Larry Buffington speaks on Judicial Performance and being called an SOB

Monday's debate between Judge Larry Buffington and challenger David Shoemake sponsored by MageeNews.com is available online for viewing.

It lasts about an hour, but here are our favorite parts:

1) Buffington discusses the Judicial Performance charge against him.

2) Buffington and Shoemake discuss the third candidate's (Douglas Magee) endorsement of Shoemake.

3) Buffington says Shoemake called him an SOB and Shoemake explains if he did it was over the case of 15-year-old honor student named Tiffany who didn't want to visit her neglectful parent for which Buffington had a deputy arrest her and take her to jail.

Here are the transcripts.

[43:01]

Question: The Mississippi Commission on Judicial Performance found that you did not have the proper authority to issue subpoenas to two county supervisors to appear before you in a meeting on February 11, 2009. At the meeting you admitted you failed to comply with the law but said you didn't care. The Commission recommended to the Mississippi Supreme Court that you be reprimanded and fined. The Supreme Court has not yet issued its decision. Do you agree with the recommendation by the Commission on Judicial Performance?

Buffington: Absolutely. I messed up. Sixteen years you make some mistakes....I was frustrated; I'll be just as honest as I can be. I had asked the Simpson County Board of Supervisors to meet with me because there had been a controversy about an appointment that I made, a great appointment, a very qualified person, a needed appointment. Three of the supervisors agreed to meet with me. Unfortunately, one of the supervisors particularly said he wanted a subpoena or an order. The other supervisor I was told said the same thing. So out of frustration, because I have always met with the board. If they asked me to meet with them about any kind of situation and I've met with the board. And I thought that, not that they owed me anything, but they owed the office the respect, to meet with me. So I did. Before I thought, I issued the subpoena. The thing about the subpoena was I could have issued the subpoena if I had just set forth what it was. I did not set forth in the subpoena the reason. I made a mistake. I accepted that responsibility. The judicial performance committee has made a recommendation on it and I am in full agreement with it.

[49:31]

Question: Judge Buffington, Simpson County is the largest county in this district and Simpson County native Douglas Magee won a large share of our votes. What would you say to those who supported Mr. Magee to convince them to vote for you in the run-off election?

Buffington: Look at my last 16 years. Doug and I have never had any disagreements. He might have had a disagreement on certain things he wanted to achieve but we've never had any disagreements as far as in court and I would think if they look at me and what I've done they'd want to support me.

Shoemake: Well, Mr. Magee and his supporters are going to support me - [cheers and applause] - and there will be an ad coming out in the paper this week to that effect. But I would say to them, if you want to compare who to vote for, do just that. Go ask other lawyers who have had other lawyers with me, who have had other lawyers with him, ask the people who have had cases with me, ask the people who have had cases with him and inquire if they think justice has been done. When they got a ruling out of the court do they feel they've been treated fairly and has justice been done. When I do my job as a lawyer did I treat them with respect? Did I do what I pledged to do as a lawyer and represent them to the best of my ability? And did I do it and treat them fairly and honestly? People need to go and investigate the people they are voting for for judge.

[53:50]

Buffington: The fact that maybe I've run for other offices, trying to improve what I think is our court system. I'm not ashamed of that. I would do it again. The only lawyer who has ever called me an S.O.B. is standing right beside me right here. So I would ask you to ask the other lawyers in the district as far as how I treat people and how he has treated me at times. And he was a good friend. He is godparent of my youngest child. I have appointed him on cases to represent children where he has made close to a million dollars.

Shoemake: That is absolutely not true and I do want a chance to respond to all of this.

Buffington: And he has and those type things. And I have ruled against him. And he has told everybody I have ruled against him every time he comes in there and I don't. I rule based on the facts and based on what's before me. And I'm going to continue to do that in the future and I hate that it’s gotten down to this. I'm real disappointed it’s gotten down to this. But I'm not going to sit here and be slammed. And I do ask you to check. Check with your court personnel. Check with your local lawyers. Are there two or three that are mad at me? Absolutely. But check with them and see.

Moderator: OK. I'll give you one minute to respond.

Shoemake: Judge Buffington says I called him an S.O.B.

Buffington: Terrell Stubbs was present!

[Terrell Stubbs was standing at the back of the room, at this point he exited the debate hall.]

Shoemake: I don't know whether I did or not, but I know what happened immediately before that in Court. He put that young lady right there on the second row in jail. She was fifteen, a straight-A honor student at Seminary High School. She had not ever caused anybody a problem. She had three part time jobs. She did not want to go with her parent on a weekend visitation when that parent had basically neglected her for the first fourteen years of her life. After all of that. Judge Buffington ordered a deputy to come to the courthouse and take her to jail. Now, in the courtroom, my face never changed. I don't have a lot of personality and I take being a lawyer seriously. I carry a poker face in the courtroom. You never know my emotions in the courtroom. When I got back to his office, in his office with the door closed and with two or three other lawyers there I expressed my opinions on the way he ran his court. And I still have those opinions. And that's one of the things that has pushed me to run for the job I'm running for now. You can talk all you want to, it’s all about kids. But when you put a fifteen year old honor student like Tiffany in jail or threaten her with jail, something is bad wrong.

[Applause]

Debate between Judge Larry Buffington and David Shoemake for Chancery Judge seat, 13th District, MS from Deia Sanders on Vimeo.

Larry Buffington and using the law to silence the media

You remember Larry Buffington. He went nuts when someone "leaked" public information to the press. In his attempt to uncover the hideous crime of giving public information to the press, he issued subpoenas that he later acknowledged broke the law, but he didn't care. For that the Judicial Performance Commission recommended a public rebuke, a case still pending before the Mississippi Supreme Court.

Now, Larry Buffington, the law, and the media collide once again. As we have noted, it appears Larry Buffington may have violated state ethics rules regarding nepotism by ordering supervisors to hire his brother and ordering his brother's level of pay. Additionally, this would seem to violate the Code of Judicial Conduct that says clearly, "A judge shall avoid nepotism and favoritism."

So a citizen files a complaint. Then comes the story in the Clarion Ledger quoting the citizen and the head of the Judicial Performance Commission.

Charlene May of Silver City acknowledged to The Clarion-Ledger that she filed the complaint "because I think the public needs to know he is robbing taxpayers." But the head of the judicial watchdog group charged with investigating complaints and making punishment recommendations said state law dealing with nepotism is fuzzy. "It speaks to specific officers and clerks," said John Toney, executive director of the Mississippi Commission on Judicial Performance.

Now comes the next story. Apparently Larry Buffington and his attorney are attempting once again to use the law to silence the media.

A Silver Creek woman says her judicial complaint against longtime Chancery Judge Larry Buffington has been dismissed because she talked to the media.

This is a woman who saw something wrong. She did the responsible thing and reported it to the authorities. When contacted by the press she didn't run and hide, she said what she did. At what point does any of this clear Larry Buffington of nepotism?

She filed her complaint late last month with the Mississippi Commission on Judicial Performance.

Buffington said Monday he hired his brother four years ago in Lawrence County only because the county prosecuting attorney had a scheduling conflict. He said county supervisors hired his brother in the other counties.

So Buffington can comment on this, but the person who made the allegation can not?

May said she received a call on her cell phone from the commission's Executive Director John Toney telling her that her complaint was voided because she breached the confidentiality clause after her story appeared in The Clarion-Ledger.

That was the same story in which John Toney appeared.

May said she disagrees with her complaint beingdismissed.

"That does not negate what he has done," May said of Buffington. "He committed nepotism."

Toney said he couldn't confirm or deny anything about the case because the commission's work is confidential until the recommendation.

Larry Buffington Does it Again

How can one rural judge provide so much entertainment? Here is the latest from Judge Larry Buffington.

Longtime Chancery Judge Larry Buffington, who is in a runoff in less than three weeks, is facing a new judicial complaint.

Buffington allegedly has filed orders in four counties dating to 2000 hiring his brother, Scott Buffington, as a Youth Court prosecutor, according to the complaint.

Charlene May of Silver City acknowledged to The Clarion-Ledger that she filed the complaint "because I think the public needs to know he is robbing taxpayers."

But the head of the judicial watchdog group charged with investigating complaints and making punishment recommendations said state law dealing with nepotism is fuzzy.

"It speaks to specific officers and clerks," said John Toney, executive director of the Mississippi Commission on Judicial Performance.

This is the "fuzzy" law.

It shall be unlawful for any person elected, appointed or selected in any manner whatsoever to any state, county, district or municipal office, or for any board of trustees of any state institution, to appoint or employ, as an officer, clerk, stenographer, deputy or assistant who is to be paid out of the public funds, any person related by blood or marriage within the third degree, computed by the rule of the civil law, to the person or any member of the board of trustees having the authority to make such appointment or contract such employment as employer. § 25-1-53

And the law states (§ 25-4-103) a brother is a relative.

Toney would not discuss a specific case but said generally it's not a "slam dunk" that any rule or law has been broken.

"The only thing we would be looking at is whether he appointed someone who wasn't needed," Toney said.

There might be a few other things to consider as well also from the Code of Judicial Conduct

• A judge shall avoid nepotism and favoritism. (Canon 3-C-4)

• Judges shall not allow their family, social, or other relationships to influence the judges' judicial conduct or judgment. (Canon 2-B)

Back to the story.

May filed records with her complaint showing orders signed by Buffington appointing Scott Buffington as a Youth Court prosecutor in Jefferson Davis, Lawrence and Simpson counties. Scott Buffington also was appointed for Smith County, too, but not Covington, she said.

Besides nepotism, Buffington also may have violated §25-4-105 that prohibits a relative setting "the amount of pecuniary benefit" of a relative which the Mississippi Ethics Commission has looked down on numerous times (for example Opinion ID: 99-043-E and Opinion ID: 05-069-E).

We hope to hear more from Judge Larry Buffington on this one.

Buffington Has Opponents

Remember Larry Buffington? Sid Salter said he put the "Buff in judicial buffoonery."

Judge Larry Buffington admitted:
• He violated the Mississippi Constitution
• He violated the Code of Judicial Conduct
• He brought disrepute on the Court with his willful misconduct
• He didn’t care when he broke the law
• He uses his position as Judge to appoint his friends to office

A case against him by the Mississippi Judicial Performance Committee is pending at the Mississippi Supreme Court.

Well, Larry Buffington has two opponents for reelection coming up on November 2.

Douglas Magee and David Shoemake

David Shoemake:


Douglas Magee

Buffington's "willful misconduct...brings the judicial office into disrepute"

The Mississippi Commission on Judicial Performance has suggested to the Mississippi Supreme Court that they publicly reprimand Chancery Court Judge Larry Buffington for his "misconduct" that "brings the judicial office into disrepute." The Commission lists four violations of the Code of Judicial Conduct of Mississippi and a violation of the Mississippi Constitution.

(Y'all Politics has the actual press release and documents.)

It is not uncommon for some justice court, municipal court, or even county judge to receive a reprimand. But this is a significant action against a Chancery Court Judge. If our quick search of the Mississippi Supreme Court actions is accurate, Buffington might well be only the fourth chancellor in recent years to have a public rebuke.

Hyde Rust Jenkins, II - 1998
Walter W. "Wes" Teel - 2003 (Teel is now in prison)
Ceola James - 2005

According to the Judicial Performance Commission's 2009 Annual Report, 226 complaints were filed against Chancery Court Judges from 2006-2009. Most were dismissed or dealt with in private. Buffington's charges rose above the trivial accusations to merit attention by the Mississippi Supreme Court.

Simpson County News: Dems switch to GOP; Diaz out in December

Not to get lost in the news from Simpson County that a number of local elected officials - including the sheriff and the district attorney of a four county district (Simpson, Covington, Jasper, Smith) - are switching from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party comes another little piece of information.

Former Supreme Court Justice Oliver Diaz appears to be stepping down as Youth Court Public Defender in December.

Right of Mississippi has the news on the switchers: Mississippi Democrats Switch to GOP

Bad Larry Buffington has the news on Diaz: Larry Buffington Orders Additional Appointment in Simpson County

Last time Judge Buffington made an appointment to Youth Court Public Defender, he freaked out and demanded who would leak such public information to the public and even subpoenaed the county's two Republican supervisors to come before him and answer questions on the matter. That apparently warranted an investigation by The Mississippi Commission on Judicial Performance because WLBT reported the Commission issued a subpoena to WLBT News for their footage of Buffington's antics at the Board of Supervisors meeting. Somehow, we expect Buffington's reaction to be more tame this time.

Buffington v Buffington's Mouth

Larry Buffington should file suit against his own mouth for damages. Y'all Politics has three great audio files of Judge Larry Buffington admitting issuing subpoenas that didn't comply with the law; using his position as judge to appoint his friends to office; and helping a friend get a hospital contract from elected officials in Covington County.

Larry Buffington: Admissions Caught On Tape

It ain't getting better for Judge Larry Buffington. Now a complaint has been filed against him with the Mississippi Commission on Judicial Performance. And the evidence, as shown on WLBT, is pretty strong.

Judge Larry Buffington Self Destructs

What is going on with Judge Larry Buffington? First he made a public order to the Simpson County Board of Supervisors to hire his friend Oliver Diaz to be a youth court public defender (when other public defenders were doing the job) so he could get his state retirement. Then he demanded to know who leaked this public information to the press! So he subpoenaed the two Republican supervisors (because Judge Buffington is so nonpartisan) to appear before him.

Now, the supervisors have moved to quash his order because - get this - he didn't do it properly and had no authority to do it. Somebody talk this guy down from the ledge, he is embarrassing himself. Read their motion here courtesy of Y'all Politics.

Oh yeah, did we mention that PERS rejected Diaz for retirement benefits anyway?