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Citizens for Better Judges won't endorse 2 sitting judges in Louisville primary races

Andrew Wolfson, Louisville Courier Journal
·2 min read

Editor's note: This story has been corrected to reflect the correct match-ups in the Court of Appeals races.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Snubbing two sitting judges, Citizens for Better Judges has declined to make endorsements in either of the Jefferson County races for the Kentucky Court of Appeals, the state’s second-highest court.

The attorney group made no endorsement in the contest pitting Jefferson Circuit Judge Audra Eckerle against Tricia Lister or in another race matching Chief District Judge Annette Karem against McKenzie Cantrell and Stan Whetzel.

Ethics experts criticized Eckerle in 2020 in a Courier Journal story for electronically muzzling criminal defense attorney Rob Eggert during a remotely conducted hearing.

Jefferson Circuit Judge Audra Eckerle
Jefferson Circuit Judge Audra Eckerle

Defense lawyers criticized Karem for proposing a plan to reduce court backlogs that could have caused defendants to spend more time in jail without a hearing. She ultimately dropped the proposal.

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Citizens for Better Judges endorsed Circuit Judge Angela McCormick Bisig in her Supreme Court race against Jason Bowman.

It made six endorsements in District Court races:

  • Anthony Jones over Emily Korfhage Monarch;

  • Yvette De La Guardia over Lora Chisholm Holman and Jennifer Murzyn Yancey;

  • Justin C. Brown over incumbent Lisa Langford;

  • Karen Faulkner over Lindsay Volk Beets and Jessica Stone;

  • Incumbent Tanisha Ann Hickerson over Kaitlin Smith Dean;

  • Mary Jude Wolford over Samuel G. Hayward Jr. And Claudette Patton.

Citizens for Better Judges made no endorsements in races matching:

  • Incumbent Kristina Garvey against Kelly Ann Bowles;

  • Megan McDonald, the daughter of retired Judge Tom McDonald and Dee McDonald, and Jacob Elder and Shannon Renee Fauver;

  • Incumbent Sara Michael Nicholson, the daughter of David Nicholson, the circuit court clerk and Democratic mayoral candidate, and R. Christian Garrison.

Candidates in races with three or more people will meet in the primary. The two getting the most votes will square off in the fall.

Citizens for Better Judges already made endorsements in four contested circuit court races, giving the nod to Ebert Haegele, Mary Shaw, Sarah Clay and Dorislee Gilbert.

Related: Citizens for Better Judges backs judge who signed Breonna Taylor search warrant

The group was founded in 1983 to maintain and improve the quality of the judiciary by promoting the election of only the most highly qualified judicial candidates.

It consists of a 30-member steering committee comprised of lawyers who are all involved in litigation practice but concentrate in different fields of law, and a Citizens Review Board consisting of a cross-section of community-minded citizens with diverse occupations and backgrounds.

Additionally, the organization has an advisory board made up of the past chairs of Citizens for Better Judges.

Each candidate for judicial office is personally interviewed by the steering committee.

For information on members, click here.

Andrew Wolfson: 502-582-7189; awolfson@courier-journal.com; Twitter: @adwolfson.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Kentucky judicial advisory group snubs 2 judges for endorsements