DES MOINES – Iowa voters can find information about the professional qualifications and background of every judge on the November 4th retention ballot at the Iowa Judicial Branch website-www.iowacourts.gov.
Results from The Iowa State Bar Association’s biennial survey of judges standing for retention in this year’s general election were tabulated and are now available to the public.
The ISBA has conducted the biennial performance review since 1962 when Iowa adopted its merit system for selecting judges. The review is designed to give voters information on which to base their decisions about keeping a judge in office.
The 70 district court judges and two court of appeals judges standing for retention in this year’s general election Nov. 4 are well qualified to remain as judges, the review determined, overall.
All 72 received high marks on the 12 questions (10 for members of the court of appeals) for their professionalism and demeanor as determined by the attorneys who voted in the biennial Judicial Performance Review conducted by The Iowa State Bar Association. There were 1,117 attorneys who completed the performance review in early September.
All 14 of Iowa’s judicial election districts have at least one judge standing for retention in the 2014 general election.
District 2A covers the North Central Iowa counties of Bremer, Butler, Cerro Gordo, Floyd, Franklin, Hancock, Mitchell, Winnebago, and Worth. The judges that serve this district are Christopher Foy, Gregg R. Rosenbladt, DeDra L. Schroeder, Colleen D. Weiland, Annette Boehlje and Karen Kaufman Salic.
Those standing for retention are: Christopher Foy, Gregg R. Rosenbladt, DeDra L. Schroeder, and Colleen D. Weiland.
@ MsAnneNY and others like her out there, what in the H do any of you know about the workings of the courts. You advocate outlandish solutions to a problem that has no solution. For you that think Judges have unlimited powers, try again. Arm chair q’backs all of you. Taxpayer you are the most uninformed all. Do you really think a cabal of Judges is sitting around conspiring how to F over the people? Jeez, get real.
Once again, I will repeat this. Voting out a judge isn’t going to change anything. You can’t send all criminals to jail or prison even repeat offenders because almost all are full. The only way a judge can sentence someone to jail or prison is if there is room at that place. The only way space is opened up, is that one prisoner must be released before another can be placed in the facility. Who decides on who is to be released? Not the judges.
However Judges can determine who is sent to jail in the first place, and for how long. If they send non-violent drug offenders to jail, then release violent batterers, rapists, burglars, whom is to blame? That’s right…the JUDGES.
Cerro Gordo Co jail can hold 2ce as many people that are currently being held. So all the criminals who receive suspended jail sentences, could be serving that time. They could also be held in the jail while waiting for prison space to open up. Fact Cerro Gordo jail has not been filled to capacity since the new jail opened up. Rarely does it even have 100 inmates.
They may have the space but do they have the manpower to effectively handle that amount of prisoners. All I am saying is to send more to jail, more money is going to be needed.
@bodacious-we have to do something with them. What we are doing now is not working. When there is no penalty that bites there is no reason to obey the law. That is what we have today.
Worthless Weiland needs to be voted out. She doesn’t care about keeping us safe, only about making an easy buck. I’m sure the cops are sick of arresting the same criminals she just hands suspended sentences to over and over again.
@MsAnneNY-Agreed, but they are all the same. Vote them all out and get people who will enforce the law.
Oh I agree, but she really needs to get out.
I agree, MsAnneNY. Weiland needs to go. I’m hoping the voters remember how many criminals she and her cronies have let run free on the street.
A judge can sentence a person convicted of a simple misdemeanor up to 30 days in jail and one convicted of a serious or aggravated misdemeanor up to one year in jail. Only on these level of crimes can the judge set a certain amount of jail time. On all prison sentences the term is set by law based on the level of offense and is only a term not to exceed the maximum. The Board of Parole decides how long a person is in prison before parole which will include any mandatory minimum sentences.