Candidates to fill a slot on the bench of the MississippiSupreme Court are predicting it will cost over $300,000 to win theseat.

Candidates to fill a slot on the bench of the MississippiSupreme Court are predicting it will cost over $300,000 to win theseat.

$300,000 to be elected to serve on the state’s highest court.It’s a seat that requires the politician to make judgmentaldecisions which affect the day to day lives of everyone inMississippi.

Consider the word politician and the number $300,000 verycarefully.

Judges are not supposed to be politicians nor beholden toanyone, but when it costs them $300,000 to get elected to thatseat, they become very beholden to someone or some group thatsupplies the $300,000.

Mississippians love to elect their public officials, butsometime we wonder if we do not need to find a better way when itcomes to our judges, from the chancery and circuit court judges allthe way to the Supreme Court.

Judicial appointment is one solution, but that too has itsdrawbacks.

One candidate, Keith Starrett, who happens to be one of LincolnCounty’s circuit court judges, suggests a hybrid system used inother states.

Starrett’s suggestion is that judges are initially appointed,then stand for election based on their record. If voters want themout, a new judge is appointed.

We don’t claim to know the best answer, but we do know thecurrent system has an odor to it.