Secret Money Is Now Swaying State Judicial Elections
—By Alan Suderman and Ben Wieder | Thu Jun. 13, 2013
Sam Ervin IV must have been feeling pretty good about his chances of winning a seat on the North Carolina Supreme Court last fall.
He had name recognition—his grandfather was the legendary senator who led the Watergate investigation—and a poll released less than a week before Election Day showed him leading his opponent, incumbent Justice Paul Newby by 6 points, 38-32.
But on the Friday before the election, "Justice for All NC"—an independent political committee whose funding came mostly from out of state—dropped a TV ad depicting a scowling Ervin and asking: "Sam Ervin. Can we trust him to be a fair judge?"
Ervin lost the race by 4 points, 52 percent to 48 percent.
"As far as I know," says Ervin, "there had never been an attack ad in a North Carolina judicial race."
North Carolina's supreme court election was arguably decided by groups like Justice for All—secretive nonprofits, unaffiliated with a candidate, whose money came from out of state.
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http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/06/state-supreme-court-election-spending
= new reply since forum marked as read
... I'm joking. 
Really, I am. And I suppose I really should pose that question to Suderman and Wieder.
Alabama lawyer here. Been going on here since the 90s when some A**Hole named Karl got involved in Alabama Judicial races. He went on to bigger and not so better things, I seem to recall, but he didn't take the "big$" influence on our judicial politics with him.
Edited for a typo.
