The state’s Judicial Performance Commission isn’t getting much done these days while four of the panelists scuffle over their right to two seats. The commission is responsible for preparing evaluations on state Supreme Court justices and appeals court judges running for retention.
The commission normally seats 10 members but now has 12 as the result of two midnight appointments by departing GOP legislative leaders. Since no one can decide which members are legitimate, the group is at a standstill. There’s time to sort this out; no judge is up for election until 2006.
The impasse started in January when Republican Senate President John Andrews and House Speaker Lola Spradley pulled two members off the panel days before leaving office and appointed two replacements. They claimed to be fixing the wrongs of the past years when other GOP legislative leaders made some appointments out of synch.
Voters had replaced GOP majorities with Democrats, and when new leaders Rep. Andrew Romanoff and Sen. Joan Fitz-Gerald were sworn in, they reappointed the two people thrown off. But the Andrews-Spradley appointees refused to leave. Legislative leaders recently voted to ask the Supreme Court to resolve the question of who has a right to the two seats. Lawyer Mark Grueskin said he will ask the court soon to decide if members can be replaced before their terms are up. Meanwhile, partisan bickering is flaring. Republicans say Democrats are playing politics. Dems say Republicans are appointing hardliners to the panel. “There is a move afoot to demonize the judiciary,” said Romanoff. “There are undertones, overtones and undercurrents.” Let’s hope the mess is reconciled well before the 2006 elections.
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Knowing that your plumber or electrician could be a sex offender wasn’t the most encouraging news in recent days. A state audit unveiled the startling information last week that Colorado unknowingly is handing out professional licenses to criminals. The audit identified 2,000 felons, 270 of whom are registered sex offenders. The audit found that 80 percent of the sex offenders are licensed by the electrical or plumbing boards, “which are professions requiring access to homes and buildings.” Another 5 percent are in a health care profession and “may provide services to vulnerable people.”
The audit examined the state’s Division of Registrations from December 2004 through June 2005. The division regulates some 280,000 individuals, from accountants to nurses, and 25,000 organizations. Auditors said the division does not check the sex offender registry before awarding licenses. State law does not preclude felons from having professional licenses, but deputy state auditor Cindi Stetson said there are restrictions depending on the profession, and state licensing boards rely on applicants to self-disclose their criminal histories. Hmm.
Auditors urged division officials to take immediate action “against the licenses” already issued. They also recommended that division officials work with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation to identify people on the sex offender registry and determine if they should have a license. Division officials are scurrying to fix the problems. They’d better.
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Barbecue season isn’t over yet and there’s still time for people to come down with that dreaded summer ailment: food poisoning. Folks at the Rocky Mountain Poison and Drug Control center say that of all the summer maladies, bad food causes a high number of calls to the regional center, which will mark its 50th anniversary next year. Calls to the center for all problems – bee stings, snake bites, lethal drugs – double this time of year, to about 800 a day.
With temperatures still in the 80s and 90s, bacteria on food multiply quickly. Luckily, death from food poisoning is rare, center officials say. And most of the food poisoning calls wind up not requiring hospitalization. Still, picnickers need to take precautions.
Julia C. Martinez (jmartinez@denverpost.com) is a member of The Denver Post editorial board.
