Hunt: Don't be fooled by the smear campaign

It may seem odd to read that three members of the state's highest court are being victimized, but that is precisely what is happening as I write this.

Three distinguished members of Tennessee's Supreme Court — who, by the way, are prevented by judicial rules from answering political attacks — find themselves on the receiving end of a smear campaign driven by Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey. In his heart, Ramsey wants every state office to be occupied by his brand of extreme Republican.

If you vote in Tennessee, you can do something about this as soon as tomorrow morning. More on that below.

Ramsey's targets are the incumbent Justices Connie Clark, Sharon Lee and Gary Wade. Together with other appellate-level judges across Tennessee, these three are now standing for individual retention votes, meaning you and I help decide whether they should continue in office.

This voting method for appeals courts has been Tennessee's practice for 42 years. The Supreme Court was added in 1992, and this has made for a stable judiciary. (Note: Ramsey doesn't like this process either, because it is not vulnerable enough to his brand of politics, but we will have a chance to vote on that broader question in November.)

Ramsey's ultimate aim seems to be the removal of the incumbent Attorney General Bob Cooper, whom Ramsey blames for everything from Washington's Affordable Care Act to the stink in stinkweed. Tennessee's AG is selected by the five-member Supreme Court, so if the Ramsey campaign can knock off one or more of the three justices, Republican appointees will have a majority on the court.

Fortunately, when the time comes, more moderate Republican leaders including Gov. Bill Haslam and House Speaker Beth Harwell can provide more balance on who a new AG might be. For now, Ramsey and his allies see Clark, Lee and Wade as sitting ducks. Like any bully with a constrained victim, the campaign against them is full of lies, half-truths and innuendo.

Ramsey astonished reporters in May when he declared he was not responsible for telling the full truth. "Every campaign tells half of the story," he declared. "Let the people decide who's telling the truth."

Fine. Invitation accepted. Let me count the ways.

1. The "Vote to Replace" campaign that Ramsey formed claims that Clark, Lee and Wade have been "too liberal" and soft on the death penalty. Not true. In eight years, the current court has heard 21 appeals in death penalty cases — and affirmed 18 of them.

2. The three are accused of somehow "failing to fight Obamacare." This is lunacy — and a sad case of using a charged buzzword just to inflame and mislead – as the ACA has not come before this court.

3. They "hired a top Obama political operative to run their campaign." So what? Guilt by association.

Clark, Lee and Wade deserve to be retained in office.

The state's Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission, which includes some Ramsey appointees, recommended all three after exhaustive interviews. The Tennessee Bar Association, polling all of its members, reported that 93 percent of the 1,500 respondents agreed Clark, Lee and Wade have done their jobs well (an extraordinary vote, considering how five lawyers sometimes can't agree on where to go to lunch). The Nashville Bar Association has strongly urged retaining these three.

Remember the purpose of our courts, the essential balance they provide, and what we the people need of our judges: wisdom, balance, justice – not partisanship. We need women and men who are well prepared, wise, even-handed.

The real question in this retention election is whether judges have done their duty, not whether they stand in the way of some politician's other goals.

The independence of Tennessee's judiciary must be maintained. Ramsey has a simplistic view that only Republicans can replace Democrats, but there are plenty of examples of Democratic governors appointing Republicans, and vice versa.

Judges may come from many backgrounds, including previous political lives, but once on the bench they are nonpartisan neutrals. They do not belong to this lieutenant governor nor any political party.

Solution: Go vote. (Early voting began two days ago.) Be sure to go to the end of the long ballot and select "Retain" for each justice.

You have two good reasons for doing this: to keep good judges on the job, and to send your message to one elected politician who seems to have gotten too big for his breeches.

Keel Hunt is a Tennessean columnist. Reach him at Keel@TSGNashville.com