ADD ANOTHER NAME to the list of magistrates who have gotten into trouble this year for illegal or unethical behavior you almost certainly wouldn’t see if we didn’t treat these important judicial positions as political patronage.

The latest saga involves Spartanburg County Magistrate Johnny Cash, who is accused of showing favoritism in court cases to a man who allowed the judge to use his house for trysts with a clerk from his office. Another complaint claims the magistrate misused public funds to finance the couple’s rendezvous.

Whether the Supreme Court determines those complaints are valid or not, earlier allegations in this case paint a picture of the arrogance of power that our no-qualifications, no-accountability magistrate system engenders. The Spartanburg Herald-Journal reports that according to testimony from the clerk’s divorce proceedings, Mr. Cash and the clerk befriended a private investigator while she was following them, took her to dinner, showed off the hotel room where they were staying together at taxpayer expense and laughed at the chance of being caught or followed. It’s astounding to think that such a public figure might consider himself so insulated from accountability as to be so cavalier.

This case would be little more than fodder for gossip were it not for the fact that it has become so commonplace to hear tales of magisterial misbehavior. Consider a few of the other cases this year alone:

• Lexington County Magistrate Bruce Rutland was found guilty in the spring of loitering to engage in illegal sexual activity after Greenville County deputies arrested him during a stakeout of a Greenville mall men’s room. (Amazingly, he showed the good sense to “retire” shortly after his arrest.)

• The Supreme Court suspended Richland County Magistrate Clemon Stocker in February for asking another magistrate to lower a bond amount for a relative later charged with murder.

• This fall, the court suspended Newberry County magistrate Joseph Griffin Beckham, already on interim suspension on unrelated allegations of stealing court records, for helping get a speeding ticket dropped for a friend, helping get a law enforcement officer promoted and violating judicial standards in the handling of a domestic violence case.

The problem with magistrates starts with the fact that, although bound by judicial conduct rules, they aren't lawyers, and many aren’t even college graduates. Only this year did state law require new magistrates to have a four-year degree; the less educated who were already on the bench last year are free to stay as long as their political patrons will have them.

And that’s the worst part about the magistrate system: the way magistrates are appointed. Although the governor technically appoints magistrates, they are in fact chosen by local state senators — and often by the individual senator who represents a given magisterial district. Some senators take the job of filling a judicial position seriously, but too many use the power as a way to reward political cronies. The result too often is judges who are not as sensitive to ethical propriety as judges should be: They got the job as a political reward, some figure, so why shouldn’t they use it that way?

Until senators decide to treat magistrates as judicial appointments — or until the full Legislature changes the law to demand that — we’ll continue hearing these embarrassing stories about the people who handle the bulk of the state’s criminal and civil cases.