Allan Zaleski In The News: Griffith Won't Be Reappointed


Posted on Mar 12, 2008

G E N E R A L AS S E M B LY | N O R FO L K C I R C U I T C O U R T
Griffith won’t be reappointed
By Julian Walker and Michelle Washington
The Virginian-Pilot

RICHMOND
    Legislators were still struggling Monday to resolve ongoing disagreements over judicial appointments but they agree on one thing: Norfolk Circuit Court Judge Chuck Griffith will not be re-elected to his seat.
    “He is categorically foreclosed from being re-elected by the legislature,” said Del. W.R. “Bill” Janis, R-Henrico.
    Griffith cannot be re-elected because the Senate has not certified him as a candidate, said Janis, who is chairman of the Judicial Systems Subcommittee for the House courts committee. Both the House and Senate must agree on judicial appointments.
    Griffith declined to comment on the decision Monday.
    He has served as a circuit judge since 2000. Before that, he served as Norfolk’s elected commonwealth’s attorney, for which he ran as a Republican.
    Griffith has been fighting for reappointment since January, when a member of the Senate Courts of Justice Committee removed his name from a list of judges to be named to additional terms.
    Norfolk lawyer Allan Zaleski sent a letter critical of Griffith that was circulated to members of the House and Senate Courts of Justice committees. Zaleski questioned Griffith’s judicial temperament and pointed to a Supreme Court decision that overturned Griffith’s conviction of one of Zaleski’s clients.
    “I’m glad the thing is over with. I really am,” Zaleski said Monday. “Maybe it will be beneficial for the commonwealth and the city of Norfolk to have greater scrutiny of judges.”
    Partisan wrangling and continuing disagreements this session over judicial candidates have stalled the process of filling 24 vacant judgeships in Circuit, General District and Juvenile and Domestic Relations courts across the state.
    Fights over Circuit Court openings in Norfolk and Virginia Beach have been part of the problem, several legislators said.
    Also being delayed are the reappointment of two Court of Appeals jurists, including Judge Robert J. Humphreys of Virginia Beach, and seats on the Judicial Inquiry and Review Commission, Workers’ Compensation Commission and the State Corporation Commission.
    If the legislature fails to act, Gov. Timothy M. Kaine can fill Circuit Court seats. In turn, Circuit Courts are tasked with filling General District and Juvenile and Domestic Relations court vacancies. If interim appointments are made, they would be valid until the General Assembly convenes next year. Then legislators would have 30 days to confirm those appointments; otherwise the seats would become vacant again, Janis said.
    He fears that failing to elect judges this year could create difficulties in finding people to be judges.
    “The governor will have to recruit and persuade people to go on the bench, mindful of the fact that there will be no guarantees that they can be confirmed in that office next January,” Janis said.
    Sen. Ken Stolle, R-Virginia Beach, acknowledges the task of electing judges has been particularly tough this session.
    “Hopefully we’ll get things straightened out this year,” Stolle said. “If we don’t, the governor will appoint the judges where there’s agreement.”
    Kaine press secretary Gordon Hickey said if the governor fills judicial vacancies “he’s not going to make any fly-by-night appointments without consulting with the General Assembly.”

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