Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Campaign materials cause judicial flap

Judge removes election brochures from court building


By TERRY SMITH
Express Staff Writer

Doug Werth

Judge Robert J. Elgee didn't foresee a problem in displaying his campaign materials in the Blaine County court building. It's not against the law, as long as voting isn't underway.

The judge placed a small table with a hand-written sign reading "campaign materials" near the public entrance to the building, and his campaign materials were on display there from April 12 through April 21. He also informed the Blaine County Clerk's Office that the table was available for anyone's campaign materials, including those of his election opponent, Hailey attorney Douglas Werth.

However, Werth didn't like the idea and fired off a letter of protest on April 20 to Robert Hamlin, executive director of the Idaho Judicial Council.

Hamlin wrote an e-mail to Werth the following day, stating: "The materials will be removed immediately. Thanks for bringing this to my attention."

Elgee removed the materials that same day, but said Monday that Hamlin knew all along about the materials in the court building.

"Robert Hamlin of the Judicial Council is the person I checked with before I put the material out in the hall, and is the same person that called me after he got a complaint from Werth," Elgee said. "Initially, he told me there was no problem."

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A call to Hamlin from the Express on Friday was not returned by press deadline Tuesday.

Elgee, who has served as Blaine County's 5th Judicial District Court judge for six years, faces re-election this year. His challenger, Werth, is a former Blaine County prosecuting attorney. The race will be settled in a May 25 primary election.

Tim Hurst, chief deputy secretary of state, said it's not against state law to post campaign materials in government buildings. However, he said, Idaho's "electioneering" law prohibits display of campaign materials on public property within 300 feet of a polling place when voting is taking place. The electioneering law applies to absentee voting, which started Monday at the old Blaine County Courthouse.

The court building, which is directly east of the main courthouse, is clearly within 300 feet of the polling place. Elgee said he intended to remove his campaign materials before voting started.

"I will make a note and remind myself to remove materials on Friday, April 23," Elgee wrote in an e-mail on April 12 to Blaine County Clerk and Auditor JoLynn Drage.

In his letter to Hamlin, Werth accused Elgee of violating judicial rules.

"In my opinion, it is unseemly and completely inappropriate for a judge to use a public courthouse and the judge's own docket as a means for distributing campaign materials," Werth wrote.

Werth said in an interview that Elgee had used "poor judgment" in placing campaign materials in the building.

Terry Smith: tsmith@mtexpress.com

Correction

A story in the April 28 issue titled "Campaign materials cause judicial flap" incorrectly quoted Idaho Chief Deputy Secretary of State Tim Hurst as saying that state law prohibits the display of campaign materials within 300 feet of a polling place. It actually prohibits them within 100 feet.




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