North Carolina candidates speak at forum
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September 27, 2012
Raleigh, North Carolina: On September 26, the eight candidates seeking election to the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals this year gathered to discuss their qualifications. The forum was hosted by the Triangle Lawyers Chapter of the Federalist Society and was located in downtown Raleigh.
The candidates in attendance were:
- Supreme Court: Paul Martin Newby and Sam Ervin
- Court of Appeals: Cressie Thigpen, Chris Dillon, Martin B. McGee, Wanda Bryant, David S. Robinson and Linda McGee.
The candidates stressed how they possessed the ideal judicial quality of fairness. They all declined to comment on controversial issues.
Newby and Ervin did seem to butt heads on one issue: campaign spending. Newby has been financially backed by Civitas Action and a super PAC called the North Carolina Judicial Coalition. Ervin shed doubt on his opponents contributions, saying,
| “ | I raise the question as to what impact such expenditures have on the public perception of the impartiality of the judiciary.[1][2] | ” |
In North Carolina, the state helps finance judicial campaigns. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled, however, that candidates who already receive a large amount of financial support from an independent group are not eligible for extra state funds. Newby defended the legitimacy of the contributions he's received, stating,
| “ | I certainly am a proponent of free speech, particularly political free speech...I don't know anything about these PACs except of what I read in the paper. I'm hoping that whoever they may be will simply help folks just know who we are because again, this race is about qualifications.[2] | ” |
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 NECN, "NC state judicial candidates gather for forum," September 26, 2012
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
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