LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: LOCAL ATTORNEY'S LETTER ABOUT JUDGE DRAW RESPONSE; JUDGESHIP POLITICS

To the editor:

John Cook is shocked, shocked! that when KFVS asked, I agreed that John Grimm's appointment as circuit judge was a political appointment.

Generally, our trial judges are elected in a partisan system. I am an elected Republican associate circuit judge just as Marybelle Mueller is an elected Democrat.

When there is a vacancy between elections, any Governor's appointment to fill that vacancy is almost always political. It is the Governor's right under the constitution to do as he sees fit no matter what I or anyone else may think about it.

And so, Democrats appoint Democrats and Republicans appoint Republicans. Missourian political editor Jim Grebing said as much in his October article about my application.

Mr. Cook has long been an active player in Democratic politics and he knows how the appointment game is played. He should take no offense at the spoken truth. No offense was intended.

Benjamin F. Lewis

Associate Circuit Judge

Cape Girardeau