Ethics Ruling Bars Judges From Katz’s DCF Transition Team.
The Committee on Judicial Ethics has determined that Appellate Court Judges F. Herbert Gruendel and Lubbie Harper, Jr., cannot serve on the Department of Children and Families transition team created by Commissioner Joette Katz, according to draft minutes of a committee meeting. The judges would be violating the Judicial Code of Conduct’s broad prohibition on judges serving on government boards. The two judges sought the ethics opinion after they were appointed to the transition team with some fanfare last month.
Judge Gruendel’s wife has since been appointed a deputy commissioner at DCF. Commissioner Katz was a member of the Supreme Court for nearly 20 years before resigning to take the DCF post and was presumably had some practical experience with the restrictions on judges serving on government boards.
2 comments
Wow. What a massive scandal!
The board membership was uncompensated… as in, Harper and Gruendel were volunteering to do it.
Also, you seem to find it significant that Judge Gruendel’s wife has been named a deputy commissioner, presumably insinuating that is the reason she got the job? Your readers, however, might also be interested to know that DOCTOR Gruendel has a Phd and a masters degree from Yale University in developmental and educational psychology and significant experience in public education.
You are right, Kevin, that this idea was ill advised; Judge Harper and Gruendel would have needed to recuse themselves from DCF cases, which make up a big chunk of the state docket, placing an unfair burden on their colleagues. But aside from that, two judges volunteering their time to help reform a state agency that faces significant legal issues, and one of their wives, who was more than qualified, getting appointed as a deputy commissioner sounds like the biggest nonstory in the world.
As any lawyer knows — or should know — judicial participation in these types of bodies is grossly inappropriate. That fact seems to have escaped the notice of two sitting judges and a retired Supreme Court Justice. That fact alone should be cause for concern.
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