Judge who tossed out Virginia delegate candidates one-vote win was supported by her GOP opponent:
Source: raw story
22 Dec 2017 at 17:25 ET
VA Del. David Yancey (R, left) and his Democratic challenger Shelly Simonds (right). Images via Yancey and Simonds' campaigns.
The judge who threw out Virginia House of Delegates candidate Shelly Simonds’ one-vote win and ruled a questionable ballot applicable as a vote for her opponent reportedly has a conflict of interest.
As Newport News’ Daily Press reported Friday, Circuit Court Judge Bryant L. Sugg, a member of the three-judge panel who ruled against Simonds’ win, had support from her opponent, GOP incumbent David Yancey. The incumbent “was one of the lawmakers who helped” Sugg become the chief judge in the Newport News Circuit Court in 2015 — and was virtually guaranteed a win because he was the only person interviewed for the job.
“Bryant was a great candidate,” Yancey said in a Daily Press interview in 2014. “He served on the JIRC (Judicial Inquiry and Review Commission). His dad was a judge, so he had that experience growing up, which I feel gives him a unique perspective. We just felt he’s done a very good job as a judge and that he was a good person to move up … to Circuit.”
Del. Yancey met with a other members of their regional House delegation and passed the information along to the General Assembly, who voted Sugg in.
On Wednesday, just a day after Simonds was thrust into the national spotlight for winning her recount against Yancey by a single vote, a three-judge panel that Sugg sat on found that the two were tied after the incumbent brought a questionable ballot before them that had votes filled in for both candidates.
Read more: https://www.rawstory.com/2017/12/judge-who-tossed-out-virginia-delegate-candidates-one-vote-win-was-supported-by-her-gop-opponent-report/#.Wj280ndCPgI.twitter
Total headline, which would not fit into box:
Judge who tossed out Virginia delegate candidate’s one-vote win was supported by her GOP opponent: report
Link to tweet
Did recount judge have a conflict of interest?
http://www.dailypress.com/news/newport-news/dp-nws-newport-news-sugg-recusal-20171221-story.html
Three years before Circuit Court Judge Bryant L. Sugg would be one of three people deciding the winner of the 94th District House of Delegates race, he was a judge in General District court — a lower court that deals with misdemeanors and traffic tickets.
At the time, he was virtually a lock to fill an open spot as a judge of Newport News Circuit Court. No one but Sugg was selected to be interviewed for the spot, and Del. David Yancey was one of the lawmakers who helped get him there.
"Bryant was a great candidate," Yancey told the Daily Press in September 2014. "He served on the JIRC (Judicial Inquiry and Review Commission). His dad was a judge, so he had that experience growing up, which I feel gives him a unique perspective. We just felt he's done a very good job as a judge and that he was a good person to move up ... to Circuit."
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“I think that it’s one thing to say that, of course, the General Assembly is always selecting the judges,” said John McGlennon, a professor of government and public policy at the College of William and Mary and a James City County supervisor who runs as a Democrat. “But when it’s a judge for that locality, that does create, again, a potential for an appearance of conflict because legislators have such a direct role in serving their communities.”
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Simonds’ lawyers argued that the process for contested ballots wasn’t being followed. Yancey’s lawyers said every vote should be counted. The judges decided to view it, and after several hours of deliberation, ruled it a vote for Yancey.
Just before the hearing ended, Simonds’ lawyer said there was a ballot in the Denbigh precinct that they had issues with. The judges said it was too late to review that ballot.
“If Judge Sugg felt like he had a conflict of interest, the Commonwealth of Virginia basically puts a burden on him to recuse himself,” Kidd said. “If he doesn’t, it means he doesn’t think he does and can render some impartial opinion.”
“It looks bad, the appearances are bad, but this is the way Virginia’s ethics laws work — that’s how lax the rules are,” Kidd said.
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