GOP endorses judge for election

08/30/2006

Brad Swenson
Bemidji Pioneer
Published Wednesday, August 30, 2006

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Ed. Note: This article is being run to remind readers that judges are now running for election and it is still a very controversial matter in Minnesota along with the issuance of Party endorsements.
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The newly formed 9th Judicial District Republicans gave their endorsement Tuesday night to Tim Tingelstad to the seat now held by Beltrami County District Judge Terrance Holter.

“We want to put God-fearing men and women into our high offices,” Tingelstad told the GOP delegates. By “God-fearing,” he means men or women “who loves God with all their heart and soul in mind.”

Tingelstad, a Bemidji attorney who unsuccessful sought a Minnesota Supreme Court post in 2004 running against Associate Justice Alan Page, this time seeks the district court post held by Holter, who is seeking re-election to his fifth six-year term.

Speaks to group

Also seeking the post is John Melbye, Holter’s law clerk, forcing a Sept. 12 primary.

Only Tingelstad showed up for the endorsement, although both Holter and Melbye were invited.

That a party endorsement was given in a judicial race is a first, an offshoot of a 2002 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in a Minnesota case that judicial canons barring judge candidates from seeking political party endorsement or personally seeking campaign funds was an infringement on free speech.

Delegates to the Minnesota State Republican Convention this summer issued endorsements to three statewide judge candidates and a “not endorsed” in one case. Now, Minnesota Republican Judicial Elections Committee Chairman Bonn Clayton is taking the case around the state.

Clayton chaired Tuesday night’s endorsement convention at Beltrami Electric Co-op’s community meeting room, drawing 24 delegates to form the new 9th Judicial District Republican Party, encompassing the 17 counties in the 9th Judicial District. Similar groups of Republicans have formed in the 1st and 6th Judicial districts.

Holter’s re-election bid is the only opposed judicial race in the district, let alone having a primary as well.

Before endorsing Tingelstad, the group spent nearly an hour discussing whether even to endorse, finally in voice vote unanimously agreeing to do so.

Critics say giving party endorsement to a judicial candidate gives the wrong perception that the candidate has an agenda and colors the candidate’s claim to making fair and impartial decisions while on the bench.

Being fair and impartial “is not something that most people think,” Clayton said in an interview. “Everybody knows, who looks at it closely, that Democratic activists are appointed by Democratic governors and Republican activists are appointed by Republican governors, in almost every case.”

The U.S. Supreme Court case was initiated by Greg Wersal, who as a Minnesota Supreme Court candidate in 2002, sought the GOP endorsement. Clayton was Wersal’s campaign manager.

“The main thing we should remember is that everybody has views, and if we appoint them to be judges, they should be able to separate their personal views from their judicial work,” Clayton said.

He said he had contacted all three candidates, and that Melbye declined to attend and seek endorsement and that Holter hadn’t indicated either way.

“Holter was not sure if an endorsement would be politically beneficial, but that doesn’t take away all the reasons for it,” Clayton said.

Now that Tingelstad has the endorsement, Clayton said that Republican phone banks calling for candidate support will include him on the list, and GOP sample ballots will also carry Tingelstad’s name. Get-out-and-vote calls will also include him.

It works both ways, Tingelstad said, noting that it would be expensive for him to travel and campaign in all 17 counties, and asked GOP delegates to spread his word and his literature.

“I’d be honored with the endorsement by the Republican Party,” Tingelstad told delegates. “I have a message; all I want is to get my message to the people and let the people decide.”

With 300,000 people in the district, campaigning is “very, very, very difficult,” he said. “Without help, I can’t get this message to people in Brainerd, to International Falls or Polk County. … If the Democratic Party invites me to speak, I’d do it … I’ll share the same message with them, and they can accept me or they can reject me.”

Tingelstad said his campaign theme is “justice is served when judges fear God, and love the people,” based on Psalm111:10 that “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”

He said judges should rule with the fear of God in their hearts, taking with them a “worldview” as a foundation for their decisions.

“I don’t use the word ‘Christian,’’ he said. “Christianity is a religion, and I’m not to provoke and force my religious beliefs on people. But I believe that there is an absolute truth, and that truth is God. His word is the foundation of our system of government.”

Each judge comes to the bench with a level of discretion, based on his or her foundation, he said. “It doesn’t give the judge the right to ignore the law or ignore the Constitution. But every judge … has this area of discretion, and that’s where you need to have a sense of right, wrong, truth and purpose.”

Tingelstad, a former Beltrami County assistant attorney and administrative law judge who is now a family court magistrate for the 9th Judicial District, said he couldn’t sit on the bench with “that anchor of absolute truth. … That’s part of my worldview … the only source of absolute truth is God. If there is no God, there is no absolute truth.”

He said he applied for the Beltrami County District Court post in 2005 for which Shari Schluchter was appointed by Gov. Tim Pawlenty. He read to the GOP delegates the letters of recommendation he received for that post from Clearwater County District Judge Paul Rasmussen, Pioneer Publisher Dennis Doeden, former Bemidji schools Superintendent Rollie Morud and then-Minnesota State Bar Association President David Stowman.

Tingelstad said he’s not seeking the post as career advancement but that it is time to move on, bringing his message to a broader arena.

“I am concerned about the decline in respect and esteem for judges and courts in the hearts and minds of future generations,” he said. “I am concerned that judges are no longer accountable to people.”

It’s the same reason Clayton is pushing for party endorsement, so that people know more about who they’re voting for.

“We want to have accountability for the judges so they don’t make decisions contrary to the Constitution or common sense, and the election process is essential,” Clayton said.

“I don’t like going to the election booth and looking at a list of names and not know a single one,” said Ron Niemala of Grand Rapids, who was elected chairman of the new 9th Judicial District Republicans. “This is a way to gauge our very privileged vote rather than casting it blind. Now I can cast an informed vote on the views I see as sacred.”

Angel Krigbaum was leery, however, saying it was troublesome to even consider candidates who are not seeking endorsement. “I’m not sure in my mind that an endorsement process will make a difference.”

“I’ve been voting 30 years for a judge and I don’t have a clue what he believes in,” said Neil Skogerboe.

“This is a positive thing,” said Kath Molitor, the Beltrami County GOP chairwoman who was elected deputy chairwoman of the new group. “As Republicans we have a hard time getting people off the couch to vote, and by endorsing a judge, we will get more people out because they will be more confident on what they’re voting on.”