Judicial Elections Gone Bad ?

USAToday has an article out today that discusses how a corporate CEO heavily backed (through a intermediary) a candidate for the West Virginia Supreme Court only to have that same judge be the deciding vote on a multi-million dollar case three years later. The story is quite interesting and the decision regarding the propriety of this action has gone to the U.S. Supreme Court and if found improper could very well impact beyond this single case and influence judicial election law and selection across the country. That change in selection process could, obviously, have a trickle down impact on state law libraries. The article addresses several interesting points including that 39 states elect at least a portion of their judiciary, judicial election costs have sky rocketed in recent years, and public perception is not on the side of the "innocent coincidence" supporters. {bb}