CA: Judges honor ex-governor Deukmejian's award upsets many who recall '86 vote (Rose Bird whinefest

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 4 January 2004 | Bob Egelko

[CounterCounterCulture]

The state Judicial Council's annual Distinguished Service Awards are usually routine affairs that attract little attention, even from ardent court- watchers. But one of this year's winners is an eyebrow-raiser: former Gov. George Deukmejian, the scourge of the once-liberal California Supreme Court.

[BlueNgold]

From the 'what ever happened to...' files . I still believe that if GHWB had dropped potatoe-man and asked Duke to run as VP that he would have beaten Clinton/Perot.

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[pacpam]

The people who vote had to be fed up with the Rose court in order for the vote not to reelect to have happened. Glad the recognition came, and sour grapes don't wear well.

[Publius]

This article deserves a little bit of history.

In 1986, a number of PAC’s were created to get rid of Chief Justice Rose Bird in the reconfirmation election of that year. One aimed at Bird only. Several aimed at Bird, Grodin and Reynoso, all of whom had been appointed by Jerry Brown. Once aimed at the previous three plus Stanley Mosk, a Pat Brown appointee.

When the heads of the different PAC’s were asked to meet with Gov. Deukmejian, they had planned to ask for his support and that of the California Republican Party, but they had little hope in getting it. What they did get blew them away.

Deukmejian agreed that the removal of Bird, Grodin and Reynoso was of the highest priority. He was willing to make this an issue in his re-election campaign and use the full backing of the institutional California Republican Party -- provided the PAC’s agreed to some basic terms.

• The PAC’s would have to merge into one organization.
• Stanley Mosk was to be left alone. Mosk had become one of the most respected state jurists in the country, and a move against him would discredit the movement. Further, Mosk was a canny politician who could easily outmaneuver them, threatening the entire project. Leaving Mosk alone would give the movement a chance to show that it opposed “radical” liberals like the Jerry Brown appointees, but had no quarrel with “sensible” liberals like Mosk, a Pat Brown appointee.
• All paid political ads were to be produced by agencies known to the California Republican Party, and a task force reporting directly to Deukmejian would be responsible for vetting each ad.

The major media outlets, particularly the Los Angeles Times, went on the warpath against this project. The Times’ logic was especially egregious. All judges should be appointed for life, the Times argued, so reconfirmation elections were actually a terrible flaw in the state Constitution. Thus, the voters -- whether they agreed with the justices or not -- were morally to bound to vote for reconfirmation. It was a smarmy argument.

In the end, the election provided one of the few moments of clarity in California politics, as did the recent recall election. The Left is still seething from 1986.

[Little Bill]

We have a similar problem in Mass, the down side is we don't have recall, a problem to be corrected.

[Publius]

You don't have recall, but your legislature does have the power of impeachment.

[Little Bill]

No Nads, cost them the perv vote. They don't care what the voters in this State think, as long as they get reelected, look at the Bilingual Education Qustion.</p>

[NormsRevenge]

Remember the old "If it's Brown, Flush it down" from the drought days in the 70s?

Here's one turd I'm happy to see is finally movin' on, for the most part. (I think CalPERS will be about the only thing left for him to meddle in, officially.) Deuk and Willie,, sigh,, bygone days.

[Col Freeper]

We lived in California at the time (I was born there), and were extremely happy to boot out Bird and her leftist buddies.

No matter how much the leftie media try to blame the ex-Governor, enough people were sick of them and exercised their voting rights to clean out at least part of the left wing scum.

[Lancey Howard]

The article says that the California Supreme Court has "drifted toward the center since Ronald George became chief justice in 1996". But this comes from the scumbag San Francisco Chronicle, so can I presume the court is actually pretty liberal?