Wednesday, Sam J. "Jimmy" Ervin, IV filed to run for the Court of Appeals seat held by Judge John Tyson of Fayetteville. Judge Tyson has served North Carolina with grace and fairness and it is a shame that he must face two Democrats in a primary on May 6th.
Ervin, the grandson of the late "Senator Sam", hails from Morganton, is an attorney, a Democrat, and currently serves on the NC Utilities Commission.
According to sources from Morganton, Ervin goes by the nickname "Jimmy" or "Jim" and not by "Sam". However, he filed to run as "Sam J. Ervin, IV", implying that he intends to play off his late grandfather's household name. Sam J. Ervin, Jr was a US Senator from North Carolina who gained widespread fame during the Watergate hearings in the early 1970s.
Judge Tyson (left) has been crisscrossing the state for months, meeting voters, and speaking to groups about the judiciary. He has served North Carolina well during his tenure on the Court of Appeals and deserves to be returned to his seat.
The new rules cause much confusion to voters and the oddity of having to run in a primary against a couple of Democrats is beneath this fine man.
Though North Carolina's judicial elections are officially non-partisan, candidates usually are not shy about letting their party affiliation be known.
Previously, judges ran as part of the regular ballot, with party affiliation listed next to their names. Because most voters assumed that Republicans would be tougher on crime, GOP candidates began to be elected to judgeships in droves.
This did not sit well with the Democrat-dominated North Carolina General Assembly. They voted to change the rules to make the races more "fair" by eliminating party affiliation. This reduced voter participation, as judicial races are listed at the very end of the ballot, and voters must now vote by name, not party and most voters have difficulty have trouble identifying who their party's judges are. Meanwhile, Democrats began running women against many of the Republicans, with the voter assumption being that women are "more compassionate". The Democrat strategy has worked well, as Republicans have been defeated in the ensuing years.
It's a shame that fewer voters make the decisions that are 2008's most important. Our very democracy hinges on a fair judiciary. Our state and local judicial elections are more important than any other, including that of the United States Presidency, which gets the lion's share of the attention. While Beverly Purdue and Richard Moore are fighting it out like pre-schoolers, our jurists are holding our democracy together.
On May 6th, voters should cast aside either one of Judge John Tyson's Democrat challengers, Wake County District Court Judge Kristen Ruth, or the utilities commissioner whose only claim to fame is a seat on the utilities commission and a famous name. Even if given the option of "voting for two people", your blogger urges all conservatives to vote for only one, Judge John Tyson.
Photo of Judge John Tyson courtesy of KTCreations.
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