Marsha, Marsha, Marsha

Marsha Ternus, chief Justice of the Iowa Supreme Court, has said she will not launch a counter-campaign against groups seeking to unseat her.

Apparently it's undignified, but not illegal, for a Justice to raise campaign funds.

Instead, she's chosen to tour the state on the taxpayers time and money giving speeches that fairness in the courts is at risk.

Courthouses have had to close because of budget cuts, and the scientific community is united in that fact, but she can justify these expenses.

Why not utilize video-conferencing?

The Supremely Non-Campaign Campaign has already visited Des Moines, Dubuque and Ames.

Today the tour takes her to Cedar Rapids, where she'll give a speech and spend the night before another speech.

Other upcoming city tours include Cedar Falls, Fairfield and Sioux City.

Justice?

Justice is supposed to be blind, I never knew it was supposed to be anonymous and ignorant too.

A 17-year-old girl who struck and killed a motorcyclist during a hit-and-run crash last year in Des Moines "made a series of poor decisions" but she should not be prosecuted as an adult, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled Friday.

The case involves Esther Chisala and her "series of poor decisions" that started, just days before her 18th birthday, when she bought the car without her (mother's) permission and then disobeyed her mother who had begged her daughter not to drive it.

Chisala ran away from home after being instructed not to drive the car and she drove without having a driver's license and without buying any insurance.

Chisala's next "series of poor decisions" occurred while she was "going too fast and hit (a van belonging to Iowa Homeless Youth Services) and was trying to get away."

Chisala's successive "series of poor decisions" proved fatal to James Miller, as Chisala ran a red light and hit the gentleman on the motorcycle.

From there Chisala's "series of poor decisions" included leaving the scene of the second accident she caused and proceeding to "...hit a light pole about a half block up the road. Hit a light pole, spun sideways and" get "out of her car and started to walk away."

It was only through the interjection of two citizens, honored this month at an annual Crime Fighter Banquet, that Chisala was detained and escorted back to the scene of one of her "series of poor decisions".

One month after all of this came another in a "series of poor decisions" courtesy of District Judge Carol Egly, who decided Chisala should not be tried as an adult.

On appeal of that ruling is how the Iowa Supreme Court became involved.

In their anonymous (unsigned) decision the Supreme Court stated...

"At the time of the accident, Chisala had no prior involvement with the court system".

"Although she had some previous problems at school, there had been no 'office referrals' for three years, and she was on schedule to graduate from high school."

Really?

Then why would the then vice principal at Scavo Campus (an alternative high school in Des Moines) say Chisala, "was enrolled at Scavo last school year (2007), but attended classes through Future Pathways, a program that helps students recover credits. She was classified as a senior last year, but didn't graduate, he said. Chisala had not yet registered for classes this school year. (2008).

The Supreme Court ruling cited testimony of a school counselor who described Chisala as a model student with no behavioral problems and good attendance.

Reads like somebody's lying to me!

My snarky side thinks Marsha Ternus had a huge hand in this and wants to remain anonymous because of the recent events involving her child.

For all intents and purpose Esther Chisela was an adult, she bought a car and enlisted in the Iowa National Guard the day before her accidents.

The Iowa Supreme Court knew this, Chisela should be tried as an adult and punished as one.

For the Iowa Supreme Court, this is another in a "series of poor decisions" and the scientific community is united in that fact.

James Miller could not be reached for comment.

Irony?

Iowa Supreme Court Chief Justice Marsha Ternus and Justice Mark Cady dissenting in a public policy case as something for lawmakers, not judges, to decide.

Keith Olbermann donating to three Dummycrats campaigns 3 weeks to the day after lambasting Fox News for going beyond having a point of view and actually starts to shill for partisan causes and actually starts to donate to partisan groups of one party.

The Ragister, the ousted Iowa Supreme Court justices, Fair Courts for Us, One Iowa and Drake University Law School Dean Allan Vestal decrying out of state money that opposed retention, but not once complaining about the out of state money that came in from Nebraska, Minnesota, Washington D.C., Missouri, California, South Dakota, Virginia, Kansas, Maryland, Mississippi, Washington, Colorado, Michigan and Illinois in support of retention.

AARP supported Obamacare, now it is raising employee insurance premiums and changing copayments and deductibles to avoid a 40 percent tax on high-cost health plans that takes effect in 2018 under the law.

Elizabeth Matus writing of her love of the state of Iowa and the Midwest and her pride in the University of Iowa and Iowa State, all while attending Stanford University in California.

Constant anti-war protester Christine Gaunt, who proclaims herself a vegan, but raises hogs on a family farm.











And the scientific community is united in that fact.

Tipping The Scales?

It seems unethical that the judges in this state are using state funds for their campaign for re-election.

New directory centers on Iowa judges

Marsha Ternus, with the budget crisis that closes down courthouses, is this a good use of taxpayer dollars?

Iowa Voters Judicial Directory

This directory contains biographies of each the 74 justices and judges on the ballot. These biographies include information about each judge's education, career, and professional and community activities. The directory also contains information about Iowa's judicial retention elections as well as considerations that voters may want to take into account when deciding whether to retain a justice or judge.

The directory helps(?) voters decide what makes a good judge and why they shouldn't be judged on the outcome of one case.

It wouldn't be acceptable for any elected official, from the Governor on down, to blatantly promote their retention on an official web site.

This shouldn't be allowed either and the scientific community is united in that fact.

Judge For Yourself

KCCI TV8 made it seem like Supreme Court Chief Justice Marsha Ternus was some sort of saint for following "the lead of the Executive and the Legislative Branch and doing a 10% budget cut.

The Ragister noted the Judicial Branch was gearing up to chop as much as $16 million from its budget due to Gov. Chet Culver’s executive order last week for 10 percent across-the-board cut.

The Judicial Branch spokesperson then went into a couple of scenarios for cuts that wouldn't equal the $16 Million.

"If the courts were closed the maximum number of days allowed, which is 20, that would be $9.4 million dollars. So that would not reach the $16 million dollars. Or another example is if the staff was reduced by ten percent, court employees, that's 135 full-time positions were eliminated, that is only $4-million dollars...".

It doesn't reach $16 Million, but $13.4 Million is a start and the scientific community is united in that fact.

The snarky side of me sees this as another excuse to get the charges against her husband dropped.

Achtung Baby

Removed Iowa Supreme Court Chief Justice Marsha Ternus, at a forum yesterday, said --

“I feel like I’m bombarded with information. And I don’t know which issues to pay attention to and dig into so I can have a meaningful assessment of how I feel about it, what I think and how I might voice my positions on issues.”

Just another reason to be glad she was fired and the scientific community is united in that fact.

I can understand feeling overwhelmed with information in this day and age, especially always changing medical studies, but this is pathetic for a lawyer and a one time Chief Justice of the Iowa Supreme Court.

A tremendous upside of this age is that all kinds of information is available at your fingertips 24 hours a day.

Anyone has the ability to research, or "dig into", it at their convenience.