TV Ad Opposing Amendment 3 Begins Airing Today as Newspapers Urge a “No” Vote

Originally posted on Wednesday, October 24th, 2012

The Missourians for Fair and Impartial Courts Committee (MFICC) today launched a television ad asking Missourians to keep politics out of Missouri courtrooms by voting no on Amendment 3. The ad, which can be viewed online at www.mofaircourts.com, will air on broadcast and cable television stations across much of the state for the next two weeks.

The ad highlights how Amendment 3 would dramatically increase the power of partisan politicians to appoint judges and inject politics into Missouri’s model nonpartisan judicial selection process. It points out that special interests put this constitutional amendment on the ballot because they are tired of nonpartisan courts that they can’t control.

“It’s no wonder our campaign gains support each day, while those special interests and politicians seeking to overturn our nonpartisan courts continue to recede into the political shadows,” said Skip Walther, MFICC Treasurer and former Missouri Bar President. “The last place Missourians want to give politicians more power is in picking our judges. Missouri’s nonpartisan court plan has been a model for the nation because it ensures that judges are beholden to the constitution and not politicians or special interests. We will continue to provide Missourians with the facts they need to keep politics out of our courtrooms by voting against Amendment 3.”

Also joining MFICC in asking Missourians to vote against Amendment 3 are editorial boards from across the state, including papers that don’t often share similar political views, including:

• The Joplin Globe editorialized, “We don’t want judges who are bought and paid for in Missouri. And we don’t want Constitutional Amendment 3 to go into effect.”
• The St. Louis Post-Dispatch wrote, “One of the reasons the Missouri Plan works so well in elevating merit over partisanship in choosing judges is that no individual governor, Republican or Democrat, can have significant power… Amendment 3 would change that, giving one governor the power to appoint hiscronies and all but guarantee full control over the choosing of judges.”
• The Southeast Missourian warned, “… this solution could open up a new can of political worms.”
• The Kansas City Star said, “Voters should show their support for integrity on the bench by rejecting Amendment 3. Andthey should let it be known that Missouri’s courts are not for sale.”
• The Columbia Daily Tribune wrote, “The Missouri Plan is designed to inject a fair degree of independent input into judicial selection while still giving the governor a fair degree of final control. It need not be changed.Vote “no” on Amendment 3.”

MFICC is a group of retired judges, business leaders and community leaders that are educating voters this fall on why putting politicians in charge of Missouri’s judicial selection process is dangerous because it brings partisan politics into the one branch of government where it has been held at bay.

The Honorary Co-Chairs of Missourians for Fair and Impartial Courts Committee are formerMissouri Supreme Court judges William Ray Price, Jr., Ronnie L. White, John C. Holstein, Ann K. Covington, Michael A. Wolff and Edward D. “Chip” Robertson, Jr. To learn more about MFICC and to view the new ad, please visit www.mofaircourts.com