennessee Supreme Court is bi-partisan with Democrats and Republicans but there is a move on to eliminate the three democrats that were appointed by former Governor Phil Bredesen.
“They are persons who are being attacked by out of state money to try and turn this into a partisan election which it’s not. That’s why judges and other people in the judiciary who are familiar with the qualifications support retaining these judges,” said Rassas.
The three Supreme Court Justices up for retention votes this year are Chief Justice Gary Wade, Justice Sharon Lee as well as Clark. Reportedly, there are many Republicans in the state who feel the three are too liberal and would like to see them not be retained which would allow the vacancies to be filled by Republicans on the court.
Clark talked about the retention issue facing candidates in the upcoming election. “This year for whatever reasons there are persons both inside and outside Tennessee who would really rather just throw out all who are in and start over and perhaps get judges who they can guarantee they think will vote their way,” said Clark
There are 23 Judicial Retention Questions on the ballot in the Tennessee State Primary and Montgomery County General Election August 7. The questions on the ballot are a vote to either retain or replace Judges on the Supreme Court as well as Judges of the Court of Appeals and Judges of the Court of Criminal Appeals across the state.