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OPINIONS
Editorial: W.Va. needs better way to select its Supreme Court justices
The number one issue the five members of the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals must deal with is the integrity of the court. That integrity has been battered in recent years. The amount of money spent on Supreme Court races poses perhaps the greatest threat to the high court's integrity.
West Virginia voters have a choice next month of three candidates for two seats on the Supreme Court -- Menis Ketchum, Beth Walker and Margaret Workman. The three candidates spent more than a half million dollars to get through the primary election in May. The general election will be much more expensive. Ketchum alone had spent more than $897,000 as of Sept. 21, according to The Associated Press.
The Supreme Court election probably will be the most expensive of the state races. Candidates need money to buy name recognition. Without name recognition, votes are few. And they must be able to react when various interest groups attack them. Reacting takes money.
But there's always the question of whether having to raise such large sums of money taints a justice when donors have cases before the court. In fact, all three candidates acknowledge concerns about the current system. Ketchum favors a merit selection process, while Workman and Walker say some form of nonpartisan selection should be explored.
Perhaps West Virginians like the present system. Maybe they would like a different one.
Even people who like the present system must admit that the ever-increasing amount of money being spent on judicial elections is a problem. Money allows an unknown candidate to become known and have a fighting chance in an election, but too much money raises the perception that campaign donations could influence a justice's decisions, particularly when that justice plans to run for re-election.
The present system tarnishes the integrity of the court. Not that the court has been without problems in the past, when some justices used the court as a means of helping favored groups and punishing those that were not favored.
But something must be done to avoid the appearance of bias that has damaged the reputation of the state's highest court these past few years. After the election, a fresh look is needed at what can be done to improve the way justices are selected and in the process improve the court's integrity.
