Under fire from some members of the Judicial Qualifications Commission and a General Assembly which recently voted to abolish and re-constitute the seven-member judicial watchdog panel, attorney Lester Tate yesterday resigned the JQC chairmanship. InsiderAdvantage is told that Tate’s ally, JQC executive director Mark Dehler, is also coming under increasing pressure to resign in light of the legislation’s passage.
In a letter to the State Bar that appointed him, Tate leveled a blast at his political antagonists: “I cannot in good conscience continue to participate in a charade that offers the promise of judicial integrity when, in truth, the actions of others have rendered the fulfillment of that promise an impossibility.” Fellow JQC member Richard Hyde responded, “It’s for the best. I wish him well.”
On March 24 the Georgia General Assembly passed legislation stripping the JQC of its State Bar appointees, assuming voters approve the measure at the ballot box in November. Tate at one point was accused by the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee of being “toxic” due to playing favorites based on his “political agenda” and other lawmakers said some State Bar appointees had undermined the panel’s mission to investigate unethical judges. (Sixty-six judges targeted by JQC probes since 2007 have resigned or been ousted.)
The just-passed House Bill 808 assigns the speaker of the House and the lieutenant governor two JQC appointments each, giving the legislature a majority of the nominations for the seven-member panel. The legislation also gives the governor authority to appoint a State Bar member as the JQC chairman.
Tate’s resignation letter can be read in full here.
