While all state court judges in Kentucky are elected by popular vote of eligible voters, the work of those judges is generally conducted outside the view of most voters.
To address that anomaly, a group of Northern Kentucky residents has created an organization that will evaluate sitting judges and endorse judicial candidates in an effort to advise the bench, bar, and public of the quality of the judiciary in the region.
Northern Kentuckians for the Judiciary is an organization of lawyers and lay citizens that will poll local lawyers about the qualifications and demeanors of sitting judges, submit questionnaires to and conduct interviews with candidates for contested judicial seats, and ultimately endorse those candidates the organization thinks will best serve the Northern Kentucky community.
Mark Arnzen
“Our organization seeks to recognize judges who are doing a good job and to support the election of the most highly qualified judicial candidates to the courts serving Kenton, Campbell, Boone, and Gallatin Counties,” said Mark Arnzen, chairman of NKFJ.
The nonprofit organization, which will be registered with the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance as a Permanent Committee, plans to endorse its first slate of judicial candidates in this November’s elections.
Arnzen said that NKFJ is based on Citizens for Better Judges, a similar organization that started in Jefferson County in 1983. This organization was formed at the suggestion of former Kentucky Supreme Court Justice Charles M. Leibson after lawyers and residents in that community became concerned about the quality of judicial candidates there. The Louisville Courier-Journal has referred to nonprofit group as the “major and most influential group interested in judicial elections.”
“In Louisville, Citizens for Better Judges was successful in removing some of the financial and organizational considerations that often discourage legitimate candidates from running for judicial office,” Arnzen said. “As a result, Jefferson County has seen more qualified candidates run for and get elected as judges because of the efforts of this organization. That will be the goal of our organization, too.”
NKFJ is operated by a Steering Committee made up of lawyers from different fields of law who practice in the courtrooms of Kenton, Campbell, Boone, and Gallatin Counties as well as a Citizen Review Board comprised of a cross-section of community-minded citizens with diverse occupations and backgrounds.
Other NKFJ officers are vice chair Jennifer L. Lawrence and treasurer Beverly R. Storm. The attorneys on the Steering Committee are:
· Andre E. Busald
· Joseph E. Conley, Jr.
· Gerald F. Dusing
· Lawrence Hicks
· Richard D. Lawrence
· Todd McMurtry
· James W. Morgan, Jr.
· Kevin J. Murphy
· Robert E. Sanders
· David B. Sloan
· Henry L. Stephens
Citizen Review board members are:
· Lynnette Benton grew up in Cincinnati, attended the University of Cincinnati, and currently lives in Fort Thomas; she has been employed by American Airlines for 37 years.
· Arnold Caddell, founder and chairman of Heritage Bank, director at Northern Kentucky Tri-ED Board, and former chairman of the Boone County Planning Commission.
· Jon Draud, Kenton County Commissioner, former Commissioner of the Kentucky Department of Education, former member of the Kentucky House of Representatives, and a former superintendent of the Ludlow Independent School District.
· Elizabeth Grause, former superintendent of Ludlow Independent School District and former president of the Kenton County School Board.
· Joyce Griffin, former regent at Northern Kentucky University and director of NKU’s Foundation board and recognized along with her husband, Dennis, as the 2010 Northern Kentuckians of the Year.
· Robert Griffin, former president and CEO of Griffin Industries and president Darling Ingredients, Inc., is co-owner and manager of Griffin Elite Sports & Wellness in Crescent Springs.
· Bert M. Huff, co-founder and president of Jim Huff Realty, Inc., director at The Greater Cincinnati Foundation, former chair of the Kenton County Airport Board, and an Outstanding Woman of the Year in Northern Kentucky
· Kelly Malatesta, financial adviser with Edward Jones and member of the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce and Covington Business Council.
· Jack Moreland, president of Southbank Partners, former interim president of Northern Kentucky University, and former school superintendent at Covington Independent Public Schools and Dayton Public Schools.
· David Spaulding, general manager at Turner Construction Company, vice chair of the Northern Kentucky Water District, president of the Board of Governors for Salmon P. Chase Law School at NKU, Executive Board of REDI Cincinnati, CRBC member, and member of the Minority Business Accelerator Leadership Council.
During election cycles, the Steering Committee will ask judicial candidates to complete a questionnaire and will interview each candidate in a contested race. After the interviews, the Steering Committee will consider the information obtained during the interviews and share their personal knowledge of the candidates with other committee members.
Lay members of the Citizen Review Board are present to monitor the interviews and the integrity of the endorsement process. The Citizen Review Board determines whether the endorsements recommended by the Steering Committee are fair and comply with NKFJ’s operating rules. The board may reject Steering Committee endorsements that do not meet this criterion.
In addition to the endorsement process, NKFJ will poll lawyers for their evaluations of all judges presiding in courtrooms in Northern Kentucky, including the federal judiciary, who are appointed to their positions. The organization conducted its first poll of sitting judges this spring and is currently in the process of compiling those evaluations. In the past, the Northern Kentucky Bar Association conducted judicial evaluations but never endorsed specific judicial candidates.
After the 2018 election cycle, Steering Committee members will have term limits, but members of the Citizens Review Board will not have term limits.
The Steering Committee and Review Board members are not permitted to donate directly to judicial candidates or participate in judicial campaigns. However, they may contribute to NKFJ, which as a Permanent Committee may donate to judicial candidates the organization endorses. In Jefferson County, many lawyers and citizens, including those who are not members of CBJ, prefer to give to make political donations to CBJ, rather than donating directly to individual judicial candidates.
Northern Kentuckians for the Judiciary is a nonprofit organization that will be registered with the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance as Permanent Committee. This committee, which consists of lawyers and citizens from throughout Northern Kentucky, seeks to promote the election of the most highly qualified judicial candidates in courts serving Kenton, Campbell, Boone, and Gallatin Counties. For more information about the organization, visit www.nkfj.org.
