Or, you know, if people want to protest vote against someone they don't like, they're psychologically much more likely to do it if the unknown challenger has a "generic" name so they can imagine their protest vote is going to a "generic politician"
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Replying to @arthur_affect @Nymphomachy
"Alvin Greene" isn't a MUCH more whitebread Anglo name than "Vic Rawl" but it still clearly wins the "more normal" contest
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Replying to @arthur_affect @Nymphomachy
The most cynical deployment of this principle, of course, was the infamous "Bagel Lady Judge", where an LA Superior Court Judge with an impeccable record, Dzintra Janavs, was unseated by Lynn Olson, the proprietor of a coffee shop on the PCH known for excellent bagels
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Replying to @arthur_affect @Nymphomachy
Lynn Olson did meet the minimum requirements for the bench, having a JD and having been admitted to the California state bar, but had, unfortunately, never actually practiced law, finding that the cafe was a more rewarding pursuit
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Replying to @arthur_affect @Nymphomachy
It's not uncommon for people to find they wasted their time and money going to law school in this way It is uncommon for them to decide to make good on this investment years later by cynically gaming the system of judicial elections in the nastiest possible way
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Replying to @arthur_affect @Nymphomachy
By finding a judge whose seat was up for election with no other challengers, who happened to have a difficult to spell Czech name, and then filing to run against her and spamming her district with flyers and lawn signs saying "VOTE LYNN OLSON"
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Replying to @arthur_affect @Nymphomachy
Anyway she won by a landslide, the whole legal community was incensed, and it became a whole big news story in 2006 Gov. Schwarzenegger immediately appointed Janavs back onto the bench via the next open seat But, constitutionally, there was nothing they could do about Olson
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Replying to @arthur_affect @Nymphomachy
She remains an LA Superior Court Judge to this day, having narrowly won reelection in 2012 against a guy named "Doug Weitzman" (which is just a tiny bit too ethnic)
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Replying to @arthur_affect @Nymphomachy
electing judges is bad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Replying to @Cybren @Nymphomachy
Everyone openly admits they either just skip the judges on the ballot or just vote randomly It's really bad
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I mean part of the problem is the inherent contradictions involved in making it an election, because you're NOT ALLOWED to directly campaign on "the issues" in a way that would get people to care No pointing to any actual case and going "I wouldn't have ruled that way"
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Replying to @arthur_affect @Nymphomachy
No but you get to be really racist in oblique terms
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Replying to @Cybren @Nymphomachy
That story arc of Fresh Prince where Uncle Phil is tired of waiting for his turn at an appointment to the bench to come up so he decides to challenge Judge Robertson (Sherman Hemsley) whose seat is up for election Ha ha oh man
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