Two news stories today show the toll that leaner and meaner state budgets are taking on two long-established state functions: providing a functional court system and building stadiums for professional sports teams.
U.S. Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) cannot withdraw his guilty plea in the infamous 2007 Minneapolis-St. Paul airport bathroom sex case, the Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled today in an unpublished opinion. That means Craig is stuck with having copped in District Court to a misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct for allegedly signaling an interest in engaging in sex via foot taps from one restroom stall to another in which a undercover police officer was staked out. The decision’s “unpublished” status means the court doesn’t want their ruling used as precedent in future cases — interesting, in view of charges that Craig sought special treatment or was being singled out for preferential or especially harsh treatment because of his status as a U.S. Senator.
While candidates hash it out for the executive and legislative branches every four years, little attention is paid to the election of judges in Minnesota. Dan Griffith is running for the Minnesota Court of Appeals seat currently held by Judge Terri J. Stoneburner, and because positions and party affiliations are not part of the campaign process for judicial candidates, most voters don’t know that Griffith is a right-wing evangelical Christian who would make rulings based on his faith.
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