INDReporter

Judicial committee weighs in on complaints

by Walter Pierce

Candidates for Third Circuit Court of Appeal accuse each other of false advertising.

[Editor's Note: This story has been modified since its publication following the receipt of additional information. The original story follows this updated version.]

The complaining - and campaigning - ends today.

Louisiana's Judicial Campaign Oversight Committee has rendered decisions on complaints filed by both candidates in Tuesday's runoff for a seat on the Third Circuit Court of Appeal, rejecting complaints lodged by both District Judge Phyllis Montgomery Keaty's and attorney Buzz Durio. The committee did, however, negotiate a settlement between the two over a second complaint filed by Durio against Keaty.

In a letter dated Monday, Nov. 1, John B. Scofield, vice-chair of the committee, informs Keaty that the committee "has voted to dismiss the complaint, as the Committee did not find clear and convincing evidence that [Durio] violated Canon 7 of the Code of Judicial Conduct." On Friday, Oct. 29, citing the same lack of evidence, Scofield informs Durio that his complaint against Keaty has also been dismissed.

Keaty contacted the committee last week, accusing the Durio campaign of using "blatantly false" figures in a series of print ads and urging the committee to compel Durio "to immediately discontinue these misleading advertisements ..." At issue were ads in which the Durio campaign claimed that more than half of Keaty's rulings that were appealed to the Third Circuit were reversed. Prior to that, the Durio campaign accused Keaty of misleading the public in claiming she has "heard" 11,000 cases during her 12-year tenure on the bench. Each of those complaints was dismissed.

Durio also accused Keaty of suggesting in advertisements that she has "20 years of judicial experience." The committee negotiated an informal resolution between the campaigns, with Keaty agreeing "to qualify all statements of my 20 years judicial experience by noting, as I have tried to do throughout my campaign that 12 of those years have been spent as a Judge and 8 of those were spent as a Judicial Law Clerk."

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ORIGINAL VERSION:

Louisiana's Judicial Campaign Oversight Committee has rejected District Judge Phyllis Montgomery Keaty's complaint against attorney Buzz Durio, her competitor in Tuesday's runoff for a seat on the Third Circuit Court of Appeal.

In a letter dated Monday, Nov. 1, John B. Scofield, vice-chair of the committee, informs Keaty that the committee "has voted to dismiss the complaint, as the Committee did not find clear and convincing evidence that [Durio] violated Canon 7 of the Code of Judicial Conduct."

Keaty contacted the committee last week, accusing the Durio campaign of using "blatantly false" figures in a series of print ads and urging the committee to compel Durio "to immediately discontinue these misleading advertisements ..." At issue were ads in which the Durio campaign claimed that more than half of Keaty's rulings that were appealed to the Third Circuit were reversed.