The presiding judge of the Oklahoma Workers’ Compensation Court has created a furor by choosing to retain his post while running for a job as an Oklahoma County district judge.
Some attorneys say Judge Kent Eldridge appears to be violating the law by not resigning before running for office.
Eldridge and his legal adviser say he’s not required to resign.
Critics also say Eldridge’s campaign has created an unseemly atmosphere at the workers’ compensation court. They claim attorneys who represent both employers and injured workers are being pressured by other lawyers to give to his campaign to prevent opposing attorneys from gaining the upper hand in cases.
Eldridge said he leaves fundraising activities up to his campaign chairman, Bill Liebel.
Eldridge said no one has complained to him and he’s not aware of anyone having complained to anyone involved in court administration, either.
“I have not requested that anyone violate any of the rules. I have never made the suggestion that a contribution would influence me,” he said.
Eldridge said he has instructed his campaign chairman and treasurer not to tell him who his contributors are because he can’t be influenced by contributors when he doesn’t know their identities.
Eldridge acknowledged he attended a fundraiser for him in the home of workers’ compensation attorney Sid Musser and made a point of trying to visit with everyone there. A number of workers’ compensation attorneys and other lawyers reportedly were in attendance.
An invitation circulated at the workers’ compensation court listed nearly two dozen workers’ compensation and district court attorneys as sponsors for the June 8 fundraiser. Sixteen of those individuals were listed on an invitation as sponsors of another reception for Eldridge scheduled for 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. May 13 at the Faculty House.
Workers’ compensation attorney Bob Burke, who helped organize and line up sponsors for the events, said the Faculty House reception was canceled after someone pointed out it might look bad to hold it during working hours.
Not all sponsors are contributors to Eldridge’s campaign, Burke said.
Burke said he has known Eldridge for 30 years and simply went around asking people he knew were friends whether they would be willing to have their names listed as sponsors on the invitations.
Three attorneys told The Oklahoman they think Eldridge was required by state law to resign his workers’ compensation judge position in order to run for district judge. They cite Title 20, Chapter 19, Section 1404 of state law.
The law lists several grounds for the “removal by the Court on the Judiciary of a judicial officer from his office, with or without disqualification to hold a judicial office in the future.”
One of those grounds is “a judicial officer becoming a candidate for any nonjudicial office or for another judicial office whose term is to commence before the expiration of his present term of office; provided that no judge holding a nonelective judgeship shall become a candidate in a race in which the incumbent seeks to retain an elective judicial office unless he first resign his appointive judgeship.”
Eldridge is beginning the fifth year of a six-year term as an appointed workers’ compensation judge. His job now and the four-year district judge job he is seeking pay $124,373 a year.
“It appears to me he has a relatively serious problem here,” said Pat Crawley, who along with Eldridge is one of six candidates competing for the district judge’s job that became open when Vicki Robertson decided not to seek re-election.
Cindy Truong, another candidate for the position, said she thinks candidates should follow the law and election rules.
Eric Mitts, director of the Oklahoma Council on Judicial Complaints, said he could neither confirm nor deny whether a complaint has been filed.
Eldridge said if he’s under investigation, he’s not aware of it.
Before filing for office, Eldridge said he sought legal advice on whether he would have to resign from former state election board secretary Lee Slater, whom he said he views as the state’s foremost expert on election law.
Eldridge said Slater advised him he would not have to resign since he was seeking an open seat. Slater confirmed giving Eldridge that advice.
Avoiding conflicts of interest is an issue for many judicial candidates. Crawley and Truong, for example, are assistant district attorneys in Oklahoma County and are likely to receive contributions from other attorneys.
Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater said his policy is to not allow assistant district attorneys to solicit contributions from any attorneys who have cases on their dockets. The assistants are prohibited from campaigning during working hours and from campaigning within the office at any time. Prater said he requires the candidates to give him monthly campaign reports and will reassign them if an attorney who is a contributor appears on their dockets.
Terry West, general counsel for the Council on Judicial Complaints, said contributions from attorneys to judges have been an issue for a long time since district judges are allowed to accept campaign contributions from attorneys who practice before them.
“It’s very uncomfortable for judges and very uncomfortable for lawyers,” West said. “No one else is particularly interested in a judge’s race so they pretty much have to solicit from lawyers.”
Information from: The Oklahoman, http://www.newsok.com
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