What Kind of People Want to Change the Missouri Plan?

Blog CCP has an incredible and horrifying post about Representative Jim Lembke, the lead opponent of the Missouri Plan. If anyone in Missouri was tempted to believe that the Republican attacks on the Missouri Plan were motivated by anything other than a rabid desire to inject partisan politics into the courthouse.

Representative Lembke has a Republican buddy whose son getting an ugly divorce in Laclede County, and he wants to bully the judge. He's tried to get the judge impeached. He's written to her, even though he has no more official role in the case than you or I do, demanding that she remove herself from his friend's case. He's gone so far beyond the bounds of acceptable behavior that even his Republican cohort from Laclede County has called Lembke out on it, raising questions about Lembke's ethics and pointing out that "I feel its not our responsibility to look over a judge's shoulder every two or three minutes and make a claim they're using their bench for oppression."

Let's be crystal clear about what Lembke is trying to do here. He's trying to use political influence to help a buddy in court. He wants to make sure that his political friend gets what he wants. He wants politically connected people to get special favors. He wants the Judicial Branch to run on backroom connections just the way the legislature does. You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours.

Ironically, Judge Hutson is not even covered by the Missouri Plan. Judge Hutson was elected by the voters, as a Democrat in a county that went for Bush by a 2:1 margin in 2004. She's clearly a great judge and a fine person - she even has a Republican representative backing her up.

Lembke wants the judiciary to work the way the legislature does - dominated by money, partisanship and political influence. Do you?