The media reports that Gary Kreep, noted advocate in birther lawsuits and infomercials, has been elected Superior Court Judge in San Diego in a nail-biting count to the finish over former prosecutor and male model Garland Peed.
The San Diego City Beat wrote:
Dear San Diego County voters: Are you aware that you have elected a lunatic to the Superior Court bench? Did you really think he was the best man for the job? Or did you choose him because his last name tickled your fancy?
This may indeed have been a contest between “Kreep” (the name) and “Peed” (the name), since the San Diego Bar had given Gary Kreep it’s lowest rating: “lacking qualifications.”
Let’s hope Kreep “exceeds expectations.”
Apparently, in judges races, it has been shown that the candidate whose name is alphabetically first wins at frequency that is statistically higher than would be predicted by chance. Hank Aaron would be a shoo-in for judge I guess.
kreep hopes to be assigned to family court
GOD pity the pro-choice litigants
i wonder how he would decide what klayman asserted …. that you’re OUT OF LUCK if you’re born by in vitro …. you can’t be president/vp – that would also include over 100 kids whose fathers died on 9/11
those kids could start an entire after-birther movement for damages due to terrorism
how would he decide date of pregnancy? like az just did?
‘Pregnancy Begins 2 Weeks Before Conception’ Now The Law In Arizona
Is that true when the candidates are listed in random order? California ballots normally vary the order in different precincts. Since there were only two candidates for the judge position, Peed should have been before Kreep half the time. It would be interesting to see the voting broken down by precinct.
On the bright side this takes Gary Kreep out of the birther litigation business. I voted for Garland Peed, I can’t remember whose name was listed first but they aren’t necessarily listed in alphabetical order and since the election was so very close, it probably didn’t matter. Other judgeships were decided by much larger margins.
According to this paper, randomisation is only required in statewide races in California. http://imai.princeton.edu/research/files/alphabet-long.pdf so it may not have been applied in a local judicial race They also note that the effect of ballot order is neglible iin partisan races, but being listed first gives a 3% advantage in non-partisan races. Was Kreep-Peed a non-partisan race?
That’s probably because when people don’t know the candidates that are there, they look for the party that they most identify with (Republican or Democratic). The only time that doesn’t work is in non-partisian races, and then they might just vote for the person who’s listed first to get it over with.
Judical elections are non-partisian.
“Candidates for the state’s trial courts, the Superior Courts, compete in nonpartisan races in June and November of even numbered years. ”
http://judgepedia.org/index.php/Judicial_selection_in_California
With that many votes, that close of an election and candidates with no real name recognition, this may have been essential an experiment in flipping a coin.
This is a sensible way to pick judges?
How long before Orly files one of her birther cases in Kreep’s court? I think she’s finally found a judge willing to throw the facts, reason, logic and the law totally out of the window.
Well, he’ll take office …. next year? january?
It would be interesting to know how cases are assigned. Not like she can go down and deliver a case for Judge Kreep! Judge shopping is one thing. Ordering one up would be ridiculous.
This discussion of how judges are elected tastes sour grapey. It’s a screwed up system. Screwed up before the election, screwed up after.
The any birther is excited over it is silly. He takes office well after the election. He’ll be the low man on the totem pole. If he ever actually hears a birther case and rules “creatively,” said ruling won’t be worth the toner much less the paper it’s xeroxed on.To make the fundamental changes they think they want would take decades, to load the judicial and legislative systems and sway public opinion.
Situational impulses don’t last deacdes 😉
Agreed. Well said.
Given her hatred of Kreep, it is doubtful, but, in OrlyWorld all things are possible. Would she want to have a case where Kreep might get the attention that she thinks belong to her?
Was Kreep still involved with Liberi v Taitz?
I don’t think it was a coin flip. Kreep won the election the way that all local elections are won. He got the endorsements of some local conservative groups, including Tea Party, and then he spent roughly $40K on the campaign, paying to be including on slate card mailers. (The post cards that are mailed out or hung on door knobs that tell everyone who to vote for.)
Peed appears also to be a Republican/conservative and although he was “endorsed” by local Democrats & liberal organizations, the endorsement was lukewarm. (“Vote for Peed, we don’t like him but he’s better than Kreep”).
Presumably, however, Peed also got endorsements, had them printed up on slate cards, and mailed or hung on door knobs.
In the end it was a close race and Kreep pulled out a victory.
I’m pointing this out because it is the same way, on a much smaller scale, that Barack Obama was elected in 2008: they campaigned, they did a good job of getting their supporter out to vote, and they won.
The birthers refuse to accept that Obama won because they don’t like Obama.
Just because we don’t like Kreep doesn’t mean that we should pull the same: that is, if our guy wins, the election is good; if the other guy wins, its because the voters are stupid/ election rigged / system doesn’t adequately screen out “ineligible” candidates.
This is case where the people who bothered to vote in San Diego pretty much got what they voted for.
Family Court is not a place where abortion rights are litigated.
Family Court is where people go to get divorced. Litigation is typically over division of property & child custody. Child support amounts are set by a schedule.
Kreep claimed during the campaign that he had served as a pro tem judge in San Diego and heard more than 1,000 cases that way. If true, and if he did most of his pro tem work in family law, then that would mean that he knows the basics of what is expected in those cases and apparently no one has complained about him in the past.
I suppose that his religious fundamentalism would tend to color his attitude somewhat, which could impact child custody orders .. and it will be intriguing to see how he handles divorcing gay couples.
But in California, litigants have the right to challenge the first judge assigned to their case, no questions asked – so if Kreep is a problem for certain types of cases, he probably will never hear them.
Though I’m not sure that the other judges on the San Diego bench, newly elected or otherwise, would be much different. My impression is that most of the judges lean conservative.
Kreep absolutely despises Orly Taitz. If she was stupid enough to try to file a birther case in his court room, he’d probably be the one most ready to sanction her. He’s seen first hand the damage she can do.
I believe that the only birther cases filed by Kreep were the ones filed in Sacramento, because Kreep understands the concept of venue & knew that election challenges needed to be filed in the county where the state capital is located.
I’d also point out that litigants don’t choose their judges. If Orly filed a birther suit in San Diego, it would be assigned out according to normal San Diego procedures. I don’t know about San Diego but all the northern California jurisdictions where I practiced used a master calendar system, which meant that up until the time of trial, interim matters were handled by whichever Judge was assigned to the law & motion calendar. In general, the law & motion calendar is handled by more experienced judges.
There are over 100 Superior Court Judges in San Diego County. They are assigned to different physical divisions such as North County, East County, Main Courthouse, etc. and to different areas of law such as Family Law, Civil, Probate, Criminal, etc., generally on a yearly basis
Seniority is very important, and as an new incoming judge Kreep will probably be assigned to mundane matters such as traffic, misdemeanors or small claims. If a birther case was to be filed in San Diego County Superior Court it would certainly be assigned to a senior judge with many years of experience.