How Big Business Buys State Courts
In Depth: How Big Business Buys State Courts
Friday, 31 October 2014 09:35
By Mike Ludwig, Truthout | News Analysis
Last Halloween, tobacco giant Reynolds American quietly cut a $30,000 check for Justice For All NC, a nonprofit that funneled more than $1.6 million in outside funding into North Carolina's 2012 Supreme Court elections, to help incumbent conservative Justice Paul Newby keep his seat on the bench.
The Winston-Salem-based company's $30,000 donation was pocket change compared with the wave of outside spending that would flood the primary elections for the state's high court months later, but it was a start.
Justice For All NC sprung back into action in April, unleashing a flurry of attack ads declaring that state Supreme Court Justice Robin Hudson is "not tough on child molesters." Hudson, the TV ads claimed, sided with sexual predators.
The attack was so nasty that the North Carolina Bar Association issued a statement condemning the ads and others like them. Hudson, a Democrat and a mother, called the ads "preposterous." ....................(more)
The complete piece is at:
http://truth-out.org/news/item/27154-in-depth-how-big-business-buys-state-courts