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Article published Feb 3, 2005
Black caucus walks out on vote
ROBERT
W. DALTON
Staff Writer
COLUMBIA -- State Rep. Brenda Lee shook
her head and sighed.Tired of being told to be patient, tired of waiting until
next year, the Spartanburg Democrat pushed her chair back and joined 28 other
black legislators and walked out of judicial elections Wednesday afternoon to
protest the Legislature's failure to select black candidates for the bench."I've
been here 10 years, and I've watched it happen over and over again to qualified
black candidates," Lee said.All eight judges elected during Wednesday's joint
session of the House and Senate were white. The Legislative Black Caucus walked
out of the House chamber after two black women -- Gwendlyne Smalls and Shirley
Robinson -- were passed over for white candidates."Today we got whitewashed,"
said Rep. David Mack, D-Charleston, the caucus chairman.African-Americans also
were shutout a year ago, when the Legislature elected 36 white judges. There are
141 judges statewide, and only six of those are black."We're tired of being left
out in terms of diversity," Mack said. "We're sick and tired of being told to
wait until next year."Rep. Leon Howard, D-Columbia, said the walkout was just
the first of many events that the caucus had planned to bring attention to the
issue. He said a lawsuit challenging the process of electing judges is one of
the options being considered."This is not a knee-jerk reaction or a temper
tantrum," Howard said. "Black candidates are being disrespected and treated
unfairly."Howard is the sponsor of a bill that he believes would send more black
candidates to the bench. It would require the Judicial Merit Selection
Commission to send the names of all qualified candidates to the Legislature
instead of limiting the number of candidates to three.Sen. Jim Ritchie,
R-Spartanburg, said all of the candidates up for election were highly qualified.
Ritchie, who voted for Smalls, said he wasn't surprised by the walkout."Given
the level of frustration some members expressed, I understand," Ritchie said. "I
would hope that they would re-engage in helping us find and elect qualified
people rather than withdrawing from the process."Rep. Lanny Littlejohn,
R-Pacolet, said the "wicked" process could be altered to give the Legislature
more candidates to choose from."But if they want a quota, that's not the right
thing to do," Littlejohn said.Sen. Clementa Pinckney, D-Ridgeland, said the
walkout was the caucus' way of drawing attention to the flawed process."Right
now there's a lot of talk about government restructuring and tax reform,"
Pinckney said. "We need judicial restructuring and reform so that we have a
system that allows for greater diversity."Pinckney said it might be time to take
the Legislature out of the process entirely."Publicly elected judgeships are not
a bad idea at all," Pinckney said. "It would be better than what we have
now."Will Folks, a spokesman for Gov. Mark Sanford, called the walkout a
"legislative matter.""But the bigger picture is where we are headed in state
government," Folks said. "The governor's bias has always been to expand
diversity in all branches of state government."Robert W. Dalton can be reached
at 562-7274 or bob.dalton@shj.com.