I wonder if Gov. Daniels will face any criticism over this for showing anti-democratic instincts:
Gov. Mitch Daniels has vetoed a bill that would have moved St. Joseph County Superior Court judges to nonpartisan elections.
In a veto notice on the state of Indiana's Web site, Daniels said St. Joseph County's model of selecting judges is "to be emulated, not discarded. It is not broken; it requires no repair."
If I understand this correctly, the judges, though initially appointed, already face non-partisan re-elections. All this would have changed would be how they were first selected. So I'm unclear both on what supporters mean when they say it would make the judges more accountable to the people and what opponents mean when they say it will expose judges to political pressure. Both those claims seem highly exaggerated. The only other county in the state with appointed instead of elected Superior Court judges is Lake, so Daniels' claim that it "ain't broke, don't fix it" probably should be taken with a grain of salt as well.
