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Monday, 13 November 2006 |
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| CED Trustee Landon Rowland delivering keynote remarks. |
On November 13th CED and Justice at Stake hosted a luncheon forum on "Why a Fair and Impartial Judiciary Matters to the Business Community" in Kansas City. CED Trustee and Director & Chairman Emeritus, Janus Capital Group, Landon Rowland and Chief Justice Michael A. Wolff of the Supreme Court of Missouri delivered keynote remarks on the importance of protecting the Missouri Plan from political attacks as seen in neighboring states. Other speakers included Patrick McLarney, President of the Kansas City Metro Bar Association; Bert Brandenburg, Executive Director of Justice at Stake; Mike Petro, Vice President of the Committee for Economic Development; Dana Tippin Cutler, Standing Committee on Judicial Independence at the American Bar Association; the Honorable Richard D. Greene of the Kansas Court of Appeals; and Jeffrey Roe, Founder and Chief Executive of Axiom Strategies.
Keynote speakers Landon Rowland and Chief Justice Wolff discussed the need of maintaining the Missouri Plan. Mr. Rowland has become increasingly concerned with the influence of money in judicial elections stating, "This is a critical issue that is a warning in this country mainly because of special interest politics and money that fuels it in a way that we never imagined and certainly haven't been ready for." Chief Justice Wolff expressed a commitment on the part of the Missouri judicial branch to transparency in oversight stating, "We want to take a business-like approach to our own operations. We are the only state that said yes to the American Bar Association's Standing Committee on the Independence of the Judiciary to come to Missouri and evaluate our system."
Pat McLarney echoed the concern for national and regional changes stating, "When I became president of the Kansas City Bar Association, I realized that the biggest issue that we have as bar associations across the country is attacks on the judiciary and what is going on nationally as far as the judiciary is concerned. We have seen some very clear examples of attacks in Missouri this year."
For more information on national and regional judicial trends, visit Justice at Stake. Or visit the website for the American Bar Association's Standing Committee on Judicial Independence. |
