Judicial Fundraising

Indiana Barrister says

On September 15, supporters of Marion County Superior Court Judge Becky Pierson-Treacy are hosting a fundrasier here in Indianapolis. No biggie, right? Well instead of a flat donation request, they’ve allowed for different levels of donating.

* $150 gets you a “Sustained”
* $250 gets you “Affirmed”
* $500 gets you “So Ordered”
* $1000 gets you “Favorable Ruling”

and, in another post,

Apparently Marion County Superior Court Judge Becky Pierson-Treacy is telling fellow judges and lawyers that she and husband Marion County Democratic Chairman Ed Treacy were just joking when they put out their fundraiser invitation that suggested a $1000 contribution will get you a “favorable ruling”....

A number of lawyers who dabble in politics have asked why she even needed to raise money in the first place as judges in Marion County are slated and usually win.

The free market at work?

Pencil making

From I, Pencil:

Millions of human beings have had a hand in my creation, no one of whom even knows more than a very few of the others. Now, you may say that I go too far in relating the picker of a coffee berry in far off Brazil and food growers elsewhere to my creation; that this is an extreme position. I shall stand by my claim. There isn't a single person in all these millions, including the president of the pencil company, who contributes more than a tiny, infinitesimal bit of know-how. From the standpoint of know-how the only difference between the miner of graphite in Ceylon and the logger in Oregon is in the type of know-how. Neither the miner nor the logger can be dispensed with, any more than can the chemist at the factory or the worker in the oil field.