NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – An influx of campaign spending on three Tennessee Supreme Court seats has transformed what is traditionally a sleepy affair into a hard-fought campaign that has raised questions about the role of partisan politics in the judiciary.
Voters going to the polls in Thursday’s primary election will also decide the nominees for the U.S. Senate, House, governor and a slew of state legislative candidates. But the down-ballot question about whether to retain or reject three justices originally appointed by a Democratic governor has become the subject of heavy television advertising and other campaigning.
The governor appoints justices and voters decide whether to keep them for full eight-year terms. Only one justice has ever lost. If even one of the incumbent justices is defeated on Thursday, the replacement would likely give Republicans control the highest court in Tennessee, which is the only state where justices name the attorney general.
Republican Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey, who has spearheaded the effort to oust the three justices, last week disclosed giving $425,000 from his political action committee to bankroll a series of television ads painting Justices Gary Wade, Connie Clark and Sharon Lee as liberal supporters of President Barack Obama’s health care law who are soft on crime and capital punishment.
The Republican State Leadership Committee is also spending about $400,000 on efforts to defeat the justices, said spokeswoman Jill Bader. Meanwhile, the incumbents have raised close to $800,000.