Mark Ireland for Ramsey County Judge!

Post by the Hawthorne Hawkman, image from www.voteireland.com

Mark Ireland, who represented the Hawthorne Neighborhood Council in their landmark lawsuit against Citimortgage, has decided to run for election as a judge in Ramsey County. This blog is happy and proud to endorse Ireland for Ramsey County judge.

Now I have to admit, even though I'm a political wonk and I've voted in every single election and primary since coming to Minnesota over ten years ago, I've never once voted for a judge. My thinking has been that I haven't really been informed why one judicial candidate is better than another and the last thing I want to do in an election booth is cast a vote without knowing who or what I'm voting for.

But personal and professional connections aside, I'm weighing in on this election because...

...we all know plenty of people in Ramsey County. It's likely that our family, friends, and colleagues who live, work, worship, shop, and play there may either come before a judge or have their lives affected in some small way by his or her decisions. This also means, by the way, that we can and should encourage our friends who are registered voters in Ramsey County to vote for Mark Ireland in both the primary and (hopefully!) the general election.

The judge who currently holds the seat Ireland is seeking, Michael Monahan, is retiring. This makes the election rather rare, as there is no incumbent. So friends of Mark's started to tell him, "You should do this." Mark reacted like a lot of us probably would - by laughing it off, then mulling it over, then talking with his wife about hey, maybe this isn't such a crazy idea.

With a judgeship, there is no platform to run on, like one would for other publicly chosen seats. After all, a judge who promised to enact certain things could hardly be seen as fair later on. Instead, the key questions are whether this person will be fair, just, and follow and accurately interpret the law. Based on my work with Mark Ireland, I have every confidence that he will do a superb job at just that.

So as he's been running this campaign, he's asked folks, "What do you want a judge to be? What do you want our judicial system to look like?" Nine times out of ten, the response has been "I've never thought of that before because no one's ever asked me that." Such openness speaks volumes about the kind of judge Ireland will be.

There are a few different ways that we can help Mark Ireland win this election. First, go to his website, www.voteireland.com, and check out whatever opportunities there are to help. Second, Ireland for Judge has a Facebook page. Join as a fan and spread the word to your friends, especially voters in Ramsey County.

And keep in mind that due to compliance with federal laws about absentee ballots, the primary in Minnesota has been moved up to August 10th. Since judicial elections are non-partisan, people can vote for Ireland whether they are Democrat/DFLers, Republicans, Independents, Greens, or of any other political persuasion.

Mark consider yourself endorsed by the Johnny Northside blog!

EDITORIAL NOTE: Previous JNS "endorsements" have occurred under a very loose structure. Since the JNS blog isn't a separately incorporated entity, the endorsements were made either by John Hoff or by myself with John's permission. Now that there are several other contributors to this blog, it is important to note that political endorsements of this nature are the opinion of the author, and not necessarily of any other JNS contributor.