Alabama may yet get its million-dollar 'justice'

The 2012 general election race for Alabama Chief Justice, which seemed destined to be the state’s cheapest in decades, may yet get its million-dollar man by the Nov. 6 general election.

Why should you care? Because while the amount of money spent on elections is mind-boggling in general, the millions spent to elect supposedly neutral judges in Alabama is disturbing. Let’s face it: Political donors give money to candidates who back their causes or interests, leaving common folks perceiving that the scales of justice tip toward the highest bidder.

As a newspaper reporter covering courts, I closely studied campaign contributions in Alabama Supreme Court elections for years. Candidates here have spent about $45 million on judicial races just since 2000. Of the 39 states that elect their top judges, none come even close to Alabama’s spending levels in that period, according to the judicial campaign watchdog groups, Justice at Stake, the Brennan Center for Justice and the National Institute on Money in State Politics.

In 2006, the last time the Alabama chief justice seat was on the ballot, candidates spent a combined $8.2 million. It was the second-most expensive judicial race in U.S. history. That year, Drayton Nabers spent $5 million seeking a full term as chief justice – and lost.

Alabama has routinely dispensed million-dollar judicial candidates like Pez candy. But this year, no candidate for chief justice has reached that mark, according to campaign financial disclosures.

Part of the reason is the state Republican Party seemed to have won the 20-year-old war for control of the state appellate courts. The fight, which brought to judicial politics the bruising campaign style typical of legislative or executive-branch races, started in the 1990s as Karl Rove sharpened his political skills en route to a national platform.

Republicans now control all 19 appeals court seats – after the only viable Democrat, Sue Bell Cobb, resigned suddenly as chief justice in 2010 and the governor appointed Charles Malone, a Republican, to replace her. The other four Supreme Court seats on the Nov. 6 ballot are not even contested.

Distinct groups, mostly taking sides on tort-reform issues, have dominated campaign funding for judicial candidates in Alabama. Republicans got money from businesses, corporations and their lawyers. Plaintiff trial lawyers, the state teachers’ union and the gambling industry gave on the Democratic side. Combined, they have pumped some $55 million into Alabama judicial campaigns since 1993, according to Justice at Stake.

But the main reason for the funding drop off in 2012 was the mainstream funding sources had no candidate they wanted to back after the March primary. The Republican nominee was Roy Moore, who was elected chief justice in 2000, was kicked out of office in 2003 for refusing to follow a federal judge’s order to remove a Ten Commandments monument from the state judicial building and was trounced in two primary bids for governor before deciding to seek his old seat on the state high court. The Democrats had Harry Lyon, a perennial candidate who was known more for his run-ins with the law than his legal prowess.

But the money picture changed when the Democrats kicked Lyon off the ballot in August for what they considered unjudicial behavior. Bob Vance Jr., the replacement candidate, has raised more than $510,000 in cash and loaned his campaign nearly $180,000 more since he launched his campaign on Aug. 20. The Jefferson County Circuit Court judge has spent more than $626,000.

Can he close the $375,000 gap by Nov. 6 and reach the million-dollar spending mark? It’s possible, considering a statewide ad campaigns cost $200,000-$250,000 each. This month alone, Vance has averaged spending $190,000 per week, disclosures show.

Vance had a balance of $62,000 on Oct. 18 – the day he filed is latest campaign disclosure report – so the bucks will have to flood his campaign for it to reach the $1 million spending plateau. Again, it could happen. Several Vance fundraisers in September generated $269,000 total – and the money not only came from traditional Democratic candidate backers but also from lawyers and businesses that traditionally support Republicans. He is on pace this month to match or pass his September fundraising benchmark, having collected some $199,000 through Oct. 18.

Here’s another factor in favor of Vance reaching the million-dollar mark: Generally, the biggest contributions and spending tend to occur in the days leading to an election. In 2006, Cobb raised close to $700,000 and spent nearly $750,000 during the last week of her campaign.

In contrast to his Democratic opponent, Moore has raised roughly $220,000 since the March primary. But if not for three men – former Constitution Party presidential candidate Michael Peroutka, Pinson businessman David Nichols and Alabama timber executive Guice Slawson -- Moore’ campaign would be dead-broke now.

The “Ten Commandments” judge mostly has depended on his nationwide army of supporters, who have contributed as little as $5 each throughout the campaign. In late spring, Moore briefly became the cross-over darling of plaintiff trial lawyers, but that financial support waned when Lyon got the boot by the Democrats.

Moore has raised about $73,000 in cash so far in October. But $10,000 of that came from Peroutka on Oct. 10 (for a total of $65,000 during Moore’s campaign). Nichols gave Moore $2,500 on Oct. 15. Slawson, who already had donated $25,000 in cash, loaned Moore’s campaign $50,000 on Oct. 15. Moore’s balance on Oct. 19 was $62,000, after his campaign spent $250,000 on an ad blitz three days earlier.

For those of you scoring at home, Moore, Malone and the third Republican candidate, Charlie Graddick, spent about $1.7 million combined on their primary campaigns, disclosures show. Moore has spent about $385,000 since the primary, and Vance has spent $626,000, bringing their combined total for the general election to just over $1 million.

Alabama now ranks second nationally in spending on its high court races in 2012, trailing only Michigan, according to Justice at Stake. Perhaps there is a spark of life left for Democratic statewide judicial candidates in Alabama.

But whether a Vance victory in November will augur the return of multiple million-dollar judicial candidates remains to be seen. After all, when qualifying ended in January, the state party had not recruited anyone considered to have a snowball’s chance to win as a Democrat in a state formerly known as Tort Hell.