The Kentucky Judicial Conduct Committee is again expressing concern over the campaign of Joseph Fischer, a candidate for the Supreme Court in the Sixth District, who is running against incumbent Michelle Keller.
The concern comes from the Fischer campaign announcing four campaign stops with Fourth District Congressman Thomas Massie (R-Lewis County) in the district where Fischer is running for office.
Fischer announced that he would campaign with Massie, whose Fourth Congressional district makeup closely resembles that of the Sixth District Supreme Court seat.
“All but three of the counties that are entirely in Massie’s district are also in the district in which Fischer is running,” the JCC said in a statement.
The Sixth District comprises Boone, Bracken, Campbell, Carroll, Gallatin, Grant, Kenton, Oldham, Owen, Pendleton, Shelby, and Trimble counties.
Earlier in the summer, the JCC chided Fischer over his campaign, referring to himself as the “conservative Republican,” using elephants in campaign literature and running on a partisan platform for a judicial seat that’s traditionally nonpartisan.
“When judicial candidates emphasize their affiliation with a political party, they erode long-held American principles of judicial independence and fairness,” the committee wrote in August.
Last week, The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit said that the Kentucky Judicial Conduct Commission couldn’t investigate complaints against Fischer.
Fischer filed a lawsuit in early October that said he thought the commission was seeking sanctions against him for campaign violations resulting from him branding himself as “the conservative Republican” in the judicial race, which is a nonpartisan race.
“My opponents wanted to prevent voters from learning about my conservative political background,” Fischer said in a release. “However, the Sixth Circuit’s decision affirms my right to tell voters about my record of being a registered Republican and conservative legislator as well as my endorsement by Kentucky Right to Life.”
The committee is a nonpartisan group created to monitor the judiciary’s integrity in Kentucky judicial elections. Chair Anthony Wilhoit and the 12-member group penned the August letter and the latest complaint.
“The committee has focused its public statements on campaigns that used false or misleading information to persuade voters and believes its work has discouraged such campaigning,” the complaint reads. “Now it voices concern about partisanship, out of fear that this trend will undermine the independence of the judiciary, and thus undermine its integrity. Citizens should be able to expect their disputes that end up in court will be decided by an impartial tribunal that is not influenced by political affiliations.”
Keller has also expressed concern over Fischer’s campaign.
“Judges by nature are rule makers and rule followers,” Keller said in August. “It worries me that anyone would aspire to be a judge to blatantly disregards the long-standing rules of the office he or she seeks because that’s what I think is happening.”