UPHOLDING INTEGRITY

Where is the judiciary, in the Judge Gilbert case, to uphold its integrity.
The Record-Eagle and the bar association are calling for him to resign, but
there is nothing that requires him to step down.

It seems that the Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission is the body to take
action, but they said that it could take years. That rules them out as an
effective method of dealing with such cases, then calls into question the
issue of integrity of the judiciary.

I'm reminded of the accounting profession, where the people who are
consulting businesses on how to improve the bottom line are also auditing
the books. And in the finance companies, where the people selling new stocks
are also advising clients on what to buy. In both cases the profession had
no way of upholding its own integrity.

Now we have a judge breaking the law and the judiciary doesn't seem able to
hold him accountable.

The only profession where I see integrity is in academia. The University of
Michigan, with its self-imposed sanctions for the payments to basketball
players, set a very high standard for integrity. They spend a lot of time
and money on their sports program to win. They put all that aside to instead
assign a higher priority to integrity.

The editor-in-chief of the Harvard (University) Business Review lost her job
earlier this year, because she was having a romantic relationship with Jack
Welsh, retired CEO of GE, while also interviewing him for an article in the
magazine. She recognized the conflict and reassigned the writing to another
staff member. But the professors at Harvard set a higher standard for
integrity.

We need the same high standard of integrity in Michigan Judiciary. I hope
the Record-Eagle will continue to pursue the story until we have it.

Paul Rothaug

Northport