Circuit Judge Daniel Ballou faces misconduct charges
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February 5, 2011
FRANKFURT, Kentucky: Daniel Ballou, a Kentucky Circuit Courts judge serving the Thirty-Fourth Circuit in the counties of McCreary and Whitley, was charged by the state's Judicial Conduct Commission in November 2010 with two counts of judicial misconduct for:
- Contributing $562 to the 2008 presidential campaign of John McCain.
- In January 2010, sending an e-mail to several dozen recipients, including other judges, about U.S. Senatorial candidate Rand Paul's position on the 2nd Amendment.[1],[2]
Kentucky's standards for judicial conduct say that judges are to "refrain from inappropriate political activity." Inappropriate political activity is defined as soliciting funds or making contributions to a political organization or candidate, or publicly endorsing or opposing a candidate for public office.[1]
On January 21, 2011, Ballou filed a motion with the Judicial Conduct Commission in which he denies the charges. In his motion, he says:
- The campaign donation to McCain was given when he was on leave as a judge and on a deployment to military duty in Iraq. At that time, he made several online purchases of items of McCain campaign paraphernalia. He was not aware that these purchases would be considered a political donation under the terms of the state's judicial code.[1]
- The e-mail about Rand Paul's views on the Second Amendment was forwarded an e-mail from his personal computer to "a limited number of fellow judges, none of whom could be reasonably expected to be subject to improper political persuasion or influence."[1]
Ballou's motion also says that punishing judges for their expressions of opinion is an infringement on their First Amendment rights to express opinions.[1]
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