Posted on 05/28/2007 8:36:10 AM PDT by Hal1950
The District Judge Elizabeth Halverson saga is starting to creep beyond the borders of Nevada and into the California news media, while locally the docudrama is the first thing many of us read each day. When they make a TV special of it, I'd like to suggest a name: Power and Paranoia.
Halverson spent nine years as a fairly lowly law clerk. (I always assumed the 425-pound woman, according to her driver's license, stayed as long as she could for the county's health insurance coverage.) After she was fired, she ran for one judgeship, lost, but in 2006 won on her second try.
Before long, stories started coming out of the Regional Justice Center about her contemptuous behavior toward her staff, particularly her bailiff, Johnny Jordan. Halverson, who had never had real power, was relishing it, throwing a pencil on the floor and ordering him to pick it up. Jordan was ordered to give her foot rubs and back massages. He has since filed a complaint against his former boss alleging discrimination based on sex and race. He is black and says she treated him like a "house boy."
Her court clerk, Katherine Streuber, said the judge's behavior was "vile, angry, degrading to anyone within her path." Streuber also objected to being called "the evil one" and "the anti-Christ" by the judge. (We in the news business hear that every other day, but courthouse employees are unaccustomed.)
Court officials realized they were going to be slapped with multiple lawsuits alleging hostile work environment if no action was taken. Three judges were asked to help Halverson, Family Court Judge Art Ritchie and District Judges Stewart Bell and Sally Loehrer.
A memo details an April 6 meeting between Halverson and the three judges:
• She's told it's inappropriate to have staff rub her feet or her back. Her answer: She'd told the bailiff to stop that, that he'd become too familiar with her.
• She's told she should not require staff to show up at 6:45 a.m. to wait for her arrival at 8 or 8:30 a.m. Her answer: She'd told the bailiff not to come early, but he wouldn't listen.
• She's told she should not have staff make her lunch. Answer: The bailiff wants to make her lunch.
• She's told there are 20-25 orders missing. Answer: She's shocked.
• She's told it's unethical to make statements showing bias against attorneys, particularly those who didn't give to her campaign. Answer: Yes, she said it, but since nobody gave her money for her campaign, she's not discriminating against anyone.
• She's told the demeaning way she talks to her husband, Ed, referring to him as a "bitch" (and worse), is offensive to staff. Answer: She doesn't know why that would upset the staff, but the solution is to have him not come to her chambers.
• Told she should treat people with dignity and respect, Halverson said she didn't know specifically what she was doing wrong.
After she answered every allegation made against her, Judge Bell told her, "If you can't see it, you can't fix it. Get some psychological help."
On April 12, the three judges tried to meet with Halverson again at 4:30 p.m. She was in a civil nonjury trial. The three judges waited until 6 p.m. before leaving. Later, the judges said they confirmed her trial was over, but she waited in the courtroom until she confirmed they had departed. The judges said Halverson will "falsely" claim she was in trial. Essentially, the judges called her a liar.
Buoyed by power, convinced everyone is against her, Elizabeth Halverson, 49, has achieved what seems to be her heart's desire: She is the center of attention. She's page one news, and she leads the nightly television news.
The voters now know Elizabeth Halverson, but she has 18 months left on the bench before they can vote her out of office. That's too long a wait. The Judicial Discipline Commission, which has the power to remove her from office, cannot confirm if a complaint has been filed. However, I'm told investigators are now working a complaint against her.
Meanwhile, everyone who voted for her can enjoy the circus under the big tent we call the Regional Justice Center.
The error begins with having judges elected instead of appointed by the executive and confirmed by the legislature.
The law and justice have nothing to do with being popular or winning a popularity contest.
The reasons why federal judges are appointed were as sound in the late 1700s as they are today.
What does he have to do, barbeque an ox?
What happened to the masterbating judge with the sex toys in Oklahoma? That would be creepy addressing him as he did his thing.
I remember that one. Ole Judge Penis Pump, right?
That’s the one.
What a vile bitch.
They, more than anyone else, know how slippery the law really is. What seems cut, dried and ironhard in this case might be bent into a rubber pretzel by some hotshot young legal beagle, the ramifications of which might just turn around and bite butt in a totally strange direction.
As a result, anything that can be targeted against any of the black-robed Lords and Ladies of the bench is to be treated with the utmost suspicion and distaste.
Yes, this sow is a disgrace and an embarrassment, but they would much rather wait her out and shuffle her out the door at the end of her term that establish a “precedent” that might be turned against them in the future.
You know the old gag about “Order in the court”? Heaven help anyone who brought her a mere ham on rye.
"Do you really think a death sentence is necessary, Mr. Hand?"
What a vile pig.
Actually, it is a really bad example of how judges are chosen here in Nevada.
Elections for judges here are so regulated as to being “non-partisan” in their campaigning that they’re just walk-ons for an incumbent, or a shoe-in for someone with some connections to gain endorsements.
That this woman is sitting in a court is proof positive that the Clark County voters don’t know their posteriors from a warm rock.
The Judicial Commission was proceeding against him, as I recollect, but the Commission acts at a speed one could describe as glacial and the election came around before the commission acted.
Let me guess they elected the sock puppet.
Correction.
Let me guess. They elected the sock puppet.
I can just imagine how many cases had to be re-tried because of this nut case behind the bench.
Okay, let’s hurry up and call her fat and ugly.
Let’s ignore the fact that she is a lazy person taking advantage of our judicial system and our tax dollars.
Let’s ignore the fact that the people in her employ should have quit long ago — maybe even said NO to her ridiculous requests.
Let’s make sure we call her fat and ugly though.
That’s the Christian thing to do.
Sounds like a candidate for the next democrat president to appoint to the federal bench.
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