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Serious consideration should be given this legislative session to moving the state away from its current method of electing judges toward a merit-based system for selecting judges at the district court level and above. New data on judicial campaign finance and election results through the 2002 elections confirm past findings. PAR consistently finds troubling results […]
In The Politics of Reform, author and journalist John Maginnis traces a half century of PAR’s central role in major issues of our times–desegregation, public corruption, the new constitution, reapportionment, campaign finance and fiscal reform.
Currently, the state constitution requires that all judges be elected. When elections are uncontested, the candidate is declared the winner without ever appearing on the ballot. A 1996 study examined all Louisiana judicial elections at the district court level and above from 1990 to 1994.
Louisiana should adopt merit selection for judges. This recommendation follows a year-long study by PAR that examined all judicial elections at the district court level and above from 1990 to 1994 and closely analyzed individual contributions for four selected races.
A number of major PAR reform recommendations were enacted in the governor’s first special session. These include: the creation of a strong, independent single ethics board; computerization of campaign finance records; and a ban on campaign contributions by gambling interests.
Governor Foster wants Louisiana citizens to have “the power to change our state.” This power would be granted by creating an initiative process allowing voters to place issues directly on the ballot by petition.
Would the outcome of the recent gubernatorial election have been different if Louisiana operated under its previous closed party primary system rather than the open primary? Possibly not. Edwards would have been the Democratic nominee in a runoff, but the Republican nominee might have been Roemer or Holloway instead of maverick Republican Duke.