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reprint or license thisADMINISTRATIVE LAW COURT JUDGESHIP
Defeat discourages some
One black candidate's win isn't enough, critics say
By RICK BRUNDRETT
rbrundrett@thestate.com
The defeat Wednesday of a black candidate for an Administrative Law Court seat will discourage African-Americans from seeking judicial seats next year, some black lawmakers say.
Paige Gossett, 36, who is white, defeated Shirley Robinson, 55, who is black, by a 94-69 vote during a joint session of the General Assembly.
Black lawmakers said the election was their last chance this legislative session to increase the number of black judges in South Carolina.
Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, D-Orangeburg, said Robinson, who unsuccessfully sought an Administrative Law Court seat last year, told her and Rep. Leon Howard, D-Richland, after the vote that she doesn’t plan to run again.
“To keep beating your head against a brick wall and coming back again — what sane person would do this?” Cobb-Hunter said.
Efforts to reach Robinson, a state Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation attorney in Columbia, were unsuccessful.
Gossett, a partner in the Columbia law firm of Willoughby & Hoefer, afterward thanked her supporters and congratulated Robinson for “running a great race,” though she declined further comment.
Gossett replaces Ray Stevens, who was named head of the state Department of Revenue in January. Stevens is white.
Lawmakers will fill 38 judicial seats when they reconvene in January 2007, said Jane Shuler, chief lawyer for the state Judicial Merit Selection Commission. At least one seat is open, Shuler said, noting that state Court of Appeals Judge Bert Goolsby of Columbia plans to retire.
Of 134 trial and appellate judges, eight — or about 6 percent— are black. That includes J. Michelle Childs, 40, who was named Wednesday to a circuit court seat in an uncontested election.
Childs, a state Workers’ Compensation commissioner, replaces Reggie Lloyd, who in February became the state’s first permanent black U.S. attorney.
The state’s black population is about 30 percent; the percentage of black lawyers in South Carolina is about 6 percent.
Wednesday’s vote between Gossett and Robinson was largely along racial lines. Every black lawmaker voted for Robinson, according to Cobb-Hunter, along with a number of white Democrats.
House Speaker Bobby Harrell of Charleston, a white Republican, also voted for Robinson. But Howard, who supported Robinson, criticized Harrell afterward, saying, “He didn’t work for her, and that’s a lack of leadership.”
Howard and Cobb-Hunter said they are researching whether they have legal standing to bring a federal civil rights lawsuit against the General Assembly.
Harrell’s spokesman, Greg Foster, said Harrell believes the vote among senators was the deciding factor for Gossett.
State Sen. Jake Knotts, R-Lexington, said he was the Senate floor leader for both Gossett and Childs. He believes both women did better jobs of campaigning among lawmakers than did Robinson.
Reach Brundrett at (803) 771-8484.
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