0001 1 JUDICIAL MERIT SELECTION COMMISSION 2 3 OPEN SESSION 4 PUBLIC HEARINGS ON JUDICIAL QUALIFICATIONS 5 6 VOLUME II 7 TUESDAY, APRIL 14, 2009 8 ROOM 209, GRESSETTE BUILDING 9 COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA 10 COMMENCING AT 9:40 a.m. 11 12 REPORTED BY: CYNTHIA FIRST, RPR, CRR 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 0002 1 MEMBERS IN ATTENDANCE: 2 SENATOR GLENN F. McCONNELL, CHAIRMAN REPRESENTATIVE F.G. DELLENEY, JR., VICE CHAIRMAN 3 SENATOR ROBERT FORD SENATOR JOHN M. KNOTTS, JR. 4 PROFESSOR JOHN P. FREEMAN MS. AMY JOHNSON McLESTER 5 REPRESENTATIVE ALAN D. CLEMMONS REPRESENTATIVE DAVID J. MACK, III 6 JOHN DAVIS HARRELL, ESQUIRE DON SELLERS, ESQUIRE 7 8 COUNSEL PRESENT: 9 JANE O. SHULER, CHIEF COUNSEL J.J. GENTRY 10 BRADLEY S. WRIGHT PATRICK G. DENNIS 11 JOEL DEASON NANCY COOMBS 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 0003 1 SEN. McCONNELL: I'm going to reconvene at 2 this particular time. It's my understanding from staff 3 they need to bring us up to date -- legal staff, on a 4 legal matter that we discussed in executive session 5 yesterday, and we also have some scheduling problems 6 that we need to deal with. Do I hear a motion to go 7 into executive session? 8 PROFESSOR FREEMAN: So moved. 9 MR. HARRELL: Second it. 10 SEN. McCONNELL: Moved and seconded. We'll 11 open it up for discussion. Any discussion? There being 12 no discussion, all in favor please say, "Aye." 13 THE COMMISSION: Aye. 14 SEN. McCONNELL: Opposed, "Nay." Ayes have 15 it. I don't need to announce it. It's clearly a 16 majority. 17 (Executive session continued under separate 18 record.) 19 * * * * * 20 21 22 23 24 25 0013 1 MS. SHULER: While we're waiting, I'd like to 2 introduce Joel Deason, who is a new screening attorney. 3 He is with the General Committee and the Senate. And 4 many of you know Nancy Coombs, who is screening again 5 for this spring screening. 6 SEN. McCONNELL: It's Joel's first time. Do 7 you want to ask him some questions? 8 (Discussion off the record.) 9 SEN. McCONNELL: The Judicial Merit Selection 10 has called the meeting today pursuant to Chapter 19 of 11 Title 2, South Carolina Code of Laws, requiring the 12 review of candidates for the judicial office. The 13 function of the Commission is not to choose between 14 candidates, but rather to declare whether or not the 15 candidates who offer for positions on the bench in our 16 judgment are qualified to fill the positions they seek. 17 The inquiry we undertake is a thorough one. 18 It is centered around the Commission's nine evaluative 19 criteria and involves a complete personal and 20 professional background check on every candidate. These 21 public hearings are convened for the purpose of 22 screening candidates for the following positions: One 23 vacancy on the Supreme Court, two vacancies on the 24 Circuit Court, two vacancies on the Family Court, and 25 two vacancies on the Administrative Law Court. 0014 1 For today we will screen one vacancy on the 2 Circuit Court, two vacancies on the Family Court, and 3 one vacancy on the Administrative Court. 4 We have before us now The Honorable Rob B. 5 Stilwell. He's offering for Circuit Court, Thirteenth 6 Circuit, Seat Number 3. Good morning, sir. 7 JUDGE STILWELL: Good morning, sir. How are 8 you today? 9 SEN. McCONNELL: Fine. If you'd be so kind as 10 to raise your right hand. 11 ROB B. STILWELL, being first duly sworn, 12 testified as follows: 13 EXAMINATION 14 SEN. McCONNELL: Thank you. Do you have 15 anybody here you wish to introduce? 16 THE WITNESS: Yes, sir. With your permission, 17 I'd like to introduce my wife, Charlotte Stilwell, who 18 is here in support of me. However, I think the real 19 reason she is here is because she was excited about me 20 being put under oath. Perhaps y'all could allow her to 21 ask a few questions. 22 SEN. McCONNELL: We're delighted to have you 23 with us. 24 The Judicial Merit Selection Commission has 25 thoroughly investigated your qualifications for the 0015 1 bench. Our inquiry is focused on nine evaluative 2 criteria and has included a survey of the Bench and the 3 Bar, a thorough study of your application materials, a 4 verification of your compliance with state ethics laws, 5 a search of newspaper articles in which your name 6 appears, a study of previous screenings, and a check of 7 economic conflicts of interest. 8 We have received no affidavits filed in 9 opposition to your election. We have no witnesses 10 present to testify. I would ask you if you have any 11 brief opening statement you wish to make before I turn 12 you over to Mr. Wright, our staff counsel, who has some 13 questions for you. 14 THE WITNESS: Yes, sir. Very briefly I would 15 like to thank you for giving me the opportunity to 16 appear today. I certainly have a lot of respect for 17 everyone on this panel, for the sacrifices that you make 18 in furthering the judiciary in this state. 19 I have had the privilege of coming up here to 20 the State House for about the past two or three months, 21 getting to know the legislators, and it's given me a 22 newfound respect for the sacrifices that y'all make 23 being in the legislature, time away from family, time 24 away from home, time away from businesses. Boy, it's 25 difficult to understand until you spend some time up 0016 1 here. I don't see how you do it and I certainly do want 2 to express my appreciation for your service to this 3 state. 4 SENATOR FORD: It sounds like his father wrote 5 that speech. 6 SEN. McCONNELL: Thank you so much. 7 Mr. Wright. 8 MR. WRIGHT: Good morning, Judge Stilwell. 9 THE WITNESS: Good morning. 10 MR. WRIGHT: Mr. Chairman and members of the 11 Commission, I have a few procedural matters to take care 12 of with this candidate. 13 BY MR. WRIGHT: 14 Q Judge Stilwell, you have before you the 15 Personal Data Questionnaire you submitted as part of 16 your application. Is there any amendment that you would 17 like to make at this time to your PDQ? 18 A No, sir. 19 MR. WRIGHT: At this time, Mr. Chairman, I 20 would like to ask that Judge Stilwell's Personal Data 21 Questionnaire be entered as an exhibit into the hearing 22 record. 23 SEN. McCONNELL: Is there any objection? 24 Hearing none, the Personal Data Questionnaire will be 25 entered into the record at this time. 0017 1 (Personal Data Questionnaire for Judge Rob B. 2 Stilwell marked JMSC Exhibit Number 1, for 3 identification.) 4 BY MR. WRIGHT: 5 Q Judge Stilwell, you also have before you the 6 sworn statement you provided with detailed answers to 7 over 30 questions regarding judicial conduct, statutory 8 qualifications, office administration and temperament. 9 Is there any amendment you would like to make at this 10 time to your sworn statement? 11 A No, sir. 12 MR. WRIGHT: At this time, Mr. Chairman, I 13 would ask the Judge Stilwell's sworn statement be 14 entered as an exhibit into the hearing record. 15 SEN. McCONNELL: Is there any objection? 16 Hearing none, the sworn statement will be entered into 17 the record at this time. Mr. Wright. 18 (Sworn Statement of Rob B. Stilwell 19 marked JMSC Exhibit Number 2, for identification.) 20 MR. WRIGHT: One final procedural matter I 21 note for the record, that based on the testimony 22 contained in the candidate's PDQ, which has been 23 included in the record with the candidate's consent, 24 Judge Stilwell meets the statutory requirements for this 25 position regarding age, residence and years of practice. 0018 1 BY MR. WRIGHT: 2 Q Judge Stilwell, why do you now want to serve 3 as Circuit Court judge? 4 A Well, I have served as Municipal Court judge 5 for the better part of the last 10 years, and I've 6 enjoyed my service in Municipal Court. I find that 7 based on the comments that I have received from members 8 of the community and from members of the Bar, I've 9 acquitted myself rather well and have been successful at 10 it. So I think I am presently a good judge and would 11 like to continue that service on the Circuit Court. 12 Also I would tell you, it may sound trite and 13 it might sound corny, but I am committed to duty and I 14 am committed to service. And I think I've demonstrated 15 that over the years through my service to the country. 16 I may be characterized as a glassy-eyed true believer in 17 that regard, but I truly do love the state and I love 18 the country. I've had the experience of seeing other 19 countries and seeing other persons around this world who 20 are not as fortunate as we are, not as fortunate to 21 realize and experience the society that we live in and 22 the freedoms that we have the luxury of experiencing. 23 One of the things that ensures the way of life 24 that we live is a solid and strong judiciary, one of the 25 three branches of government. Without a judiciary, 0019 1 individuals' rights to life and liberty are 2 significantly compromised. The judiciary ensures, of 3 course, that individual rights, due process rights of 4 individuals are protected. And that is critical to a 5 free society and our economic position in this world. I 6 feel very strongly about that. 7 I'll also tell you that as a Municipal Court 8 judge, I've had the opportunity to meet and to interact 9 with people and have influences on people's lives in a 10 positive way. As a Circuit Court judge, as well, you 11 would have the opportunity and duty to interact with 12 people, of course, and have an influence on people's 13 lives. I would like to continue that service and 14 influence people's lives in a positive way. And that is 15 the reason why I want to be a Circuit Court judge. I 16 appreciate y'all considering me for that position. 17 Q Judge Stilwell, although you address this in 18 you sworn affidavit, could you please tell the members 19 of the Commission what you think is the appropriate 20 demeanor for a judge? 21 A Yes. Honestly, it's easy to say a judge 22 should be fair and impartial. That is true, and I don't 23 think anybody would disagree with that. But I think a 24 judge, really what a judge needs to be able to do is to 25 demonstrate empathy for those who come in front of him, 0020 1 whether they be litigants or whether they be defendants, 2 whether they be attorneys practicing before him. I 3 think a judge has to be able to empathize with those 4 people, has to be able to put himself in those shoes and 5 recognize exactly what they are presenting to them; make 6 the people who are in front of him recognize and know 7 that the Court considers what they have to say 8 important, to make sure they understand and recognize 9 that they are being treated fairly and impartially. 10 I think you have to have a great deal of 11 empathy as a Circuit Court judge to make sure that 12 people who come before you -- there are a lot of people 13 who come before you -- recognize that they are being 14 treated fairly and that the judge and the Court, and 15 moreover the State of South Carolina, cares about their 16 rights and cares about them. 17 Q Judge Stilwell, if elected, what would you 18 like your legacy to be as a judge on the Circuit Court? 19 A I think what I would like is, after having 20 retired or after having died, I would like for people to 21 look back at me and say he was a man of integrity. Now, 22 obviously, if I'm a man of integrity, then in my 23 judicial duties I hope that they would see I 24 demonstrated integrity at all times. 25 Within the term "integrity," of course, I 0021 1 think you have notions of fairness and impartiality, of 2 grace and treating people with respect. But all of 3 that, I think, is a part of exercising integrity. I 4 think that's the most important thing that a judge or an 5 individual can demonstrate in his life. I tell my 6 children all the time, and they probably get tired of 7 hearing it, that your money can be taken away from you, 8 your worldly possessions can be taken away from you, 9 your job can be taken away from you. And if the good 10 Lord decides in His infinite wisdom, then love can be 11 taken away from you. But the one thing that you have 12 control of and that can't be taken away from you is your 13 integrity, and you should guard it jealously. 14 Therefore, in my legacy, I hope that people will simply 15 look at me and say, "He was a man of integrity." 16 Q What suggestions would you offer for improving 17 the backlog of cases on the docket in Circuit Court, for 18 both Common Pleas and General Sessions? 19 A I am a huge advocate of ADR, alternative 20 dispute resolution. I'm a certified Circuit Court 21 mediator and have been for years and have participated 22 in hundreds and hundreds of mediations. I have seen 23 mediation -- seen mediation work in the Thirteenth 24 Circuit. What happens, obviously, is it just gives 25 attorneys and litigants the opportunity to sit down and 0022 1 focus on a case, to recognize strengths and weaknesses, 2 and to actually concentrate on the issues that would 3 come before the Court, with an objective third party to 4 facilitate the negotiation. 5 In Greenville County we have significantly 6 affected the backlog of the Common Pleas docket based on 7 mediation and ADR, and I think that's something that 8 should be mandatory. The other thing that it does for 9 the docket is it helps attorneys focus on those cases 10 which they actually are going to try. So when you 11 actually get to a roster meeting and the cases are going 12 to be called, then you know that the attorneys who are 13 in the room are ready and prepared because they have 14 already gone through mediation, they've recognized what 15 they have to get ready, and they're ready to try the 16 case. So you have much, much fewer requests for 17 continuances in that, as well. 18 So that has really, really helped the docket 19 in the Thirteenth Circuit, and I think that should be 20 mandatory. We went into it as a Bar kicking and 21 screaming, but we saw the benefits of it shortly 22 thereafter. So I am a big advocate of mediation. 23 With respect to General Sessions, I think -- 24 obviously, there's not an alternative dispute resolution 25 in General Sessions; however, I think there can be a 0023 1 mechanism of mandatory pretrial conferences where 2 solicitors and defense attorneys and defendants, and 3 potentially even victims can get together and -- perhaps 4 not in the same room, but at the same time, and in the 5 same manner concentrate on these cases, recognize 6 strengths and weaknesses of their respective cases, and 7 come to an agreement with respect to potential plea. I 8 think that we would be well served in instituting that. 9 But I can tell you, Mr. Wright, there's not a 10 problem in the docket in this state that can't be cured 11 through hard work and determination. And the one thing 12 that you have to do as a judge and as members of the 13 system, you have to commit yourself to actually working 14 hard and taking care of these issues. It's not 15 acceptable and it's not appropriate to start court at 16 10:00. It's not appropriate to take a two-, 17 two-and-a-half-hour lunch. And it's not appropriate to 18 end at 4:00. What's appropriate is to get there, take 19 the bench and do your job. And you require the people 20 who are coming before you, as well, to do their job. 21 It's just a matter of resolving to take care of those 22 issues. 23 I don't think that we have any systemic 24 problems that are precluding us right now from taking 25 care of these docketing issues. We just have to work 0024 1 hard to get it done. And I would submit to you, ladies 2 and gentlemen, that if I were lucky enough to be 3 afforded the opportunity to be a Circuit Court judge, 4 then I will commit myself to working hard. And you will 5 never ever, I promise to you -- and I say this without 6 reservation -- you will never ever have a complaint 7 about my work ethic. 8 Q Judge Stilwell, you disclosed in your Personal 9 Data Questionnaire that you were charged with driving 10 under the influence in 1986. Can you explain for the 11 Commission the nature and disposition of this charge? 12 A Yes, sir. I was a freshman at the Citadel, 13 and that charge was dismissed and it was reduced to a 14 reckless driving. What happened was I was at Folly 15 Beach with a group of my friends, and I was under curfew 16 at the Citadel as a freshman. And I left the party. I 17 was not driving. My roommate actually was driving. And 18 we were stopped by a Folly Beach police officer. And he 19 conducted a field sobriety test on my roommate and 20 determined that he was not fit to drive, so he came 21 around to my side of the car and asked me if I had been 22 drinking. I told him in fact that I had been drinking. 23 He asked me, "Well, do you think that you can drive?" 24 And at that point I was much, much more 25 concerned with the authorities at the Citadel than I was 0025 1 of any other authorities. As you can imagine, as a 2 freshman, I felt like I was within an inch of my life at 3 any given second. So I told him I didn't know, but I 4 needed to be back at the Citadel in 20 minutes, and I 5 needed to do what I could to get back. 6 So he told me, "Drive back to the Citadel and 7 be careful." And about a half mile up the road, another 8 Folly Beach police officer stopped me. After that, 9 about a week later, the Chief of Police of Folly Beach 10 called me to his office. We had a discussion. And 11 based on the circumstances, he resolved to dismiss the 12 driving under the influence charge. And I pled guilty 13 to reckless driving. It was a mistake that I made when 14 I was young, over 23 years ago. I'm embarrassed of it, 15 but I learned my lesson. 16 Q Judge Stilwell, you noted in your Personal 17 Data Questionnaire that you were sued in a case 18 involving a traffic accident. Can you explain for the 19 Commission the nature and disposition of that case? 20 A Well, my wife is here if you'd like to put her 21 under oath and ask her that question. It was a traffic 22 accident. I wasn't involved in the traffic accident. I 23 was named as a defendant because I was the titleholder 24 on the car. And my wife ran a red light and hit another 25 car. And we -- my insurance company is USAA, and they 0026 1 defended the case, and it was resolved. 2 I don't know a whole heck of a lot more about 3 it than that, frankly, because we never got to court. 4 It was something that was resolved short of litigation. 5 And that's the crux of it. 6 Q Thank you, Judge Stilwell. I have a few 7 housekeeping issues. Have you sought or received the 8 pledge of any legislator prior to this date? 9 A No, sir, I have not. 10 Q Have you sought or have you been offered a 11 conditional pledge of support of any legislator pending 12 the outcome of your screening? 13 A No, sir, I have not. 14 Q Have you asked any third parties to contact 15 members of the General Assembly on your behalf? 16 A No, sir, I have not. 17 Q Have you contacted any members of the 18 Commission? 19 A No, sir. I have spent an appreciable amount 20 of time at the State House, and I have spoken to members 21 of the Commission just to meet and greet, but we have 22 not discussed my election or candidacy. 23 Q Do you understand that you are prohibited from 24 seeking a pledge or commitment until 48 hours after the 25 formal release of the Commission's report? 0027 1 A I do, sir. 2 Q Have you reviewed the Commission's guidelines 3 on pledging? 4 A Yes, sir. 5 Q As a follow-up, are you aware of the penalties 6 for violating the pledging rules, that is, it is a 7 misdemeanor, and upon conviction the violator must be 8 fined not more than $1,000 or imprisoned not more than 9 90 days? 10 A Yes, sir. 11 Q I would note that the Upstate Citizens 12 Committee reported that "Based on the investigation of 13 this committee, we find that Mr. Stilwell meets the 14 qualifications as set forth in the evaluative criteria. 15 The interviews and other sources utilized have led us to 16 determine that he is well qualified for the position he 17 seeks." 18 MR. WRIGHT: I would just note for the record 19 that any concerns raised during the investigation 20 regarding the candidate were incorporated during 21 questioning of the candidate today. Mr. Chairman, I 22 have no further questions. 23 SEN. McCONNELL: Thank you, sir. Any member 24 of the Commission have a question? Senator from 25 Charleston. 0028 1 BY SENATOR FORD: 2 Q Just a couple of comments. First I'm going to 3 let your father know that you aced it. He'd be proud of 4 you today. 5 A Thank you. 6 Q Also, I think the General Assembly might 7 forgive you coming from Greenville, the country, coming 8 to Charleston with the lights and the whole new 9 lifestyle. So I can see you having a good time, which 10 is one question I'm curious about. Were you born in 11 Virginia? 12 A Yes, sir. My father worked Senator Strom 13 Thurmond. My mother did, as well, frankly, and that's 14 how they met. He was working on the Senate, I believe, 15 Commerce Committee at the time. And I was born, and 16 within six months he moved back to South Carolina. My 17 kids give me a hard time. They call me a Yankee because 18 I was born in Virginia. But I tell them that was only 19 because we were there in the service of the State of 20 South Carolina. 21 Q Just let them know that was holy ground back 22 then, according to the senior senator. You're not 23 interested in no politics? 24 A No, sir. I respect what y'all do, but what 25 y'all do is a thankless job. I look in the papers, and 0029 1 very seldom do y'all get an article that says, boy, 2 these guys are doing a great job and slap y'all's back. 3 Like I said, it's -- honestly, financially I don't see 4 how y'all do it because you spend so much time up here, 5 so much time. I just don't think that with a wife and 6 three small children I could do it. 7 Q Your father was a great one, too. And I'll 8 let him know that you made me proud this morning. 9 A Thank you, sir. I appreciate that. 10 SEN. McCONNELL: Mr. Harrell? 11 BY MR. HARRELL: 12 Q Judge Stilwell? 13 A Yes, sir. 14 Q Would you just be kind enough to broaden my 15 understanding of your range of expertise and let me know 16 a little bit about some criminal practice or criminal 17 law in general, maybe even with Municipal Court Judge 18 Kittrell? 19 A Yes, sir. Well, just broadly, when I got out 20 of law school, I clerked for Judge Short as a Circuit 21 Court clerk, so I was in General Sessions a good bit. 22 When I got out of law school, I went and I practiced 23 with my father in a small firm, just the two of us, for 24 three years before he ascended to the Court of Appeals. 25 In that period of time, I wasn't getting into 0030 1 court quite enough, so what I did is I took an indigent 2 defense contract with the City of Greenville. The City 3 of Greenville had kind of a unique circumstance at that 4 time. They had a Public Defender, but they also had 12 5 private indigent defense contract attorneys, which took 6 overflow from the Public Defender's Office or conflicts. 7 So I did that. I was on the contract for two years, but 8 ended up in General Sessions Court for five years, 9 heavily handling those cases, and handled cases that 10 stemmed anything from a DUI Third to a murder, and tried 11 a good number of cases in General Sessions Court, pled a 12 significant amount of cases in General Sessions Court. 13 When I became a Municipal Court judge, I quit 14 doing any General Sessions Court work. And that was not 15 because there was a conflict, but I thought that there 16 could perhaps be a perception of a conflict with 17 criminal defense attorneys and/or solicitors who may be 18 appearing in front of me, or officers for that matter 19 who may be appearing in front of me in Municipal Court. 20 Jurisdiction's, obviously, in Municipal Court 21 exclusively criminal. 22 And I thought that it may be inappropriate for 23 me to preside over a case which an officer or a 24 solicitor was trying or that a defense attorney was 25 trying, and then handle a case in General Sessions Court 0031 1 or in another Municipal Court when in fact I had 2 presided over a case. It could potentially give the 3 impression of undue influence and a conflict, and I did 4 not want that to happen. I think you have to make sure 5 that not only is there no impropriety, but there's even 6 no question or there can be no perception of 7 impropriety. So I committed to stop doing that. But 8 when I stopped doing that, I continued to do Municipal 9 Court and have presided over hundreds of jury trials, 10 criminal jury trials, and have had a few appearances in 11 General Sessions Court since then, as well, not very 12 many. Some on behalf of families who were victims and 13 in other capacities, but not very much. If I couldn't 14 work it out, usually I'd refer them. 15 MR. HARRELL: That is a well-rounded legal 16 practice and career. Thank you, Judge Stilwell. 17 THE WITNESS: Thank you, sir. 18 SEN. McCONNELL: Any other questions? If not, 19 that concludes this stage of the screening process. 20 Just a couple of things very quickly. One is 21 to thank you for your cooperation with our staff in 22 getting all the paperwork done. Secondly again is to 23 remind you about the 48-hour rule. The Commission has 24 targeted April the 23rd to try to get a formal decision 25 out, which would probably make being able to get 0032 1 commitments around April the 28th at 12:00 noon, if that 2 target holds. And you can confirm that with staff. 3 And lastly I would tell you that we keep the 4 record open until such time as we publish an opinion. 5 Should a matter come up, the staff may be in contact 6 with you. Not to indicate there's anything outstanding, 7 but if something should come up, we reserve the right to 8 review it. 9 With that, you're free to go. Thank you so 10 much for being here. 11 THE WITNESS: Thank you, gentlemen. I 12 appreciate it. 13 (Witness excused.) 14 SEN. McCONNELL: We'll stand at ease 15 momentarily. 16 (Discussion off the record.) 17 SEN. McCONNELL: We'll go back on the record 18 for a moment. While we're waiting on another candidate, 19 some of the members have suggested that we go in 20 executive session for the purpose of taking up a couple 21 of procedural matters that we need to handle, plus -- 22 PROFESSOR FREEMAN: So moved. 23 SEN. McCONNELL: Do I hear a second? 24 REP. CLEMMONS: Second. 25 SEN. McCONNELL: There's a second. We'll open 0033 1 it to discussion. Is there any discussion? There being 2 none, we'll go into a vote. All in favor say, "Aye." 3 THE COMMISSION: Aye. 4 SEN. McCONNELL: Opposed by a nay. Ayes have 5 it. Vote is unanimous. We will drop the veil. Brad, 6 if you'd make sure we're secure. 7 (Executive session continued under separate 8 record.) 9 * * * * * 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 0047 1 SEN. McCONNELL: We're back and we'll stand at 2 ease. Bring in the next candidate, William T. Geddings, 3 Jr. 4 Mr. Geddings, good morning. 5 MR. GEDDINGS: Good morning. 6 SEN. McCONNELL: Please have a seat. We are 7 back on the record. We have before us Mr. William T. 8 Geddings, Junior, who is offering for the Family Court, 9 Third Circuit, Seat Number 2. 10 If you'd be so kind as to raise your rind 11 hand. 12 WILLIAM T. GEDDINGS, JR.,, being first duly 13 sworn, testified as follows: 14 EXAMINATION 15 SEN. McCONNELL: Thank you, sir. 16 The Judicial Merit Selection Commission has 17 thoroughly investigated your qualifications for the 18 bench. Our inquiry is focused on nine evaluative 19 criteria. It has included a survey of the Bench and the 20 Bar, a thorough study of your application materials that 21 you submitted, a verification of your compliance with 22 our state ethics laws, a search of newspaper articles in 23 which your name appears, a study of previous screenings, 24 and a check of economic conflicts of interest. 25 We have received no affidavits filed in 0048 1 opposition to your election. No witnesses are present 2 to testify. I would ask you if you have any brief 3 opening statement you wish to give to us before I turn 4 you over to Mr. Deason who will have some questions for 5 you as staff counsel. 6 THE WITNESS: Thank you, Senator. No opening 7 statement, really. I'm just happy to answer any 8 questions you may ask. 9 SEN. McCONNELL: Thank you, sir. 10 MR. DEASON: Mr. Chairman and members of the 11 Commission, I've got a few procedural matters to take 12 care of for this candidate. 13 BY MR. DEASON: 14 Q Mr. Geddings, you've got before you the 15 Personal Data Questionnaire you submitted as part of 16 your application. Is there any amendment that you would 17 like to make at this time to your PDQ? 18 A None other than the amendments we've discussed 19 earlier. 20 MR. DEASON: Thank you. 21 At this time, Mr. Chairman, I'd like to ask 22 that Mr. Geddings' PDQ be entered as an exhibit into the 23 hearing record. 24 SEN. McCONNELL: Is there any objection? 25 Hearing none, the Personal Data Questionnaire will be 0049 1 entered into the record at this time. 2 (Personal Data Questionnaire for William T. 3 Geddings, Jr. marked JMSC Exhibit Number 3, for 4 identification.) 5 BY MR. DEASON: 6 Q Now, Mr. Geddings, you have before you the 7 sworn ethics statement that you provided with detailed 8 answers to over 30 questions regarding judicial conduct, 9 statutory qualifications, office administration and 10 temperament. Is there any amendments you would like to 11 make at this time to your sworn statement? 12 A None other than what we've done before. 13 MR. DEASON: At this time, Mr. Chairman, I'd 14 ask that Mr. Geddings' sworn statement be entered in as 15 an exhibit to the hearing record. 16 SEN. McCONNELL: Is there any objection? 17 There being none, the sworn statement will be entered 18 into the record at this time. Mr. Deason. 19 (Sworn Statement of William T. Geddings, Jr. 20 Marked JMSC Exhibit Number 4, for identification.) 21 MR. DEASON: One final procedural matter. I 22 note for the record that based on the testimony 23 contained in the candidate's PDQ, which has been 24 included in the record with the candidate's consent, 25 Mr. Geddings meets the statutory requirements of this 0050 1 position regarding age, residence and years of practice. 2 BY MR. DEASON: 3 Q But for the record, Mr. Geddings, would you 4 please disclose your residency? 5 A Yes, sir. I'm a resident of Clarendon County, 6 South Carolina, specifically Manning. I've been 7 practicing law since 1988. And I was born in 1963, so 8 I'm 46 years old. 9 Q Okay. And Manning is in the Third Judicial 10 Circuit? 11 A I'm sorry. Yes, sir, Third Judicial Circuit, 12 along with Sumter, Clarendon, Lee and Williamsburg. 13 Q Thank you. Mr. Geddings, why do you want to 14 serve as a Family Court judge? 15 A I think every attorney has to figure what they 16 want their career to be. And I'm a sole practitioner, 17 so there's not a lot of changes that are going to occur 18 there. And I believe that I would be able to serve as a 19 judge. I believe I could do a good job with that. I 20 believe I would enjoy it. I practiced in Family Court, 21 and I believe I could fill that role, as well. 22 I think we need a Family Court judge residing 23 in Clarendon County. Our dockets are a mess right now. 24 So I'd be happy to do sitting things in any of the 25 counties, as well as Clarendon, but sometimes we often 0051 1 need a judge in Clarendon. 2 Q Okay. Thank you. Mr. Geddings, although you 3 included this in your sworn affidavit, could you please 4 tell the members of the Commission what you think is the 5 appropriate demeanor for a judge? 6 A I think a judge has to convince and project 7 the image of respect and authority, not only for the 8 attorneys but for the litigants, especially in Family 9 Court. People in Family Court are going to be in 10 turmoil. They're upset. And the judge needs to project 11 an aura of calm, as well as helping the litigants 12 understand what they can and can't do. 13 I think Family Court more so than in other 14 courts, people always have misconceptions of what is 15 important, what isn't important, what can be done and 16 can't be done. Sometimes attorneys have trouble getting 17 that across to their clients, so I think the judge can 18 be helpful by talking to the attorneys ahead of time, 19 making sure everybody's on the same page, treating 20 everybody with respect and courtesy. 21 Q If given the honor to serve, when you leave 22 the bench, what would you like your legacy to be as a 23 Family Court judge? 24 A That he was a fair man. 25 Q Okay. Well, earlier you mentioned the state 0052 1 of the docket in Manning or in Clarendon County. What 2 suggestions would you offer for improving the backlog of 3 cases in your Family Court? 4 A I think it would be helpful if attorneys 5 talked to one another before the hearing. I know some 6 counties have mandatory alternative dispute resolution. 7 I support that and think it's a good project. 8 But too often we have three days set aside for 9 a trial that settles at the courthouse doors, so you end 10 up with a judge and court reporter sitting there with 11 nothing to do. Meanwhile you've got a bunch of 12 emergency hearings that need to be heard, but there's 13 not enough time to get notices out. So one thing I'd 14 like to do is perhaps, for longer trials, set up a 15 backup case or backup hearing times with the attorneys' 16 agreements that yes, you know, we can get our clients 17 here and we'll do that if that first case should settle. 18 MR. DEASON: Mr. Chairman. 19 SEN. McCONNELL: Yes, sir. You have reached 20 the point? 21 MR. DEASON: Yes, sir. 22 SEN. McCONNELL: Do I hear a motion we go into 23 executive session? 24 MR. SELLERS: Moved. 25 REP. CLEMMONS: Second. 0053 1 SEN. McCONNELL: Moved and seconded. Any 2 discussion? There being none, we'll go to a vote. All 3 in favor of opening executive session for the purpose of 4 taking some testimony in camera, please raise your right 5 hand. 6 (Hands raised.) 7 SEN. McCONNELL: Thank you. Opposed by a like 8 sign. Let the record show that it was a unanimous vote 9 with those present. 10 With that, Sergeant, if you'll seal the 11 chambers. 12 (Executive session continued under separate 13 record.) 14 * * * * * 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 0058 1 SEN. McCONNELL: Mr. Deason. 2 BY MR. DEASON: 3 Q To continue, Mr. Geddings, just a few quick 4 housekeeping questions. Have you sought or received the 5 pledge of any legislator prior to this date? 6 A No, sir, I have not. 7 Q Have you sought or have you been offered a 8 conditional pledge of support of any legislator pending 9 the outcome of your screening? 10 A No, sir. 11 Q Have you asked any third parties to contact 12 members of the General Assembly on your behalf? 13 A No, sir. 14 Q Have you contacted any members of the 15 Commission? 16 A No, sir. 17 Q Do you understand that you're prohibited from 18 seeking a pledge or commitment until 48 hours after the 19 formal release of the Commission's report? 20 A Yes, sir. 21 Q Have you reviewed the Commission's guidelines 22 on pledging? 23 A Yes, sir. 24 Q As a follow-up, are you aware of the penalties 25 for violating the pledging rules, that is, it is a 0059 1 misdemeanor, and upon conviction, the violator must be 2 fined no more than $1,000 or imprisoned not more than 90 3 days? 4 A Yes, sir. 5 MR. DEASON: Finally, I would like to note 6 that the Pee Dee Citizens Committee reported that Mr. 7 Geddings is a well-regarded candidate who would ably 8 serve on the Family Court bench. 9 I would also like to note for the record that 10 any concerns raised during the investigation regarding 11 the candidate were incorporated into the questioning of 12 the candidate today. Mr. Chairman, I have no further 13 questions. 14 SEN. McCONNELL: Thank you, sir. Any member 15 of the Commission have a question? Senator from 16 Lexington. 17 SEN. KNOTTS: Mr. Geddings, thank you for 18 applying. I just have a couple questions. 19 THE WITNESS: Yes, sir. 20 BY SEN. KNOTTS: 21 Q In your experience in Clarendon County, what 22 has been the way the Family Court has operated as far as 23 the time and how many days of the week? And has it been 24 hard to find a judge? 25 A Yes, sir, it has. We were fortunate when the 0060 1 Family Court system really started and we had Judge 2 Turbyville who resided in Clarendon County, so we had a 3 resident judge. But normally Clarendon County gets 4 about one week of court per month. 5 There is usually one or two sitting judges 6 holding court in Sumter. Williamsburg County gets about 7 three days a month, and Lee County gets two days. When 8 we've had a problem in the past with an emergency 9 hearing that needed to be held, the county clerks work 10 very well together about helping you schedule it in 11 another county. Whoever the administrative judge has 12 been has been very good about signing it to let you go 13 to another county to get the time. But it's just with 14 cases becoming more difficult and attorneys needing to 15 schedule more time, then that case settles, you end up 16 with a very clogged docket when you're trying to 17 schedule the time, but then you end up with a judge who 18 is sitting there with nothing to do because the case 19 settled. 20 Did that address your question? 21 Q Yes, sir. Is it inconvenient -- do you see an 22 inconvenience to move plaintiffs in these Family Court 23 cases and clients in these Family Court cases from one 24 county to another county to try these case? 25 A Yes, it is an inconvenience not only to the 0061 1 parties, but it's inconvenient to be sure that you have 2 the right file at the right clerk's office at the time. 3 Usually an attorney will take it who's involved. It is 4 inconvenient, and I think -- I wish we could have more 5 terms of court throughout the circuit. But I do want to 6 commend the judges and the staff that they are trying 7 very hard with what they have to accommodate us. 8 Q How would you address the work week as far as 9 if you were elected judge? 10 A Well, I believe it should run from 9:00 on 11 Monday 'til 5:00 on Friday. And if any emergency needs 12 to be heard, then I think the judge needs to be willing 13 to come in early. Court doesn't usually start until 14 9:30 or 10:00, so generally they try to keep from 9:00 15 to 10:00 open for emergencies. 16 Unfortunately, when you have those type 17 hearings and they set them for up for 15 minutes, you 18 end up finding them take an hour. So not only does it 19 put the earlier cases further back, it backs up your 20 whole day. 21 Q How about deadbeat dads, child support, is 22 that a problem down in your area? 23 A A little bit of a problem. It's not as bad as 24 it is in some areas. But I'm a strong believer that you 25 need -- the noncustodial parent needs to be paying 0062 1 support. And if they're not paying the support, they 2 need to be in court paying it or going to jail until 3 they do. And I've seen a number of cases where you'll 4 hear somebody say, "I'm not going to pay a penny," but 5 it's surprising how quickly they pay when they find out 6 they're getting ready to go to jail. 7 Q Have you heard in the past week or so, this 8 week over in Lexington County, we picked up about six 9 deadbeat -- six to eight deadbeat dads that owed back 10 child support of almost a million dollars? And we have 11 a hard time convincing some judges that they either need 12 to pay the child support or go to jail, and they end up 13 with 10 percent that they pay and then the rest of it is 14 put on hold until they can make it up. And when they 15 come back to court, they're only held responsible for 16 the back payments from the time they were in court 17 before. So you're continuously building a debt there. 18 Do you think that is a solution or what would 19 be your solution to a problem like that if you had to 20 move to another county? 21 A I think that every case can be different, so I 22 don't want to say a blanket this is how I think it 23 should be done. But from what I've seen most of the 24 time, they should never be allowed to get that far 25 behind to begin with. And if they do, then they're 0063 1 going to have to pay more than just 10 percent. They're 2 going to have to stand up for it. 3 I think that we have to be sure that the 4 public has faith in the court system. And when 5 somebody's allowed to run up arrearages, like you said, 6 for just 10 people to a million dollars, that's not 7 helping the public have faith that the Court is going to 8 be looking out for their service. 9 On the other hand, when you take a deadbeat 10 dad who's not paying, you know that he's bragging to his 11 friends and other people, "I was ordered to pay and I'm 12 not paying," nothing sends a message like taking that 13 person to jail, letting him spend a little bit of time. 14 And that will get around quickly and the others will 15 come in and pay. 16 But at the same time, I don't think it's fair 17 to punish a dad who's not paying, that may have a 18 legitimate reason not to, or to try to use him as an 19 example to others because they need to be addressed 20 individually. But I think that's one of the things a 21 judge has to weigh, is the best interests of the mom, 22 the dad -- and I'm using mom as the noncustodial parent 23 for ease. 24 SEN. KNOTTS: Thank you. 25 SEN. McCONNELL: Any other questions? If not, 0064 1 that concludes this stage of the screening process. 2 First of all, I want to thank you for your cooperation 3 with our staff, getting all the paperwork done. 4 Secondly, again to remind you about the 5 48-hour rule. The Commission looks like it's on target 6 to issue a report, a formal report by April the 23rd, 7 which would result in it being formal. And around 12:00 8 noon on April the 28th, we would allow commitments after 9 that time. You may wish to check with the staff to make 10 sure we stay on target and schedule. 11 With that, lastly I would tell you we keep the 12 record open until we publish a report in the event that 13 something should come up that we feel we need to check 14 on. That's not to indicate there's anything pending at 15 all. It's just a practice we do. With that, we thank 16 you for coming. We wish you well. Have a great day. 17 THE WITNESS: Thank you, Senator. I did want 18 to commend Ms. Shuler and Mr. Deason. They've been very 19 helpful, and it's been a pleasure to work with them. 20 SEN. McCONNELL: Thank you. We think we have 21 a good staff, too. We'll stand at ease momentarily. 22 (Witness excused.) 23 (Discussion off the record.) 24 SEN. McCONNELL: We are going to go back on 25 the record at this point. And we have before us Angela 0065 1 R. Taylor. She's offering for the Family Court, Third 2 Circuit, Seat Number 2. Good morning. 3 THE WITNESS: Good morning. 4 SEN. McCONNELL: If you'd be so kind as to 5 raise your right hand. 6 ANGELA R. TAYLOR, being first duly sworn, 7 testified as follows: 8 EXAMINATION 9 SEN. McCONNELL: Thank you. The Judicial 10 Merit Selection Commission has thoroughly investigated 11 your qualifications for the bench. Our inquiry has 12 focused on nine evaluative criteria. It's included a 13 survey of the Bench and the Bar, a thorough study of 14 your application materials, verification of your 15 compliance with state ethics laws, a search of newspaper 16 articles in which your name appears, a study of previous 17 screenings, if any, and a check of economic conflicts of 18 interest. 19 We have received no affidavits filed in 20 opposition to your election, no witnesses are present to 21 testify. So I'd ask you if you have any brief opening 22 statements you wish to make before I turn you over to 23 Ms. Shuler who will be asking you questions today. 24 THE WITNESS: I'm from Sumter, South Carolina. 25 I've practiced law in Sumter since 1985. I have worked 0066 1 with the Solicitor's Office since 1985. I was the 2 attorney for the Department of Social Services for about 3 20 years, and my practice has primarily been in Family 4 Court. And this has been an interesting process, I 5 guess, is what I can say. That's primarily my opening 6 statement. 7 SEN. McCONNELL: Thank you. Ms. Shuler. 8 MS. SHULER: Mr. Chairman and members of the 9 Commission, I have a few procedural matters to take care 10 of with this candidate. 11 BY MS. SHULER: 12 Q Ms. Taylor, you have before you your Personal 13 Data Questionnaire you submitted as part of your 14 application. 15 A Yes, ma'am. 16 Q Are there any amendments that you wish to make 17 to that PDQ? 18 A Not really. Maybe some -- I believe there 19 were a couple of organizations that I didn't include 20 from college, but nothing other than that. 21 MS. SHULER: All right. I'd like to offer 22 Ms. Taylor's PDQ as an exhibit for the hearing record at 23 this time. 24 SEN. McCONNELL: All right. Is there any 25 objection? Hearing none, the Personal Data 0067 1 Questionnaire will be entered into the record at this 2 time. 3 (Personal Data Questionnaire for Angela R. 4 Taylor marked JMSC Exhibit Number 5, for 5 identification.) 6 SEN. McCONNELL: Ms. Shuler. 7 BY MS. SHULER: 8 Q Ms. Taylor, you have before you the sworn 9 statement you provided with detailed answers to over 30 10 questions regarding judicial conduct, statutory 11 qualifications, office administration and temperament. 12 Are there any amendments you would like to make to your 13 sworn statement? 14 A No, ma'am. 15 MS. SHULER: Mr. Chairman, I would like to ask 16 that Ms. Taylor's sworn statement be entered as an 17 exhibit into the hearing record. 18 SEN. McCONNELL: Is there any objection? 19 There being none, the sworn statement will be entered 20 into the record at this time. 21 (Sworn Statement of Angela R. Taylor 22 marked JMSC Exhibit Number 6, for identification.) 23 SEN. McCONNELL: Ms. Shuler. 24 MS. SHULER: One final procedural matter. I 25 note for the record that based on the testimony 0068 1 contained in the candidate's PDQ, Ms. Taylor meets the 2 statutory requirements for this position regarding age, 3 residence and years of practice. 4 BY MS. SHULER: 5 Q Ms. Taylor, could you state for the Commission 6 the city and judicial circuit in which you reside? 7 A Sumter, South Carolina, Third Judicial 8 Circuit. 9 Q Ms. Taylor, you have been practicing law since 10 approximately 1984. Why do you now want to serve as a 11 Family Court judge in the Third Judicial Circuit? 12 A I see that as an opportunity to continue 13 service to the community. I've served under three 14 solicitors since I've been an attorney in Sumter. I was 15 the attorney for the Department of Social Services, as I 16 stated, for about 20 years. 17 And I feel that as a result of the experience 18 that I have, that it would be beneficial in serving as a 19 judge, because I have handled just about every type of 20 case in Family Court. I've been a guardian ad litem in 21 private custody cases, the juvenile prosecutor for the 22 Third Circuit since 1985. When the Solicitor's Offices 23 handled child support enforcement, I was responsible for 24 handling those cases. I think maybe the only thing I 25 haven't done in Family Court is be a public defender for 0069 1 the juvenile. So I feel I have the experience for the 2 position. 3 Q All right. As a follow-up, because you've 4 just shared you've handled all sorts of Family Court 5 cases, are there any areas that you would additionally 6 need to prepare for if you were nominated to serve? 7 A Maybe with private domestic cases. I do 8 handle those, but maybe not as extensively as the DSS 9 child abuse cases and the juvenile prosecutions. So 10 that may be an area that I would need to do some more 11 preparation for that. 12 Q Ms. Taylor, how would you handle that 13 additional preparation? 14 A Well, certainly by reading the case law, 15 conferring with other judges. As I stated, in my 16 private practice I do domestic cases, but maybe not on 17 the same level as with the juvenile cases and the DSS 18 prosecutions. So certainly being more familiar, 19 becoming more acquainted with the laws related to 20 domestic practice. 21 Q Thank you. Ms. Taylor, although you address 22 this in your sworn affidavit, could you explain to the 23 Commission members what you believe to be the 24 appropriate demeanor for a judge? 25 A Well, first and foremost, I believe a judge 0070 1 should be fair. I think a judge should be courteous to 2 the litigants and to the attorneys. I think that should 3 carry not only in the courtroom, but outside of the 4 courtroom, as well. 5 I believe a judge has a responsibility to the 6 community to have the appropriate decorum, and to the 7 best of one's ability to be patient, not to have 8 outbursts of bad temper, that type of thing. 9 Q Thank you. Ms. Taylor, if you're selected for 10 the Family Court, after serving your terms, what would 11 you like your legacy to be known as a judge on the 12 Family Court bench? 13 A Well, primarily that I was fair to people, 14 that I treated everyone, regardless of their background, 15 with respect when they appeared before me. That I made 16 a contribution to the community serving as a judge, but 17 primarily that I was fair. I think that's important. 18 That's an important legacy, in my opinion. 19 Q Thank you. What suggestions would you offer 20 for improving the backlog of cases on the docket in the 21 Family Court? 22 A Well, I think sometimes, and we don't have it 23 in the Third Circuit, that mediation may be an 24 appropriate way to deal with some contested litigation 25 because I believe that the backlog is a result of the 0071 1 contentiousness sometimes of cases. So some means of 2 diversion from the court system, maybe through 3 mediation, if at all possible. 4 We have pretrial conferences in Sumter County 5 to at least try to address how much time the cases are 6 going to take and what will be required to try to 7 resolve those. So to utilize the pretrial conferences 8 and maybe try to establish some means of having 9 settlement conferences to try to settle cases before the 10 day of court when a lot of court time is lost as a 11 result of cases being settled on the day that they're 12 scheduled. 13 Q Thank you. Ms. Taylor, you indicated in your 14 PDQ that you were named as a defendant in a case where a 15 lienholder sued the estate of an individual, the heirs 16 and the creditors of the heirs. And it is my 17 understanding that you were actually a creditor to one 18 of the heirs. Could you briefly explain to the 19 Commission the nature and the current status of that 20 case? 21 A And I brought a copy of the Order from that 22 hearing. I guess this lady passed away -- I don't even 23 know who she is. And the mortgage company sued her 24 heirs. Her son was one of the heirs, and he had been a 25 defendant in a domestic case that I handled. He had 0072 1 been ordered to pay the attorneys' fees, and he had paid 2 them. But they named everyone that was, I guess, a 3 creditor to one of the beneficiaries of her estate. But 4 I do have an Order from that hearing if you want to make 5 that part of the record. 6 MS. SHULER: I'd like to offer that as a part 7 of the record. 8 SEN. McCONNELL: Is there objection? There 9 being none, so ordered and entered at this time. 10 BY MS. SHULER: 11 Q Thank you, Ms. Taylor. Have you sought or 12 received the pledge of any legislator prior to this 13 date? 14 A No, ma'am. 15 Q Have you sought or have you been offered a 16 conditional pledge of support of any legislator pending 17 the outcome of your screening? 18 A No, ma'am. 19 Q Have you asked any third parties to contact 20 members of the General Assembly on your behalf? 21 A No, ma'am. 22 Q Have you contacted any members of the 23 Commission? 24 A No, ma'am. 25 Q Do you understand that you're prohibited from 0073 1 seeking a pledge or commitment until 48 hours after the 2 formal release of the Commission's report? 3 A Yes, ma'am. 4 Q And that date is now April 28th. Have you 5 reviewed the Commission's guidelines on pledging? 6 A Yes, ma'am. 7 Q As a follow-up, are you aware of the penalties 8 for violating the pledging rules, that is, it's 9 considered a misdemeanor and upon conviction the 10 violator must be fined not more than $1,000 or 11 imprisoned not more than 90 days? 12 A Yes, ma'am. 13 MS. SHULER: I would note that the Pee Dee 14 Citizens Committee found Ms. Taylor to be an excellent 15 candidate who would ably serve on the Family Court 16 bench. 17 And I would just note for the record that any 18 concerns raised during the investigation regarding this 19 candidate were incorporated in my questioning of 20 Ms. Taylor today. Mr. Chairman, I have no further 21 questions for Ms. Taylor. 22 SEN. McCONNELL: All right. Let's see if any 23 member of the Commission has any questions. Senator 24 from Lexington. 25 BY SEN. KNOTTS: 0074 1 Q Thank you, Ms. Taylor. Are you committed to 2 work a full week as a Family Court judge, Monday through 3 Friday? 4 A Yes, sir. Yes, sir. 5 Q Have y'all had problems in the past with 6 finding judges to do that in your circuit? 7 A No, sir, that's not a problem. I think all of 8 the judges there work every day, work beyond 1:00 on 9 Friday, so that's not a problem in the Third Circuit. 10 Q How about your backlog? 11 A I think maybe in Sumter there may be -- I'm 12 not sure if you call it a backlog, but it does take some 13 time sometimes to get hearings, temporary hearings, in 14 Sumter as opposed to maybe the smaller counties. 15 Q How about Clarendon? 16 A I don't do court over there as much. They 17 have court once a month for a week. Sometimes they do 18 have to come to Sumter if they have emergency hearings. 19 Q All right. You've been a lawyer for DSS for 20 how many years? 21 A For about 20 years. 22 Q About 20 years. 23 A Yes, sir. 24 Q How do you see foster care being handled as 25 far as the child, the benefit of the child? Do you feel 0075 1 that the shorter the child is in foster care, the better 2 off it is for the child to get stabilization, or do you 3 feel like it ought to continue like it's been in DSS for 4 quite a while with some of the kids staying in foster 5 care for over a year, year and a half? 6 A Well, I don't think long-term foster care 7 placement is in a child's best interest, because 8 generally what happens is the longer they stay, the less 9 able they are to be placed permanently. A lot of times 10 they end up moving around from one foster home to 11 another. So I don't think that long-term foster care is 12 an answer. 13 And I believe the Department is trying to work 14 toward moving children out of foster care as judiciously 15 as possible. But I just don't see that as being in the 16 child's best interest necessarily. 17 Q How about child support, deadbeat dads, 18 deadbeat parents that are in arrears of child support 19 being picked up and being held accountable for the child 20 support? How would you propose to handle that any 21 different than what is being done? 22 A Well, I think sometimes people are 23 incarcerated for not paying. And certainly if they have 24 a history of failure to pay, that maybe is an 25 alternative. But I think that maybe work release should 0076 1 be utilized to encourage or at least facilitate them 2 paying the child support, because once they're 3 incarcerated and they don't have work release, then 4 their arrears just continue to grow. So to the extent 5 that if work release is an alternative to help 6 facilitate the payment of child support, then I 7 certainly would encourage that, unless you have a 8 situation where it is a deadbeat father. 9 And there are people that have no respect for 10 Court Orders and their obligations under Court Orders, 11 and so you do have to deal with them maybe more harsh 12 than you would. 13 Q You wouldn't have a problem dealing with them 14 more harshly if they showed a disrespect for the Court 15 Order? 16 A No, I would not. 17 Q Thank you. 18 A Yes, sir. 19 SEN. McCONNELL: Any further questions? Yes, 20 ma'am. 21 BY MS. SHULER: 22 Q Ms. Taylor, I would just like to clarify for 23 the Commission. You've testified, I think, twice that 24 you've been a DSS attorney for 20 years. 25 A Yes, ma'am. 0077 1 Q But you were actually admitted to the practice 2 of law in South Carolina in 1984; is that correct? 3 A Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am. The Solicitor's 4 Office used to do the DSS child abuse and neglect cases 5 for several years. So when I went to the Solicitor's 6 Office, that was how I was hired, as a full-time child 7 abuse prosecutor. Then I was a contract attorney for 8 DSS for several years after the Solicitor's Office had 9 stopped handling it. 10 MS. SHULER: Thank you. 11 SEN. McCONNELL: This completes this stage of 12 the screening process. First of all, I want to thank 13 you for your cooperation with our staff, getting all 14 this paperwork done. 15 THE WITNESS: Yes, sir. 16 SEN. McCONNELL: Secondly, just to remind you 17 again about the 48-hour rule. We appear to be on 18 target, we think, to issue a report around April the 19 23rd, which would then open it up for commitments, to 20 seek commitments and talk to people around noon on the 21 28th. However, I would caution you that sometimes we 22 can get behind if we run across something, so just 23 confirm that back with the staff. 24 And lastly, we keep the record open until we 25 publish a report, because if any question comes up, we 0078 1 reserve the right to call you and bring you back. It's 2 not to indicate that there's anything pending at all, 3 just so you understand that process. With that, we 4 thank you and have a good day. 5 THE WITNESS: Yes, sir. I did want to add -- 6 I don't know if this was at the appropriate time -- 7 Ms. Goldsmith had told me I needed to bring letters 8 regarding expenditures I've made to update my 9 application to the State Ethics Commission. So I did 10 bring those. 11 MS. SHULER: You can give that to me. 12 THE WITNESS: And I have a copy. 13 SEN. McCONNELL: Thank you so much. We'll 14 include that in the record. 15 THE WITNESS: Thank you. 16 SEN. McCONNELL: Thank you, ma'am. I hope 17 you're not planning to go outside any time soon. It 18 looks like we've got some weather. 19 THE WITNESS: Well, I'll swim back to my car. 20 Y'all have a good afternoon. 21 SEN. McCONNELL: Yes, ma'am. 22 (Witness excused.) 23 SEN. McCONNELL: Mr. Braddock, please have a 24 seat. We'll stand at ease momentarily. 25 (Discussion off the record.) 0079 1 SEN. McCONNELL: This is Family Court, Fourth 2 Judicial Circuit, Seat Number 3. 3 REP. CLEMMONS: So it's misidentified on the 4 sheet as Judicial Circuit Court. So this is actually 5 Family Court. 6 MS. SHULER: It is Family Court. 7 PROFESSOR FREEMAN: Members, we have before us 8 Bryan W. Braddock who is offering for the Family Court 9 for Judicial Circuit Seat 3. 10 Sir, please raise your right hand. 11 BRYAN W. BRADDOCK, being first duly sworn, 12 testified as follows: 13 EXAMINATION 14 PROFESSOR FREEMAN: The Judicial Merit 15 Selection Commission has thoroughly investigated your 16 qualifications for the bench. Our inquiry is focused on 17 nine evaluative criteria and has included a survey of 18 the Bench and Bar, a thorough study of your application 19 materials, verification of your compliance with state 20 ethics laws, a search of newspaper articles in which 21 your name appears, a study of previous screenings, a 22 check for economic conflicts of interest. 23 We have received no affidavits in opposition 24 to your election. No witnesses are here to testify. Do 25 you have a brief opening statement, sir, you would like 0080 1 to make at this time? 2 THE WITNESS: No, sir. I appreciate the 3 opportunity to be here, but I have nothing further than 4 that. 5 PROFESSOR FREEMAN: Thank you. Please answer 6 counsel's questions. 7 MS. SHULER: Is your mic on? 8 THE WITNESS: I believe it is. 9 MS. SHULER: Mr. Chairman and members of the 10 Commission, a few procedural matters to take care of 11 with Mr. Braddock. 12 BY MS. SHULER: 13 Q Mr. Braddock, you have before you your 14 Personal Data Questionnaire. Are there any amendments 15 you would like to make at this time to your PDQ? 16 A I believe there are two amendments that I'd 17 like to make. 18 Q I think Ms. Traywick has them to hand to you. 19 MS. SHULER: Mr. Chairman, I would like to ask 20 that Mr. Braddock's Personal Data Questionnaire and the 21 amendments that he has be entered as an exhibit into the 22 hearing record. 23 PROFESSOR FREEMAN: Is there any objection? 24 Hearing none, the Personal Data Questionnaire and any 25 amendment will be entered into the record at this time. 0081 1 (Personal Data Questionnaire for Bryan W. 2 Braddock marked JMSC Exhibit Number 7, for 3 identification.) 4 (Amendments by Bryan Braddock marked JMSC 5 Exhibit Number 8, for identification.) 6 BY MS. SHULER: 7 Q Mr. Braddock, you have before you also your 8 sworn statement that you provided with detailed answers 9 to over 30 questions regarding judicial conduct, 10 statutory qualifications, office administration and 11 temperament. Are there any amendments you would like to 12 make at this time to your sworn statement? 13 A No, ma'am. 14 MS. SHULER: Mr. Chairman, at this time I 15 would like to ask that Mr. Braddock's sworn statement be 16 entered as an exhibit into the hearing record. 17 PROFESSOR FREEMAN: Is there any objection? 18 Hearing none, the sworn statement will be entered into 19 the record at this time. 20 (Sworn Statement of Bryan W. Braddock 21 marked JMSC Exhibit Number 9, for identification.) 22 MS. SHULER: One final procedural matter. I 23 note for the record that based on the testimony 24 contained in the candidate's PDQ, which has been 25 included into the record, Mr. Braddock meets the 0082 1 statutory requirements for this position regarding age, 2 residence and years of practice. 3 BY MS. SHULER: 4 Q Mr. Braddock, please state for the record the 5 town and circuit in which you reside. 6 A I reside in Hartsville, South Carolina, which 7 is within Darlington County, which is part of the Fourth 8 Judicial Circuit. 9 Q And let me clarify with you for the record. 10 While you practice law in Florence, which is the Twelfth 11 Judicial Circuit, you actually reside in Hartsville, 12 which is in the Fourth Judicial Circuit; is that 13 correct? 14 A That is correct. 15 Q Mr. Braddock, you've been a licensed attorney 16 since 1998. Why do you now want to serve as a Family 17 Court judge for the Fourth Judicial Circuit? 18 A Well, as my personal information reflects, I 19 primarily practice in Family Court. That's the court 20 that I enjoy the most, the court that has brought me the 21 most pleasure as an attorney. 22 As a judge in the Family Court, I believe that 23 I could serve the public the best, that I have the 24 appropriate demeanor, the appropriate temperament to 25 serve in that capacity. And that's something that I've 0083 1 wanted to do for a number of years now. 2 Q Mr. Braddock, are there any areas of family 3 law that you would need to additionally prepare for in 4 order to serve in the Family Court bench? 5 A As my information reflects, I actually handle 6 cases in most areas of the Family Court. I think the 7 only area that stands out would be I've never actually 8 handled an international adoption; so I believe that 9 would be one area that I would probably need to go over 10 and make sure I familiarize myself with the appropriate 11 process. 12 Q As a short follow-up, how would you handle 13 that additional preparation? 14 A The first thing you usually go to, of course, 15 is the Code. You go to the Code, review that. There 16 are certain documents, certain publications which could 17 be utilized to familiarize myself with the process. 18 People who primarily handle adoptions have created these 19 types of publications. Furthermore, of course, 20 reviewing the advance sheets and orders on any cases 21 that have come up clarifying any of the statutes. 22 Q Thank you. Mr. Braddock, although you address 23 this in your sworn affidavit, could you tell the members 24 of the Commission what you think is the appropriate 25 demeanor for a judge? 0084 1 A First and foremost, respect. I think a judge 2 must always show respect for the participants, both the 3 parties as well as the attorneys, show them courtesy. 4 It is my personal policy in life that I give people 5 respect until they show themselves unworthy of that 6 respect. I carry that same type of policy onto the 7 bench. 8 A judge should never be a tyrant, nor should a 9 judge be a pushover. A judge has to maintain control 10 over a courtroom at all times while allowing the parties 11 and the attorneys to have the ability to fully present 12 their case. 13 A judge should always appear well-groomed, 14 proper hygiene, as the judge is the reflection of the 15 position. A judge should always conduct themselves in a 16 manner in which they are representing the position they 17 hold. 18 Q Thank you. Mr. Braddock, if you're selected 19 to the Family Court bench, and after you're serving your 20 terms, what would you like your legacy to be known for 21 on the Family Court bench? 22 A The legacy of a judge is sort of a tricky 23 proposition, in my mind. On a statewide level, 24 unfortunately, most judges don't want to be known, 25 because the only judges that generally get any notoriety 0085 1 are the ones who make mistakes or bad decisions or 2 handle themselves in an inappropriate manner. 3 Amongst the legal community, I'd love to be 4 known as a judge who is patient, a judge who acts 5 appropriately, a judge who knows the law fully, a judge 6 who, if there's any area of the law they're not familiar 7 with, that they would be -- the attorneys know that 8 they're going to take the time to fully investigate it 9 and be familiar before rendering a decision. 10 To the participants in the process, the 11 parties, the main word I can think of is fair. Every 12 party that leaves the courtroom should be given the 13 impression that it was a fair process. So the legacy 14 will differ depending on, I think, the position of the 15 party, their interaction with the Court. 16 Q Thank you, Mr. Braddock. What suggestions 17 would you offer for improving the backlog of cases on 18 the docket in Family Court? 19 A It's been my experience, of course, a fair 20 amount of that is somewhat outside the control of the 21 judge in regard that you may have three, three and a 22 half days a week that are taken up with administrative 23 processes, DSS cases, DJJ, of course petitions, pro se 24 petitions. 25 That only leaves a day and a half perhaps for 0086 1 actual private actions, for temporary and final 2 hearings. There's only so much that can be done about 3 that. However, one thing to consider is in any area in 4 which mediation is available -- you know, there's some 5 of the rural counties where it's really not economically 6 feasible for some of the participants -- but anywhere 7 where it's available, any agreement that should be 8 placed in front of the Court, I would make a condition 9 that would include a mediation provision, where the 10 parties come back for anything other than a contempt 11 citation or emergency matter. They should be required 12 to participate in mediation. That's the policy of at 13 least one judge I'm familiar with in the Twelfth 14 Circuit. I think it's a good policy. 15 Furthermore, any extra time that the judge 16 has, any cases that resolve, any days which don't have a 17 full docket, the judge could utilize that time for 18 pretrial meetings, whether in person or by phone, with 19 attorneys that have upcoming contested cases. There are 20 judges who utilize that policy. I think it would be a 21 good policy to incorporate myself. 22 And what you ought to do is, if you really get 23 down to it and start talking to the attorneys in one 24 room, it will become clear there are a number of things 25 that can be stipulated to that won't require additional 0087 1 witnesses, things of that nature, which can actually 2 shorten the amount of time necessary. It might even be 3 possible to open up an extra day by taking up a 4 procedure like that. A three-day trial could suddenly 5 become a two-day trial and then you have another day to 6 try to fit in emergency matters. I would try to utilize 7 that at least a week in advance so that we'd have the 8 opportunity to utilize that extra time. 9 Of course, if there's any time that I have 10 that I'm not in court, that time would be utilized for 11 administrative and procedural type matters. 12 Q Thank you, Mr. Braddock. I have some 13 housekeeping matters to cover with you. Have you sought 14 or received the pledge of any legislator prior to this 15 day? 16 A No, ma'am. 17 Q Have you sought or have you been offered a 18 conditional pledge of support of any legislator pending 19 the outcome of your screening? 20 A No, ma'am. 21 Q Have you asked any third parties to contact 22 members of the General Assembly on your behalf? 23 A No, ma'am. 24 Q Have you contacted any members of the 25 Commission? 0088 1 A No, ma'am. 2 Q Do you understand that you're prohibited from 3 seeking a pledge or commitment until 48 hours after the 4 formal release of the Commission's report, which is now 5 going to be April 28th at noon? 6 A I received that e-mail. I'll comply with 7 whatever y'all inform me is the specific time and date. 8 Q Have you reviewed the Commission's guidelines 9 on pledging? 10 A Yes, sir -- I mean, yes, ma'am. 11 Q As a follow-up, are you aware of the penalties 12 for violating the pledging rules, that is, it's a 13 misdemeanor, and upon conviction you could be fined not 14 more than $1,000 or imprisoned not more than 90 days? 15 A Yes, ma'am. 16 Q I would note that the Pee Dee Citizens 17 Committee found Mr. Braddock to be a well-regarded 18 candidate who would ably serve on the Family Court 19 bench. 20 And I would just note for the record that any 21 concerns raised during the investigation concerning 22 Mr. Braddock were incorporated into his questioning 23 today. And, Mr. Chairman, I have no further questions 24 for Mr. Braddock. 25 PROFESSOR FREEMAN: Do any members of the 0089 1 Commission have questions for the candidate? 2 SEN. KNOTTS: Mr. Chairman. 3 PROFESSOR FREEMAN: Senator Knotts. 4 BY SEN. KNOTTS: 5 Q Mr. Braddock, thank you for applying for this 6 judgeship. Let me ask you just a couple. 7 In your experience as a lawyer in the past, do 8 you see a need for a judge to work five days a week, 9 Monday through Friday, 8:00 to 5:00 or 9:00 to 5:00? 10 A You work until the job is done and the work is 11 done, whatever that requires. 12 Q In circuits where you have backlogs, and I 13 don't know a circuit in this state that doesn't have a 14 backlog, do you think the judge should be available from 15 9:00 to 5:00, Monday through Friday? 16 A Yes, sir, absolutely. That's what we're 17 elected to do. We're elected to serve the people, and 18 getting their cases handled as expeditiously as possible 19 is in the best interest of the people and that's what 20 needs to occur. 21 Q So you will commit to put a full week's worth 22 in as a judge? 23 A In regard to my work ethic, probably a little 24 bit about who I am and where I come from might assist 25 you in understanding my attitude toward that. My father 0090 1 never even obtained a high school diploma, but he worked 2 34 years in a mill supporting five children. That's 3 where I come from. My mother stayed home and worked 4 part time on the side selling Tupperware just to support 5 us. She was there. 6 I grew up in my grandfather's -- if I wasn't 7 at school, I was in my grandfather's garden, helping him 8 cut wood. I worked my entire life. When I was in high 9 school, when I wasn't in school, I worked putting in -- 10 running ductwork underneath houses for a heating and 11 cooling company. That's where I come from. That's the 12 same attitude and the same work ethic that I've 13 transferred as an attorney. 14 If my wife wasn't herself working today, she 15 could confirm that five or six nights a week she goes to 16 bed and I'm still up in my office working. I believe I 17 will transfer that same work ethic and attitude toward 18 being a judge. 19 Q What do you feel -- how would you handle child 20 support cases, as far as deadbeat dads that are habitual 21 deadbeat dads and in arrears over and over again? Do 22 you think that they need to be dealt with in a different 23 manner than just someone who can't afford to pay for a 24 legitimate reason? 25 A Well, you know, they made the children. They 0091 1 participated in the process, so obviously they have a 2 legal and a moral duty to assist in supporting those 3 children. If there is a child support order in place, 4 obviously some judge has determined that they're capable 5 of making an income. 6 So I'm not sure exactly what your question 7 points toward, but they have a legal duty and the 8 contempt of the powers of the Court should be utilized 9 to try to enforce their responsibilities to the fullest 10 extent possible. 11 Q Where I'm going to is in some courts 12 throughout the state, in various circuits, deadbeat dads 13 are dealt with or deadbeat parents, let me put it like 14 that, are dealt with over and over and over, and they 15 get into arrears in the hundreds of thousands of 16 dollars. And they're not held accountable for the 17 entire amount or allowed to escape paying it through -- 18 might allow them to put up so much money and then 19 setting it aside until they can pay it back on just a 20 minimal amount that would never ever take care of paying 21 it back. But they've been not paying it for 10, 12 22 years, and all the attempts have gotten out to go pick 23 them up. And then they come back to the bar and they're 24 given another chance. 25 That's the type of deadbeat dads or parents 0092 1 that I'm talking about. I'm not talking about the one 2 that just gets out of a job and can't pay, but he would 3 pay if he could. It just seems like the system is set 4 up and geared to get that person that misses -- that is 5 living there, and then whenever the person goes and 6 starts running from the Court Order and knows the system 7 and has absolutely no intent on paying the child 8 support. 9 A Yes, sir. Without getting into the technical 10 distinctions, of course, between civil contempt and 11 criminal contempt -- procedural due process rights do 12 kick in when you're dealing with criminal contempt -- it 13 sort of has to be a case-by-case basis. The type of 14 person that you're talking about that hasn't paid, 15 clearly isn't going to pay, then they show themselves 16 unworthy of the mercy of the Court, you know, I would 17 deal with them as harshly as the law allows, place them 18 in jail. Then when they get out, unfortunately the 19 process would have to sort of occur again. 20 As Family Court judge, we don't have the 21 authority to just put someone in jail indefinitely for 22 50 years. There are limitations on our powers. But 23 someone who shows themselves unworthy of the mercy of 24 the Court should not receive the mercy of the Court. 25 Q All I'm trying to get at is I believe what 0093 1 you're saying is you would deal with them in a very 2 unique manner to make sure the deadbeat dads or deadbeat 3 parents support their children. 4 A They would understand the severity of the 5 situation by the time I was done dealing with them, yes, 6 sir. 7 PROFESSOR FREEMAN: Other comments? 8 Representative Mack? 9 REP. MACK: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 10 BY REP. MACK: 11 Q Mr. Braddock, as a non-attorney on this 12 Commission, I just feel that Family Court is probably -- 13 just on the outside looking in, a judge in Family Court 14 probably faces the most -- some of the most tension, 15 some of the most drama. And you have a very good 16 background in terms of moving around Family Court. 17 I wanted to ask you, how does that -- how 18 would your background, you believe, apply to your having 19 the judgment and demeanor to diffuse what can be very 20 tense situations, custody, termination of rights? In 21 all of those types of things, things can get very 22 emotional. What's your philosophy in staying on top of 23 that, as you mentioned, being able to control the 24 courtroom in those extreme circumstances? 25 A Yes, sir. First of all, of course, having 0094 1 extensive experience in handling domestic clients, 2 there's hardly a client that comes into my office that 3 is not emotional. If they're not emotional early on, 4 they're emotional at some point during the process. 5 That just comes with experience from dealing with people 6 who their emotions are sort of controlling their actions 7 at times. 8 I have a little saying I tell my clients all 9 the time, is "You are emotional. You are paying me to 10 be rational, because your emotions get in the way of you 11 being rational. You're looking at this from a 12 subjective perspective. I get paid to look at it from 13 an objective perspective and advise you on what's in 14 your best interest and leave emotions out of it." 15 Virtually ever parent loves their child, but 16 that doesn't mean every parent should receive custody, 17 just as an example. That's just something that comes 18 with handling domestic clients one after another after 19 another. And as my application reflects, 75 percent of 20 what I do is domestic oriented. 21 In regard to myself handling the courtroom, as 22 I indicated earlier, I'm neither a tyrant nor a 23 pushover. You have to use wisdom and a good dose of 24 commonsense to determine how to diffuse a situation 25 that's getting out of hand, whether it be the litigants 0095 1 or the attorneys involved at times. You have to, like I 2 said, allow them to fully express their position. 3 Many times for the participants it's really a 4 cathartic experience. They need just the experience of 5 getting in there and expressing how they feel so they 6 can move on. So that's very well so long as they're not 7 doing it in such a manner that they're interfering with 8 the process or they're trying to somehow dictate the 9 process or control the courtroom. 10 The judge has to be able to control the 11 courtroom, whether it's by calming the situation down, 12 breaking the situation up or whatever means is 13 necessary. It is a courtroom. It is a place that 14 should be respected and revered. 15 PROFESSOR FREEMAN: Other comments? Anybody? 16 Thank you very much, Mr. Braddock. We appreciate you 17 for offering for this position. I want to remind you of 18 the 48-hour rule again. Campaigning will be prohibited 19 any time before noon on the 28th. We expect the 20 preliminary report out on the 23rd. 21 The record of this proceeding will remain open 22 until the publication of the report. There's a 23 possibility that we may have to call you back for 24 additional testimony to clarify something. We hope that 25 that won't be the case. 0096 1 And having said that, we again thank you for 2 offering and wish you a safe trip back home. 3 THE WITNESS: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 4 (Witness excused.) 5 MS. SHULER: Why don't we go in executive 6 session and take comments on Ms. Taylor and 7 Mr. Braddock -- not Mr. Braddock, but Mr. Geddings. 8 There's only two people for that race. 9 PROFESSOR FREEMAN: Is there a motion? 10 SENATOR FORD: So moved. 11 MR. SELLERS: Second. 12 PROFESSOR FREEMAN: Second. All in favor, 13 raise your right hand. 14 (Hands raised.) 15 (Executive session continued under separate 16 record.) 17 * * * * * 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 0100 1 MS. SHULER: Why don't we take a break for 15 2 minutes. Lunch should be here shortly. 3 (Whereupon there was a recess 4 in the proceedings from 11:43 to 12:50.) 5 REP. DELLENEY: We have before us this 6 afternoon Mr. Michael Holt who seeks a position for the 7 Family Court, Fourth Circuit, Seat Number 3. 8 If you would, Mr. Holt, please raise your 9 right hand to be sworn. 10 MICHAEL HOLT, being first duly sworn, 11 testified as follows: 12 EXAMINATION 13 REP. DELLENEY: The Judicial Merit Selection 14 Commission has thoroughly investigated your 15 qualifications for service on the bench. Our inquiry 16 has focused primarily on nine evaluative criteria, which 17 have included a survey of the Bench and Bar, a thorough 18 study of your application materials, verification of 19 your compliance to state ethics laws, a search of 20 newspaper articles in which your name may have appeared, 21 a study of previous screenings, and a check for economic 22 conflicts of interest. 23 We have no affidavits filed in opposition to 24 your election and there are no witnesses present to 25 testify. Do you have a brief opening statement you'd 0101 1 like to make? 2 THE WITNESS: Yes, sir. Just very briefly, I 3 would just like to thank you for the opportunity to be 4 heard. I've looked forward to this opportunity. This 5 is an exciting moment in my life and my career and I 6 look forward to your questions. 7 REP. DELLENEY: Thank you, sir. If you would, 8 answer any questions our counsel might have for you. 9 MR. GENTRY: Mr. Chairman, members of the 10 Commission, I have a few procedural matters to take care 11 of regarding Mr. Holt. 12 BY MR. GENTRY: 13 Q Mr. Holt, you have before you a Personal Data 14 Questionnaire you submitted as part of your application. 15 Are there any amendments that you'd like to make to your 16 PDQ? 17 A Mr. Gentry, I'm not aware of any. I do think 18 that I may have misspelled the word "bank" in the 19 application. Carolina Bank and Trust is actually 20 Carolina Bank as opposed to -- I think I misspelled 21 that. I don't know how I missed that error, but I did 22 miss that. 23 MR. GENTRY: Mr. Chairman, I'd ask that 24 Mr. Holt's PDQ and any amendments be entered as an 25 exhibit into the hearing record. 0102 1 REP. DELLENEY: Any objection? Hearing none, 2 it will be entered into the record at this point in the 3 transcript. 4 (Personal Data Questionnaire for Michael S. 5 Holt marked JMSC Exhibit Number 10, for identification.) 6 BY MR. GENTRY: 7 Q Mr. Holt, you also have before you the sworn 8 statement. You have provided detailed answers to over 9 30 questions regarding judicial conduct, statutory 10 qualifications, office administration and temperament. 11 Are there any amendments that you'd like to make to your 12 sworn statement? 13 A No, sir. 14 MR. GENTRY: Mr. Chairman, I'd ask that 15 Mr. Holt's sworn statement be entered as an exhibit into 16 the hearing record. 17 REP. DELLENEY: Any objection? Hearing none, 18 the sworn statement will be entered into the record at 19 this point in the transcript. 20 (Sworn Statement of Michael S. Holt marked 21 JMSC Exhibit Number 11, for identification.) 22 MR. GENTRY: One final procedural matter. I 23 note for the record that based on the testimony 24 contained in Mr. Holt's PDQ, Mr. Holt meets the 25 statutory requirements for this position regarding age, 0103 1 residence and years of practice. 2 BY MR. GENTRY: 3 Q Mr. Holt, please state for the record the city 4 or town, county and judicial circuit in which you 5 reside. 6 A I live in the City of Hartsville, Darlington 7 County, Fourth Circuit. 8 Q Why do you want to serve as a Family Court 9 judge? 10 A That's actually a long answer. I think that 11 it's certainly a noble and honorable position to hold. 12 I have been dedicated to public service since I returned 13 home from law school. 14 And it certainly would be a job promotion of 15 sorts for me. I work very, very hard in my private 16 practice. I'm a sole practitioner. But I do view this 17 as an opportunity to improve my quality of life, as well 18 as for my family. 19 Q Would you please tell the members of the 20 Commission what you think is the appropriate demeanor 21 for a judge? 22 A My personal opinion as a practitioner is that 23 a judge should always be fair in reason, should listen 24 would be one of the traits that I would -- that I 25 certainly would hold. And the judge should not be the 0104 1 strong personality in the room. I think the Court has a 2 certain responsibility to the litigants. It's a very 3 difficult situation they find themselves in. Few people 4 go to Family Court because they want to be there. My 5 experience has been that the judge should listen and be 6 very, very deliberate in those processes. 7 Q Are there any areas of family law that you'd 8 need to prepare for in order to serve on the bench? And 9 if so, how would you go about that preparation? 10 A Well, I've had extensive experience in the 11 Family Court system, and I have been involved in every 12 aspect of it. I'm not sure there's anything that I've 13 not done, I'm not aware of. I have not personally 14 handled many adoptions. I've handled adoptions before, 15 but that has not been a focus of my practice. One 16 reason is that I just don't see a lot of it come in my 17 door. But I am comfortable with it. I think that I 18 would certainly be capable of handling or at least 19 hearing it from the bench. 20 Q If elected, what would you like for your 21 legacy to be as a Family Court judge? 22 A I would hope it would be the same as my 23 personal and professional life, and that's one that's 24 someone who's worked hard, someone who's fair and 25 honest. I do see myself as a public servant, and I 0105 1 would hope that the community that I serve would hold me 2 in high regard. 3 I am very committed to my family, my children, 4 and those are important -- that would be how I'm seeing 5 probably as much of my legacy as anything, but I 6 certainly want to be viewed as being a fair and honest 7 and a reasoning person. 8 Q What suggestions would you offer for improving 9 the backlog of cases in the Family Court? 10 A I think start court on time. In my personal 11 experience, when court is supposed to start at 9:00, it 12 should start at 9:00 as opposed to starting late. 13 That's one of the things that we could do to ensure 14 matters moving through the system more quickly. 15 Working a full week, certainly working on 16 Fridays. I work very, very hard in my practice right 17 now. I'm very devoted to my clients, to my practice. 18 And I think that it's important to carry that work ethic 19 over into the judiciary. 20 If we are -- if we work hard, we spend quality 21 time doing it, I think that we can move cases, and it 22 would certainly ease the backlog, in my personal 23 opinion. 24 Q You currently serve as the mayor of the City 25 of Hartsville. What would you do with regards to this 0106 1 position if you were elected to Family Court? 2 A Well, I have thoroughly enjoyed my role as 3 mayor. It's been a great honor to serve my community 4 and to do things that I would not have had the 5 opportunity otherwise to have done. But I would resign 6 my position -- if I were elected and had that honor to 7 be elected, I would resign at the appropriate time. I'm 8 not sure exactly when that's going to be, but certainly 9 before I was sworn into office, I would resign. But 10 that would be my proposition. 11 Q While serving as mayor, you were fined in 2008 12 for filing your Statement of Economic Interest and 13 Campaign Disclosure Statement late, and you were fined 14 again in 2009 for filing your Campaign Disclosure late; 15 is that correct? 16 A That's correct. 17 Q Please explain to the Commission the reasons 18 for these late filings. 19 A I wish I had a good excuse, but I don't. We 20 are all very busy individuals. And that's not an 21 excuse, but I wish that I did. I was late. I regret 22 it. It caused some embarrassment, but nevertheless, 23 that's what happened. 24 Q Have you paid those fines? 25 A All fines have been paid. 0107 1 Q In 2005 and 2006, you worked for a lawyer who 2 was subsequently disbarred for improprieties; is that 3 correct? 4 A That's correct. 5 Q When did you first become aware of the other 6 lawyer's improprieties? 7 A Her improprieties were many. I became aware 8 when I left her firm. I joined her practice in 9 July 2005 and was there for approximately six and a half 10 months. I had left a practice where I had been for a 11 number of years and been very happy. I had been given 12 an opportunity to work in a firm where I was going to 13 work on a salary as opposed to commission, which is -- 14 as a sole practitioner, at least at that time, I was on 15 commission in the firm I was in. And that was a very 16 attractive enticement for me. 17 But in 2006, I became aware -- in February of 18 2006, I became aware of some improprieties on her behalf 19 and left the firm immediately, as soon as I became aware 20 of those improprieties. Ultimately she was disbarred as 21 a result of that, as well as other revelations that were 22 made subject to those improprieties. 23 Q Were you ever investigated personally to 24 determine if you'd had any role? 25 A I was. I was investigated as a result of the 0108 1 six and a half months that I was there. I did have an 2 investigation. 3 Q What were the results of that investigation? 4 A The investigation was dismissed. A complaint 5 was filed against me, and there was a process involved. 6 The complaint was ultimately dismissed because I had no 7 involvement with any aspect of her misdeeds; but 8 nevertheless, I was investigated. And fortunately, it 9 was dismissed. And it was the appropriate action to 10 take. 11 Q You currently serve on several boards, 12 committees and commissions; is that correct? 13 A Yes, sir. 14 Q What would you do with regards to these 15 positions if you were elected to the Family Court? 16 A In many of those situations, I would have to 17 resign my membership in order to avoid conflicts such as 18 that. One specifically, I'm a member of the Darlington 19 County Economic Development Partnership, which is an 20 economic development board. I serve there as being the 21 mayor of my community, and I would resign that seat. 22 Q Thank you, Mr. Holt. Have you sought or 23 received the pledge of any legislator prior to this 24 date? 25 A No, sir. 0109 1 Q Have you sought or have you been offered a 2 conditional pledge of support of any legislator pending 3 the outcome of your screening? 4 A No, sir. 5 Q Have you asked any third parties to contact 6 members of the General Assembly on your behalf? 7 A No, sir. 8 Q Have you contacted any members of the 9 Commission? 10 A No, sir. 11 Q Do you understand that you're prohibited from 12 seeking a pledge or commitment until 48 hours after the 13 formal release of the Commission's report? 14 A Yes, sir. 15 Q Have you reviewed the Commission's guidelines 16 on pledging? 17 A I have. 18 Q Are you aware of the penalties for violating 19 the pledging rules, that is, it's a misdemeanor, and 20 upon conviction the violator must be fined not more than 21 $1,000 or imprisoned not more than 30 days? 22 A I am aware of that. 23 MR. GENTRY: I would note that the Pee Dee 24 Citizens Committee found Mr. Holt to be a well-regarded 25 candidate who would ably serve on the Family Court 0110 1 bench. 2 I would also note for the record that any 3 concerns raised during the investigation regarding 4 Mr. Holt were incorporated in the questioning today. 5 Mr. Chairman, I have no further questions. 6 REP. DELLENEY: Does any member of the 7 Commission have any questions for Mr. Holt? Professor 8 Freeman. 9 BY PROFESSOR FREEMAN: 10 Q Mr. Holt, are you aware that I was involved in 11 litigation against Ms. Wilmeth? 12 A Yes, sir. 13 Q Just so everybody knows, this is a woman who 14 stole a bunch of money and cheated a number of people, 15 correct? 16 A Yes, sir. 17 Q We never dealt one way or the other concerning 18 that matter, did we? 19 A Professor Freeman, as a matter of fact, when I 20 became aware of my involvement, I called you as an 21 ethics expert. I was encouraged to call you. And we 22 had a very brief conversation. 23 You became aware of what I was calling about 24 and you referred me to someone else. So I did not give 25 you any specifics. You heard the name Wilmeth, and you 0111 1 immediately referred me to somebody else. But I did in 2 fact call you. And that would have been -- that would 3 have been probably in March or April of 2006. 4 Q Okay. Because of the magnitude of her 5 wrongdoing, I just wanted assurance that you weren't in 6 any way involved. Okay. 7 A No, sir. No, sir. 8 Q How did you come to understand what you were 9 dealing with in that law firm sufficient for you to head 10 for the exits? 11 A What had happened was, in February of 2006 -- 12 prior to that, I did not know of any ethical wrongdoing 13 on her behalf, but in February of 2006, she had been 14 held in civil contempt by the Probate Court. And the 15 probate judge, Marvin Lawson, who is a very dear friend 16 of mine, it was very out of character for him to do 17 that. So that was a tremendous red flag. 18 And I left -- that was on a Friday, and I 19 left -- I packed my stuff up on Saturday. And so I 20 immediately left, because I was very, very concerned 21 that things were not as they appeared. And so I was not 22 in her office from that point forward when, I think, 23 many of the revelations came out as to what her 24 involvement had been or what her dealings had been. 25 Q Last question. You were talking about a 0112 1 proceeding earlier. Was that a disciplinary proceeding? 2 A Yes, sir. 3 Q An investigation. Were you ever involved in 4 any civil proceedings? 5 A No, sir. No, sir. I have not been named as a 6 defendant, sued or been called as a witness in any 7 matter related to this. And I understand that she is 8 now -- the Attorney General, who is prosecuting her 9 case, and her case likely would be called for court at 10 any point, and I'm not a witness in that either. 11 Q Good enough. 12 REP. DELLENEY: Does any other member of the 13 Commission have questions of Mr. Holt? There being 14 none, Mr. Holt, we would thank you for appearing before 15 us today. 16 And I'll remind you about the 48-hour rule. 17 We're going to work to get the report out on -- our 18 tentative plans are right now to get the report out on 19 April the 23rd. And that means you can seek commitments 20 on April the 28th, Tuesday, April the 28th, at noon. Of 21 course, the report will have the appropriate time that 22 you can seek commitments written from the report, and I 23 will just remind you about that rule. 24 This ends your portion of the public hearing, 25 although if we wanted to call you back, if something 0113 1 else came up or there were other questions that we need 2 to ask you, we could recall the public hearing up until 3 the time the report is issued. I just remind you about 4 that. With that, I would hope you have a safe trip back 5 to Hartsville. 6 THE WITNESS: Thank you, Representative. 7 Thank you. 8 REP. DELLENEY: Thank you, sir. 9 (Witness excused.) 10 REP. DELLENEY: Good afternoon, Ms. McIntyre. 11 MS. McINTYRE: Good afternoon. 12 REP. DELLENEY: Today we have before us 13 Ms. Salley McIntyre who seeks a position on the Family 14 Court, 4th Circuit, Seat Number 3. If you would at this 15 time, please raise your right hand to be sworn. 16 SALLEY HUGGINS MCINTYRE, being first duly 17 sworn, testified as follows: 18 EXAMINATION 19 REP. DELLENEY: Thank you, ma'am. The 20 Judicial Merit Selection Commission has thoroughly 21 investigated your qualifications for service on the 22 bench. Our inquiry has focused primarily on nine 23 evaluative criteria, which have included a survey of the 24 Bench and Bar, a thorough study of your application 25 materials, verification of your compliance with the 0114 1 state ethics laws, the search of any newspaper articles 2 in which your name may have appeared, a study of any 3 previous screenings, and a check of economic conflicts 4 of interest. 5 We have not received any affidavits filed in 6 opposition to your election, and there are no witnesses 7 present to testify. Do you have a brief opening 8 statement you would like to make? 9 THE WITNESS: The only thing I'd like to say 10 is I appreciate Jane Shuler and Laurie Traywick and my 11 screener, Mr. Deason, being so nice and helpful in this 12 whole process. It's been very interesting, and they've 13 made what could be a bad situation very comfortable. 14 REP. DELLENEY: Thank you, ma'am. If you 15 would at this time answer any questions Mr. Deason might 16 have for you. 17 MR. DEASON: Mr. Chairman and members of the 18 Commission, I just have a few procedural matters to take 19 care of with the candidate. 20 BY MR. DEASON: 21 Q Ms. McIntyre, you have before you the Personal 22 Data Questionnaire you submitted as part of your 23 application. Is there any amendment you'd like to make 24 at this time to your PDQ? 25 A No, sir. 0115 1 MR. DEASON: At this time, Mr. Chairman, I'd 2 ask that Ms. McIntyre's Personal Data Questionnaire be 3 entered as an exhibit into the hearing record. 4 REP. DELLENEY: Any objection? There being 5 none, it will be done so at this point in the transcript 6 of the record. 7 (Personal Data Questionnaire for Salley 8 Huggins McIntyre marked JMSC Exhibit Number 12, for 9 identification.) 10 BY MR. DEASON: 11 Q Ms. McIntyre, you have before you the sworn 12 ethics statement you provided with detailed answers to 13 over 30 questions regarding judicial conduct, statutory 14 qualifications, office administration and temperament. 15 Is there any amendment you would like to make at this 16 time to your sworn statement? 17 A No, sir. 18 MR. DEASON: At this time, Mr. Chairman, I'd 19 ask that Ms. McIntyre's sworn statement be entered as an 20 exhibit into the hearing record. 21 REP. DELLENEY: Is there any objection? 22 Hearing none, it will be done at this point in the 23 transcript of the record. 24 (Sworn Statement of Salley Huggins McIntyre 25 marked JMSC Exhibit Number 13, for identification.) 0116 1 MR. DEASON: I'd like to note for the record 2 that based on the testimony contained in the candidate's 3 PDQ, which has been included in the record with the 4 candidate's consent, Ms. McIntyre meets the statutory 5 requirements of this position regarding age, residence 6 and years of practice. 7 BY MR. DEASON: 8 Q But apparently, we ask you to state your 9 residency, as well, on the record for those purposes, as 10 well. 11 A Dillon County. 12 Q And that's in the Fourth Circuit? 13 A Yes, sir. 14 Q Ms. McIntyre, would you please tell the 15 Commission why you want to serve as a Family Court 16 judge? 17 A This is something I thought about for a couple 18 of years, and timing just happens to be right for me. I 19 have served as a volunteer guardian -- attorney for the 20 guardian ad litem program in Dillon County, and I served 21 as an attorney for the guardian program very 22 passionately. And what I would like to do is transfer 23 my passion for the judicial system and the children onto 24 the other side of the bench. It's just something that I 25 have the support of my family in doing and the timing is 0117 1 good for me right now. 2 Q Okay. Thank you. And although you included a 3 written answer to this question, would you please tell 4 the members of the Commission what you think is the 5 appropriate demeanor for a judge? 6 A The appropriate demeanor at all times is a 7 good temperament, treating others fairly, being 8 reasonable in conversations with people. I think the 9 way that you treat them, not only in the courtroom but 10 also outside of the courtroom, gives people confidence 11 in the judicial system and in you as a judge. 12 Q If elected, when you leave the bench, what 13 would you like your legacy as a judge to be? 14 A As a person who is fair, treated everyone 15 equally and impartially, and was respected among other 16 attorneys and the people that appear before me. 17 Q All right. What suggestions could you offer 18 the Commission, practical ideas that you have for 19 improving the backlog in the Family Court system? 20 A I was asked this question during my citizens 21 interview, and it kind of surprised me because one of 22 the things that they apparently perceived is a problem 23 in the judicial system was down time in Family Court. 24 And in the Fourth Circuit, that's not something that we 25 have. One of the comments was judges sitting in the 0118 1 back and drinking coffee and talking on the phone. 2 That's just not something that we have, I would say, in 3 the Fourth Circuit with Family Court. 4 But I don't do well with idol time. I'd 5 rather be doing something. So what I would like to see 6 is if you have a two-day or a three-day Family Court 7 case that settles, I would like to see that time being 8 used, either in the Fourth Circuit or wherever else if 9 time is down, to go and hold court for a DSS day or for 10 mediation-type things with DSS, because that's where a 11 lot of the backlog is, or with juveniles. I think that 12 you need to travel around to fill those empty days 13 versus having two days of nothing to do. 14 Q Thank you. The next few questions are 15 housekeeping matters. Have you sought or received the 16 pledge of any legislator prior to today? 17 A No, sir. 18 Q Have you sought or have you been offered a 19 conditional pledge of support of any legislator pending 20 the outcome of your screening? 21 A No, sir. 22 Q Have you asked any third parties to contact 23 members of the General Assembly on your behalf? 24 A No, sir. 25 Q Have you contacted any members of this 0119 1 Commission? 2 A No, sir. 3 Q Do you understand that you're prohibited from 4 seeking a pledge or commitment until 48 hours after the 5 formal release of the Commission's report? 6 A Yes, sir. 7 Q Have you reviewed the Commission's guidelines 8 on pledging? 9 A Yes, sir. 10 Q As a follow-up, are you aware of the penalties 11 for violating the pledging rules, that is, it is a 12 misdemeanor and upon conviction the violator must be 13 fined not more than $1,000 or imprisoned not more than 14 90 days? 15 A Yes, sir. 16 MR. DEASON: Mr. Chairman, I would like to 17 note that the Pee Dee Citizens Committee found Ms. 18 McIntyre to be a dynamic candidate who would ably serve 19 on the Family Court bench. 20 I would also note for the record that any 21 concerns raised during the investigation regarding the 22 candidate were incorporated into the questioning of the 23 candidate today. I have no further questions. 24 REP. DELLENEY: Thank you, Mr. Deason. 25 Ms. McIntyre, I would just like to remind you about the 0120 1 48-hour rule, which -- does anybody have any questions? 2 I'm sorry. 3 SEN. KNOTTS: She answered my question about 4 her work ethic. 5 REP. DELLENEY: There being no further 6 questions from the Commission, again I'd like to remind 7 you about the 48-hour rule, which you said you 8 understand. I would just let you know that our 9 intentions are to release the report on the -- on April 10 the 23rd. That means that you would be able to seek 11 commitments, if you were nominated, on April the 28th, 12 at noon, which is a Tuesday. Of course, that hasn't 13 been done yet, but that's our intention right now as we 14 speak. But on the outside of the report, the front 15 page, will be the time that you can seek commitments. 16 So that's what you need to be looking for. 17 But having -- also I'd like to tell you that 18 this is the end of your public hearing part of your 19 screening. But if at any time before we issue the 20 report we wanted to reconvene your public hearing and 21 bring you back here to ask you other questions about 22 other matters, we could do that up until the time that 23 we release the report. Once the report matures and 24 becomes a report of this Commission, after the 48-hour 25 period expires, then our function is over and we 0121 1 couldn't do that or wouldn't do that. 2 With that, I'll just remind you about that 3 rule and hope you have a safe trip back to Dillon. 4 Thank you for being with us today and testifying. 5 THE WITNESS: Thank you. 6 (Witness excused.) 7 REP. DELLENEY: We'll call a 10-minute break. 8 (Whereupon there was a recess 9 in the proceedings from 1:22 to 1:36.) 10 REP. DELLENEY: We have before us today 11 Ms. Elizabeth Munnerlyn. Would you please raise your 12 right hand to be sworn. 13 ELIZABETH R. MUNNERLYN, being first duly 14 sworn, testified as follows: 15 EXAMINATION 16 REP. DELLENEY: Thank you, ma'am. The 17 Judicial Merit Selection Commission has thoroughly 18 investigated your qualifications for the bench. Our 19 inquiry has primarily focused on nine evaluative 20 criteria which have included a survey of the Bench and 21 Bar, a thorough study of your application materials, a 22 verification of your compliance with state ethics laws, 23 search of any newspaper articles in which your name 24 might appear, a check for any economic conflicts of 25 interest. 0122 1 We have no affidavits filed in opposition to 2 your election and there are no witnesses here to 3 testify. Do you have a brief opening statement you'd 4 like to make? 5 THE WITNESS: I would just like to thank 6 everyone for allowing me to be here today. I am excited 7 about the opportunity that this proceeding allows for 8 me, and I look forward to answering any questions that 9 y'all have for me. 10 REP. DELLENEY: Thank you, ma'am. At this 11 time answer any questions Mr. Shuler might have for you. 12 MS. SHULER: Mr. Chairman and members of the 13 Commission, I have a few procedural matters to take care 14 of with Ms. Munnerlyn. 15 BY MS. SHULER: 16 Q Ms. Munnerlyn, you have before you your 17 Personal Data Questionnaire you submitted as part of 18 your application. 19 A Yes. 20 Q Are there any amendments you would like to 21 make to your PDQ? 22 A No. 23 MS. SHULER: Mr. Chairman, I would ask at this 24 time that Ms. Munnerlyn's PDQ be offered as an exhibit 25 for the record. 0123 1 REP. DELLENEY: Are there any objections? 2 Hearing none, the Personal Data Questionnaire summary 3 will be entered into the record at this point in the 4 transcript. 5 (Personal Data Questionnaire for Elizabeth R. 6 Munnerlyn marked JMSC Exhibit Number 14, for 7 identification.) 8 BY MS. SHULER: 9 Q Ms. Munnerlyn, you have before you the sworn 10 statement you provided with detailed answers to over 30 11 questions regarding judicial conduct, statutory 12 qualifications, office administration and temperament. 13 Are there any amendments you would like to make at this 14 time to your sworn statement? 15 A No. 16 MS. SHULER: Mr. Chairman, I would ask that 17 Ms. Munnerlyn's sworn statement be offered as an exhibit 18 to the record. 19 REP. DELLENEY: Without objection, the sworn 20 statement will be entered into the record at this point 21 in the transcript. 22 (Sworn Statement of Elizabeth R. Munnerlyn 23 marked JMSC Exhibit Number 15, for identification.) 24 MS. SHULER: One final procedural matter. I 25 note for the record that based on the testimony 0124 1 contained in the candidate's PDQ, which has also been 2 made an exhibit today, that Ms. Munnerlyn meets the 3 statutory requirements for this position regarding age, 4 residency and years of practice. 5 BY MS. SHULER: 6 Q Ms. Munnerlyn, would you state for the 7 Commission the city and the circuit in which you reside 8 for this Family Court seat? 9 A I reside in Bennettsville, and that is in the 10 Fourth Judicial Circuit. 11 Q Thank you. Ms. Munnerlyn, you have been 12 practicing law since 1993. Why do you now want to serve 13 as a Family Court judge? 14 A Well, I have been out of law school, actually, 15 for 16 years. Thirteen years of those have been in 16 private practice. Much of my experience has been in the 17 Family Court, and that is private practice. And also 18 while I have been in private practice, I have continued 19 to have, on a contract basis, a relationship with the 20 Solicitor's Office, and I have continued to prosecute 21 during that private practice period. Now, I did work 22 full time in the Solicitor's Office even prior to going 23 into private practice. 24 And this just seems to be a logical 25 progression for me. I have practiced in all aspects 0125 1 that the Family Court bench deals with, from juvenile 2 prosecution to abuse and neglect cases to private cases 3 that deal with the whole spectrum of what Family Court 4 is set up to deal with. And I think that my 5 temperament -- that a judgeship would be a good use of 6 my talents. And so I would like to try and see if I can 7 live up to the standards that this state has set for 8 judgeship. 9 Q Thank you, Ms. Munnerlyn. Are there any 10 areas -- and you've said you've practiced basically in 11 all areas, but are there any areas that you would need 12 to additionally prepare for? And if so, how would you 13 go about that preparation? 14 A No, I don't think so. I have continuously, 15 over the last 16 years, really practiced in all of the 16 areas that the Family Court makes decisions in. 17 Q Thank you. Ms. Munnerlyn, although you 18 address this in your sworn affidavit, what do you 19 believe to be the appropriate demeanor for a Family 20 Court judge? 21 A Well, a Family Court judge needs to be 22 even-tempered, fair-minded. I think they need to be 23 somewhat reserved and open to hearing everything from 24 all sides. 25 Obviously, the Family Court deals with some of 0126 1 the most delicate personal issues in people's lives. 2 And the judge needs to be seen as a person who takes all 3 of that information and considers it all and issues a 4 decision that is fair under the law to everyone. And I 5 think as long as you can do that in a way that everyone 6 feels like they're getting on equal footing, then you've 7 done what you need to do. 8 Q Thank you. If you're selected to serve as a 9 Family Court judge, and after you've served your terms, 10 what would you like your legacy to be known for on the 11 Family Court bench? 12 A Well, you know, I hope that I will be known as 13 a person who has considered, always considered all 14 issues before me in a complete and thorough manner, and 15 always followed the law as closely as possible, and 16 issued decisions in a manner, in a courteous manner in 17 dealing with all litigants, pro se litigants as well as 18 those that are represented by counsel, and in doing so, 19 upheld the integrity of the judiciary. 20 Q Thank you. Are there any suggestions that you 21 could offer for improving the backlog of the Family 22 Court docket? 23 A Yes. There are a couple things that I think 24 would be good for the Fourth Circuit to look at. And 25 I'm talking mainly about the Fourth Circuit because 0127 1 that's the seat where this seat is located. The Fourth 2 Circuit, there are a couple things with juveniles I 3 think that would be helpful, that would be truancy 4 courts, which would deal with truant children, which 5 would be a diversionary-type program which would deal 6 with those children and their parents without the 7 necessity of bringing them through the court system, 8 because we are seeing a lot of that now. 9 And also an increase in the juvenile drug 10 courts. I think those have been very well accepted in 11 this state, and I think they would do well in the Fourth 12 Circuit. And I would like to see those active in all 13 four counties of the Fourth Circuit. 14 And we are not -- our circuit is not within 15 the pilot program for mediation, but I think this is 16 certainly something that we should consider in our 17 circuit to move cases, private cases, along quickly 18 through the system so that there's -- I don't think our 19 backlog is as bad as there are in other counties, but I 20 think it certainly would be helpful to move cases along 21 quicker and in a more efficient manner. 22 Q Thank you. Ms. Munnerlyn, just some 23 housekeeping matters to cover with you. Have you sought 24 or received the pledge of any legislator prior to this 25 date? 0128 1 A No. 2 Q Have you sought or have you been offered a 3 conditional pledge of support of any legislator pending 4 the outcome of your screening? 5 A No. 6 Q Have you asked any third parties to contact 7 members of the General Assembly on your behalf? 8 A No. 9 Q Have you contacted any members of the 10 Commission? 11 A No, I haven't contacted any. I did indicate 12 that I have had a brief introduction with, I think, Alan 13 Clemmons. I think I probably have seen a couple others 14 of the members of this committee coming in and out of 15 the State House, as I have been here some, on the ramp, 16 but other than that, no. 17 Q Thank you. Do you understand that you're 18 prohibited from seeking a pledge or commitment until 48 19 hours after the formal release of the Commission's 20 report? And that date has now been changed to noon on 21 April 28th. 22 A Yes, I understand that. 23 Q Have you reviewed the Commission's guidelines 24 on pledging? 25 A Yes. 0129 1 Q As a follow-up, are you aware of the penalties 2 for violating the pledging rules? That is, it's a 3 misdemeanor, and if you're convicted, you would be fined 4 not more than $1,000 or imprisoned not more than 90 5 days? 6 A Yes, I fully understand. 7 MS. SHULER: I would note that the Pee Dee 8 Citizens Committee reported Ms. Munnerlyn to be a 9 well-regarded candidate who would ably serve on the 10 Family Court bench. 11 I would just note for the record that any 12 concerns raised during the investigation regarding 13 Ms. Munnerlyn were incorporated in her questioning 14 today. Mr. Chairman, I have no further questions for 15 Ms. Munnerlyn. 16 REP. DELLENEY: Do any members of the 17 Commission have any questions for Ms. Munnerlyn? 18 Senator Knotts. 19 SEN. KNOTTS: Ms. Munnerlyn, I think you've 20 answered my question, but let me ask you about your 21 thoughts on what the work hours of a judge in your 22 circuit should be. 23 A Well, I think certainly in the Family Court, 24 we have been already operating under a Monday through 25 Friday basis, 9:00 to 5:00. Now, quite frequently the 0130 1 Clerk of Court now does not run -- in our county, 2 usually does not schedule cases beyond, I think it's 3 usually 1:00 on Fridays. But the Family Court judges 4 should certainly be available. 5 And I think something to consider for those 6 Friday afternoons is that the judges have time allotted, 7 set aside to hear approval of agreements, because 8 oftentimes now, in private cases, you have to wait, even 9 if you just have an approval of an agreement, which of 10 course takes a very short period of time to have done, 11 but you have to appear before a judge. If we could do 12 that on Friday afternoons, I think that would be a good 13 use of the time for Family Court judges. 14 Q I know that I have had constituents call 15 that's been waiting for a year and a half to two years 16 just to get before a judge to sign a paper that they 17 have already consented on both sides to. 18 A Yeah. 19 Q So it just bothers me whenever I hear about 20 judges on Friday afternoon taking off, and these people 21 are having to wait that long just to get a final divorce 22 decree. 23 A Oh, yes. We don't have near that problem in 24 our circuit. You typically can get in within two or 25 three months, even for just an approval. But I think if 0131 1 we consider things such as what I just discussed, that 2 it would move things along even quicker. 3 Q The other thing I wanted to ask you is in some 4 of the laws that we have passed up here in schools, 5 about being a problem child in school now, where it used 6 to be the schools handled it, like throwing spitballs or 7 stuff like that, they're now sending them to Family 8 Court. 9 A That's right. 10 Q Which is clogging up your court system. 11 A (Witness nods head.) 12 Q How do you recommend handling that or do we 13 need to just pass more legislation to stop it? 14 A Well, no, I don't think so. I think in our 15 area, the Solicitor's Office has done a pretty good job 16 of dealing with that in creating some diversionary 17 programs. And A lot of these are available throughout 18 the state. In minor offenses such as what you're 19 talking about, arbitration, juvenile arbitration, 20 juvenile PTI, and other various other programs such as 21 that that are simply diversionary programs that keep 22 them from having to come through the actual Family Court 23 system, but still deal with the problem, but don't clog 24 up the time that we have set aside for the judges. 25 Q It just seems to me that a lot of the problems 0132 1 in the past the schools dealt with are now pushing it 2 off into the Family Court. And a lot of those cases 3 shouldn't even be there. 4 A I agree with you. 5 Q Thank you. 6 A Thank you. 7 REP. DELLENEY: Any other members of the 8 Commission have any questions of Ms. Munnerlyn? 9 There being no further questions, again, 10 Ms. Munnerlyn, I'd like to remind you about the 48-hour 11 rule, as Ms. Shuler told you. Our plans are to issue a 12 report on April the 23rd. And on April the 28th at 13 noon, commitments can be sought at that point in time. 14 When we do issue the report, the time that you 15 can seek commitments will be printed on the outside of 16 the report. Up until that time, the report is temporary 17 and we could recall you to a public hearing if we wanted 18 to and ask you more questions. Although that's not very 19 likely, we have the power to do that. But once the 20 report matures and becomes a report of this Commission, 21 that's the end of it. 22 And with that, I would just like to remind you 23 about that rule, and also hope you have a safe trip back 24 home. 25 THE WITNESS: Thank you. 0133 1 REP. DELLENEY: Thank you, ma'am. I 2 appreciate you being here with us today. 3 THE WITNESS: Thank you. 4 (Witness excused.) 5 PROFESSOR FREEMAN: This says she was married 6 December 29, 2009. That's got to be wrong. 7 MS. SHULER: That's wrong. She should have 8 corrected that. I'll follow up on that. 9 Is it the Commission's wish -- since 10 Mr. Stanton hasn't arrived yet, remember he's coming 11 from a distance, Judge Anderson is available if you'd 12 like for me to proceed with him next. 13 PROFESSOR FREEMAN: That would be good. 14 REP. DELLENEY: We have before us, once again 15 as we have had many times, the Honorable Ralph King 16 Anderson, III, who seeks Seat Number 1 on the 17 Administrative Law Court. If you would raise your right 18 hand to be sworn. 19 JUDGE RALPH KING ANDERSON, III, being first 20 duly sworn, testified as follows: 21 EXAMINATION 22 REP. DELLENEY: Thank you, Judge. As you 23 know, the Judicial Merit Selection Commission has 24 thoroughly investigated your qualifications for service 25 on the bench. Our inquiry has primarily focused on nine 0134 1 evaluative criteria, which have included a survey of the 2 Bench and Bar, a study of your application materials, 3 verification of state ethics laws, your compliance with 4 them, a search of any newspaper articles in which your 5 name might have appeared, a study of any previous 6 screenings, and a check for economic conflicts of 7 interest. 8 We have not received any affidavits in 9 opposition to your election, and there are no witnesses 10 here to testify. Do you have a brief opening statement 11 you'd like to make? 12 THE WITNESS: No, sir. 13 REP. DELLENEY: Thank you. If you would, 14 answer any questions Ms. Shuler might have for you. 15 BY MS. SHULER: 16 Q Judge Anderson, at the outset I would like to 17 say that I did provide the Commission members with your 18 one-sheet information about your caseload. 19 A And I will explain that later. 20 Q Right. And I will have a question related to 21 that. 22 A All right. 23 MS. SHULER: Mr. Chairman, members of the 24 Commission, I have a few procedural matters to handle 25 with Judge Anderson. 0135 1 BY MS. SHULER: 2 Q Judge Anderson, you have before you your 3 Personal Data Questionnaire that you submitted as part 4 of your application. Are there any amendments to your 5 PDQ that you would like to make at this time? 6 A No. 7 MS. SHULER: Mr. Chairman, I would ask that 8 Judge Anderson's PDQ be entered as an exhibit into the 9 record at this time. 10 REP. DELLENEY: Are there any objections? 11 Hearing none, the Personal Data Questionnaire will be 12 entered into the record at this point in the transcript. 13 (Personal Data Questionnaire for Judge Ralph 14 King Anderson, III, marked JMSC Exhibit Number 16, for 15 identification.) 16 BY MS. SHULER: 17 Q Judge Anderson, you have before you the sworn 18 statement you provided with detailed answers to over 30 19 questions regarding judicial conduct, statutory 20 qualifications, office administration and temperament. 21 Are there any amendments that you would like to make to 22 your sworn statement at this time? 23 A No. 24 MS. SHULER: Mr. Chairman, I would ask that 25 Judge Anderson's sworn statement be entered as an 0136 1 exhibit into the record at this time. 2 REP. DELLENEY: Is there any objection? 3 Hearing none, the sworn statement will be entered into 4 the record and made part of the transcript record at 5 this time. 6 (Sworn Statement of Judge Ralph King Anderson, 7 III, marked JMSC Exhibit Number 17, for identification.) 8 MS. SHULER: One final procedural matter. I 9 note for the record that based on the testimony 10 contained in the candidate's PDQ, which has been 11 included in the record as an exhibit, Judge Anderson 12 meets the statutory requirements for this position as 13 Chief Judge of the Administrative Law Court regarding 14 age, residence and years of practice. 15 BY MS. SHULER: 16 Q Judge Anderson, you have been serving for some 17 time now as an Administrative Law Court judge. Now why 18 do you seek the seat of Chief Administrative Law Court 19 judge? 20 A Well, I was one of the first six elected, and 21 I really developed a love of the court. At one time I 22 had the desire to be on the Court of Appeals, but that 23 was because it just didn't seem to be an option that was 24 going to come open any time soon. When Chief Judge 25 Kittrell decided to retire, I saw the option, and I 0137 1 honestly think I could do a very good job being the 2 Chief and hope I'd be the better candidate. 3 I could also add, I've always wanted to, if I 4 ever left law, I wanted to go into business. I wanted 5 to run a corporation. And I just thought that would be 6 fun. And the more I've thought about the Chief Judge 7 position, in a way it gives you the best of both worlds 8 for my desire, because I still will be a judge, but I'll 9 also be able to manage an agency. And I just personally 10 think that would be very fulfilling. 11 Q As a follow-up to your opening comments, you 12 stated that you recently ran for the Court of Appeals. 13 If you were selected and nominated for Chief Judge, 14 would you stay the five-year term? 15 A I fully intend to do that and more. 16 Q Judge Anderson, can you explain to the 17 Commission how you feel your legal and professional 18 experience thus far would assist you to be an effective 19 Chief Judge? 20 A As far as being a manager, I've certainly had 21 a lot of experience with good and bad management. I was 22 an Employee Grievance Committee attorney. And for those 23 of you who don't know what that is, the Attorney 24 General's office, the Attorney Generals select 25 individuals to be the committee attorney in employee 0138 1 grievance cases. And I had Winstons, and so I have 2 heard many, many cases involving employee grievances 3 involving the State of South Carolina, and I've learned 4 a lot about management through that aspect. 5 Since I have been in the Attorney General's 6 office -- I mean, the Administrative Law Court, I have 7 assisted Judge Kittrell in many aspects of the court. A 8 lot of times I've been his right-hand person. I've 9 presented the budget to the Senate, I've presented the 10 rules to the Senate, I've spearheaded the legislation. 11 Act 387, I was assigned to spearhead that on behalf of 12 the Court. I was representing the Court in that matter. 13 I've assisted Judge Kittrell on decisions 14 concerning the development of the Court and how we were 15 to approach things, and also in employment matters. 16 Q And, Judge Anderson, I think you've basically 17 answered this question, but if you have anything 18 additionally to add, pursuant to Section 1-23570, the 19 Chief Judge of the Administrative Law Court has 20 additional responsibilities besides just serving as a 21 judge. What in your background -- and you've alluded to 22 that, that you often assisted Judge Kittrell, Chief 23 Judge Kittrell with responsibilities. What else in your 24 background would assist you in basically running and 25 managing the Administrative Law Court? 0139 1 A I think I pretty well covered it. Again, I 2 must emphasize that I've watched the development of the 3 court from its inception. I think I fully understand 4 the purposes of the Administrative Law Court to serve 5 the citizens. 6 Q Judge Anderson, as a follow-up -- 7 MS. SHULER: And every Commission member has 8 his test in your notebook, and these questions were 9 asked of him, but just to ask him at the hearing today. 10 BY MS. SHULER: 11 Q Focusing on what you perceive to be your three 12 major strengths, and then also your three major 13 weaknesses as a manager and a leader. 14 A All right. 15 Q Focusing first on your first three major 16 strengths. 17 A As a manager and a leader? 18 Q Yes, sir. 19 A As a manager, to repeat what I said earlier 20 about being an Employee Grievance Committee attorney, I 21 learned a lot about management in that regard. The 22 experience I've had already on the Court, again, I 23 learned a significant amount. Judge Kittrell has used 24 me in a variety of ways to help lead the Court, both 25 before the legislature and in the case assignments that 0140 1 have been given, although I think I'll use that as the 2 third. 3 The case assignments have really been 4 something that I really believe I've led the Court in. 5 That is many times when we get new jurisdictions, either 6 Judge Kittrell or I are the ones that take on the 7 caseload. Most recently -- well, most recently is the 8 OSHA jurisdiction, which I haven't heard any of those 9 cases yet, but I've been assigned, I think, the first 80 10 of them. I'm not sure how many of them. With DMV 11 jurisdiction, when we took that on, I took on a 12 significant amount of the first cases and tried to 13 develop the law in that area so that when the other 14 judges finally got the jurisdiction, there was good 15 orders to follow. 16 As far as weaknesses is concerned, I've dealt 17 with this from way back when I first became a young 18 lawyer in the Attorney General's Office, and that is I 19 have had a tendency to be a workaholic. I think I may 20 have got that from my dad. And I used to expect 21 everyone else around me to be the same way I am. I have 22 learned that state employees don't have to work 50 to 60 23 hours a week, and I shouldn't ask that of them. If 24 they're willing to, great. But I've had to deal with 25 that aspect of my personality. But hopefully I have 0141 1 conquered that demon. 2 Q Thank you, Judge. If you are nominated by the 3 Commission and elected by the General Assembly to serve 4 as a Chief Judge, would you describe the accomplishments 5 that you hope to achieve at the Administrative Law Court 6 as a Chief Judge during your term? 7 A I think in the interview with you I told you I 8 don't think lofty words are the proper response to that 9 question. In my opinion, the goal of the Chief Judge 10 should be to ensure that the jurisdiction that we have 11 been given is fulfilled as best as possible by the 12 judges on the court, and in that regard, I think the 13 primary focus that I would have is I would like the 14 cases to be properly disposed of. 15 But there is another emphasis that is close to 16 my heart, and that is I want our decisions to be very 17 well-reasoned. I have learned that it only takes a form 18 order or two sentences and a signature to get rid of a 19 case. And I don't want that to be any aspect of our 20 court, unless it's called for in inmate jurisdiction, 21 where we can summarily dismiss certain cases. In those 22 instances, a form order would be appropriate. But I 23 want our court to represent the whole United States as 24 the best Administrative Law Court. And I say that -- I 25 don't think that's egotistical or arrogant for us to do 0142 1 that, because when the court was originally formed, I've 2 heard from many people throughout this nation that they 3 were part of the Administrative Law Court that we have, 4 both the independence of our court and of the power that 5 the judges have on our court to fulfill our duties. 6 With the passage of Act 387, that has been even further 7 enhanced. 8 There are some tools that I think that we have 9 recently acquired that are going to help fulfill that 10 task. One is we've got a case management system. The 11 case management system is going to give the Chief Judge 12 better knowledge of the current disposition of the 13 cases. But there's another good aspect of the case 14 management system, that it also provides each judge 15 who's -- who can access that case management system, 16 access the information, because the information about 17 each case is going to be stored in the case management 18 system. And I was -- as a matter of fact, I was one -- 19 or the judge that was placed on the committee to 20 represent the Court in determining who was going to get 21 the contract for the case management system. 22 And one of the important things to me was to 23 get e-filing, and we did. We've got a case management 24 system that provides for e-filing. And the e-filing is 25 going to accomplish two things: It's going to allow the 0143 1 information to be further -- or it's going to further 2 enhance the case management aspect of supporting data, 3 because the motions, the orders, the responses to 4 motions, all those, if they are e-filed, they're going 5 to go straight into the case management system and be 6 available to the judge. 7 It will also, I thoroughly believe, reduce the 8 expenses for the State of South Carolina, but for the 9 Administrative Law Court and probably other agencies, 10 because e-filing will allow us to -- when we have 11 filings come to us through the Internet and then respond 12 to them via our orders, it's going to reduce postage and 13 the labor necessary to send those mailings out. And 14 that's going to especially be important in the Office of 15 Motor Vehicle hearings. 16 Finally, we're developing courtroom 17 technology. The e-filing will work hand in hand with 18 that. And I think the courtroom technology is going to 19 make the presentations of the cases before us not only 20 more effective but more efficient. 21 Q Judge Anderson, besides e-filing and updating 22 courtroom technology, are there any other concrete plans 23 that you have to improve the operations of the 24 Administrative Law Court? 25 A Except -- none, except when it comes to case 0144 1 assignment, I think I want to recognize the different 2 personalities of the judges on our court and, within the 3 parameters of the law, to try to assign cases with the 4 recognition of the judges so that hopefully we can 5 further enhance the disposition and the age of our 6 cases, and also to ensure quality orders. 7 If need be, I think that Chief Judge should, 8 if a case is not being heard, has the authority to pull 9 it back and assign it to somebody else. But I don't 10 know if that's a concrete plan. That's something that 11 I've thought about, as far as just ensuring the 12 disposition of our cases properly. 13 Q Judge Anderson, as a Chief Judge, would you 14 handle the same caseload as the other judges on your 15 court? 16 A Judge Kittrell's currently -- he's on a 60 to 17 80 percent caseload. My goal would be to do at least 18 80 percent, maybe more. 19 Q Thank you. Judge Anderson, you're aware the 20 staff has obtained from the clerk of the Administrative 21 Law Court information related to the number of cases 22 that Judge Matthews and you each handled organized by 23 the following categories, Non-Inmate, Department of 24 Corrections, and Probation, Pardon and Parole, for the 25 years 2005 through 2009, and the number of pending cases 0145 1 at the end of each year. In fact, the Clerk of Court, 2 Jana Shealy, informed me that when she gathered that 3 information and put it together around April 2nd, she 4 provided Judge Matthews and you each with that report. 5 And there are handwritten notes of corrections of orders 6 handled or an explanation about why a matter was 7 pending. 8 MS. SHULER: Laurie, can you provide Judge 9 Anderson a copy of that information, as well as his 10 information that he brought today? 11 (Case Docket of Judge Anderson marked JMSC 12 Exhibit Number 18, for identification.) 13 BY MS. SHULER: 14 Q I also provided Judge Matthews and you last 15 Thursday with what Ms. Shealy provided to me. 16 MS. SHULER: The Commission members have that 17 information in their notebook under Judge Matthews -- 18 Judge Anderson's information. 19 I want to turn specifically to -- Laurie, can 20 you tell them where it's located in their notebook? 21 MS. TRAYWICK: Tab 22, and it will be behind 22 the test. 23 MS. SHULER: Tab 22, behind the test. 24 MR. SELLERS: Starts at page 16. 25 MS. SHULER: Page 16, yeah. 0146 1 BY MS. SHULER: 2 Q Judge Matthews -- excuse me. Judge Anderson, 3 starting with the non-inmate cases, in 2008 you had 123 4 cases assigned to you. Pending at the end of the year 5 were 40 cases. Is there any explanation that you would 6 like to offer in response? 7 A Well, if I could -- 8 Q Would you like to turn to what you submitted? 9 A Yeah, if I could. I think that would add a 10 little light into my cases -- or the submission that the 11 clerk did. And I'll say that I didn't -- just for the 12 record, to be clear, when you say this was submitted to 13 me by the clerk on a handwritten note, my law clerk 14 reviewed this and returned it to her. I never reviewed 15 it. I reviewed it, actually, last night. 16 But just to start off with, the oldest case 17 that I had that I have yet to either hear, or that it 18 wasn't held in abeyance by the request of the parties 19 either to settle the matter or pending the outcome of an 20 appellate court case, was assigned to me July 29, 2008. 21 In other words, I don't have a case that's older than 22 nine months old, other than it's either been held in 23 abeyance for settlement in another case or that I 24 haven't already heard. 25 The 2007 cases that are listed in here -- 0147 1 there are six of them -- all of those cases were held in 2 abeyance in one way or the other by the request of the 3 parties. So I have no 2000 cases -- 2007 cases that 4 are -- let me just back up a little bit. 5 The first two cases, Tidewater and Pruitt, 6 those cases were assigned to me. They were assigned to 7 me from another judge after Judge Geathers left and 8 Judge Gossett left. And in both instances, the previous 9 judge had already signed an order holding the cases in 10 abeyance. So they were assigned to me in that format. 11 The next two cases, I held them in abeyance at 12 the request of the parties pending Supreme Court cases 13 for the outcome of them. The MRI at Belfair is now 14 being heard as another MRI at Belfair case. But the 15 other three, the outcome of appellate court decisions -- 16 the understanding of the parties is they're going to 17 resolve the cases, and that's why they're being held in 18 abeyance. 19 The last two, Koppers and League of Women 20 Voters, both of those cases, the parties requested -- 21 they told me that they had settled the matter, but they 22 requested time to work out a settlement because both of 23 them were fairly complex. Actually, League of Women 24 Voters, through no prompting of mine, is supposed to 25 send their Settlement Agreement this week. They were 0148 1 supposed to send it last week, but it's my understanding 2 it will come this week. 3 That leaves the 2008 cases. Of that, I only 4 have three cases that were older than a year, the oldest 5 being one year and two months. And of those cases, I've 6 heard all three. So Hamby Catering, I've heard it. 7 It's still not ready for order because the parties -- I 8 asked them to submit proposed orders, and now we're 9 arguing over what we can consider in the proposed 10 orders, because both parties are arguing that new issues 11 were raised. So we're still developing that case. 12 Waguespack, I've done it. It's sitting on my 13 desk, but I'm thinking about it because it's going to be 14 a significant case. And Grand Bees, we've got the 15 proposed orders about two weeks ago, maybe last, and I'm 16 developing those cases. 17 There were two other cases that have greater 18 days than 257 days listed on this docket, but those 19 cases, both of those were reassigned to me after other 20 judges left and they are not older than nine months. 21 If I could add on Zeigler, in fact, Zeigler 22 versus DOR, that case is the only case, since Judge 23 Kittrell has announced his desire to retire, that I have 24 continued where the parties didn't request it. I've 25 either heard every case, the parties have settled every 0149 1 case, or the parties have asked the case to be 2 rescheduled since that date. 3 Q So, Judge Anderson, when cases are assigned to 4 you, do you routinely write your own orders or do you 5 ask the parties to submit proposed orders and then you 6 may use what you want of those orders or develop your 7 own order? 8 A There is no routine. On the more simple 9 cases, either a law clerk or I draft the order, and then 10 we try to send those out real promptly right after the 11 hearing. On the more complex cases, in those instances 12 I'll ask for a proposed order. And in fact, Hamby 13 Catering and of Grand Bees, part of the delay is those 14 were complex cases. The parties requested a transcript 15 of the hearing, so you've got to wait for the transcript 16 of the hearing to be made available. And then the 17 parties submit the -- they're given time to submit the 18 proposed orders after the transcript is made available. 19 And it does add to the age of the case. But like I 20 said, even in that instance, the oldest case I've got is 21 a year and a little over two months. 22 Q Turning to inmate cases -- and on the chart 23 that I have from the clerk, those are Department, DOC 24 cases -- can you offer an explanation about the cases 25 assigned there, if you have a class action or group -- 0150 1 A I don't call it class action. 2 Q -- or a group of cases that have been 3 consolidated and they're assigned to you? 4 A This is one of those paradoxes, because it's 5 an example of me having a lot of cases showing how hard 6 I work, because the submission by the clerk shows that 7 I've got cases going back to 2006 and 2007 in DOC cases. 8 And, in fact, what really is reflected or is reality is 9 that after the passage of Atkinson versus Department of 10 Correction and Wicker versus Department of Correction, 11 those two cases, I got the first grouping again of the 12 prevailing wage cases that started coming in. 13 The attorneys for both Department of 14 Corrections and the inmates requested that I hear the 15 remaining cases or all of them that were going to come 16 in. So that resulted in 216 cases involving prevailing 17 wages being assigned to me over time. The parties are 18 developing those cases. They aren't even at the 19 briefing stage yet. We've had, I would venture to 20 guess, 10 conference calls on these cases trying to iron 21 out how to develop them. So 216 of those cases are 22 basically just consolidated in one case. And I've 23 broken them apart into four different areas of briefing 24 that we're going to hear, but still they're going to be 25 briefed through one single brief from the appellant and 0151 1 one from the respondent. 2 Also, as an example, when I say I've been 3 working hard, in the inmate litigation before us right 4 now, about 80 to 85 percent of the cases are summarily 5 dismissed. That leaves 15 to 20 percent of whatever 6 inmate cases are assigned, we issue formal orders. And 7 in this instance, I'm going to be issuing a formal order 8 in every case. I'm going to have to go through every 9 case to issue a formal order. 10 But the bottom line is I only have 21 cases, 11 inmate cases, that were assigned to me in 2008, other 12 than this prevailing wage case that are outstanding. 13 Q In the PPPS cases, you have a response about 14 what's outstanding -- 15 A Well, there's only -- 16 Q -- in those cases. 17 A This summary has listed there were 16. 18 Actually, there's only eight, and only one was assigned 19 to me in 2008. There's four of them that have 2008 20 docket numbers, but they weren't assigned to me until 21 2009. So I only had one case in that area outstanding 22 in 2008. 23 Q So after receiving what Ms. Shealy provided to 24 me, and then looking at what you've actually done in 25 these three different areas, what will you do, if you're 0152 1 selected as Chief Judge, sort of to look at how cases 2 are assigned and how timely orders are entered by 3 judges? 4 A If you look at what I just said, it's a 5 reflection of a judge that's got his docket about as 6 current as you can get it. Like I said, I've got three 7 cases that I've heard that are older than one year. The 8 remaining cases aren't set at being heard; so my 9 caseload of pending cases, every one of them are less 10 than nine months old. That's difficult to beat. Again, 11 with the inmate cases, I took on a lot of cases, but the 12 remaining cases, I'm very current. 13 Q I guess I wasn't clear on my question. 14 A I'm sorry. 15 Q No, I'm sorry. You can see that Ms. Shealy 16 has provided two judges' caseload assignments in 17 different areas for the past five years, and then what 18 was pending at the end of the year. And you have 19 actually gone back and said, "Okay. I need to sort of 20 clarify what she's provided to you." Is that something 21 you will look at, as a Chief Judge, for each judge, just 22 to see how they're managing their workload? 23 A Absolutely. 24 Q And how the orders -- what orders are still 25 left to be pending, need to be handled? 0153 1 A That was the very purpose of the case 2 management system. I mean, when we went to get -- or 3 develop the case management system, that was the idea, 4 to enhance the information that the Chief Judge had. We 5 found out about all these other things that it would do 6 when we started developing the contract, but I will say 7 that that is something I would certainly do. 8 Once a judge assigns a case, you depend upon 9 the judges that y'all put on our court to handle those 10 cases in a timely manner and in a quality manner. The 11 Chief Judge doesn't have so much authority in that area 12 as the court is set up right now. We can only either 13 lead by example or encourage and ask the judges to do 14 their job. 15 Q One last thing about the types of cases that 16 you have handled. And you have said in your application 17 materials that you have often been the first judge 18 assigned to handle cases that are within the new 19 jurisdiction of the Court. For example, Division of 20 Motor Vehicle cases, that legislature has sent OSHA 21 cases now to the Administrative Law Court. Can you 22 explain a little bit about that to the Commission 23 members? 24 A Well, Judge Kittrell assigns cases, so he 25 might want to have to explain that, at least from his 0154 1 perspective. From my perspective, I'm willing to do it. 2 And every time it's been brought up, I've been happy to 3 help out. 4 Q Moving away from that issue, Judge Anderson, 5 could you explain to the Commission what you think is 6 the appropriate demeanor for a judge? 7 A I think to start with regarding the -- under 8 the ethics rules, it sets forth that a judge campaigning 9 for office should maintain the dignity of the office and 10 uphold the independence and integrity of the judiciary. 11 I think that's a good start. 12 As far as adjudication, there's a myriad of 13 requisites that are set forth for judges. I think you 14 can summarize them by setting forth that a judge should 15 be fair and maintain proper standards in the courtroom. 16 Q When you leave the bench, if you're selected 17 as a Chief Judge of the Administrative Law Court, what 18 would you like your legacy to be known for on the court? 19 A I would like to be known as the judge who 20 people would want their case to have been heard by, if 21 that sufficiently explains what I mean. But if I leave 22 the court, and when I leave people say, "Well, that was 23 the judge that I wanted to have my case heard by, and 24 I'm sorry he's gone because now I've got to move down to 25 my next choice," that's what I would like to be. 0155 1 Q Thank you. Judge Anderson, have you sought or 2 received the pledge of any legislator prior to this 3 date? 4 A No. 5 Q Have you sought or have you been offered a 6 conditional pledge of support of any legislator pending 7 the outcome of your screening? 8 A No. 9 Q Have you asked any third party to contact 10 members of the General Assembly on your behalf? 11 A No. 12 Q Have you contacted any members of the 13 Commission? 14 A No. 15 Q Do you understand that you're prohibited from 16 seeking a pledge or commitment until 48 hours after the 17 formal release of the Commission's report? And that 18 release date has now been changed to an earlier date of 19 noon on Tuesday, April 28th. 20 A Yes. 21 Q Have you reviewed the Commission's guidelines 22 on pledging? 23 A Yes. 24 Q Are you aware that the penalties for violating 25 the pledging rules are that it's considered a 0156 1 misdemeanor, and that you could be fined or imprisoned, 2 fined not more than $1,000 or imprisoned not more than 3 90 days? 4 A I read it and y'all told me that several 5 times. 6 MS. SHULER: I would note that the Midlands 7 Citizens Committee found the Honorable Ralph King 8 "Tripp" Anderson, III, to be a most eminently qualified 9 and a most highly regarded candidate who would most ably 10 serve Seat 1 of the Administrative Law Court in an 11 outstanding manner. 12 I would note for the record that I have 13 incorporated any concerns in my questionning of Judge 14 Anderson today. And, Mr. Chairman, I have no further 15 questions for Judge Anderson. 16 REP. DELLENEY: Okay. Anyone on the 17 Commission have any questions of Judge Anderson? 18 Senator Knotts. 19 BY SEN. KNOTTS: 20 Q Judge Anderson, I want to commend you on your 21 service since the Administrative Law Judge position was 22 created, and I was in the House back then. But I think 23 you can attest that I have been over in the law judge 24 court for quite some time, visiting with the Chief Judge 25 and visiting and observing cases that's been held over 0157 1 there, just sitting around and -- 2 A Representing your constituents. 3 Q That's exactly right, and watching how the 4 Administrative Law Judge Court operates. And I see you 5 over there all the time. I don't believe I've been over 6 there a time that you wasn't there. And I commend you 7 for that, the hours you put in. In fact, I believe last 8 week I was over there then on Easter week, Easter break, 9 I saw you over there then. Do you remember that? 10 A Yes, sir. 11 Q The caseload that you have showed here, is 12 that a typical caseload for each judge or do some judges 13 have more cases than others or how is it divided up now 14 currently? 15 A Judge Kittrell tries to divide it up, but I 16 have historically ended up with a heavier caseload than 17 anybody else. That's just how it's been. 18 Q As you're well aware, last week -- I don't 19 believe there was about two judges, maybe three -- I 20 believe it was two that was over there at the time that 21 I was there; is that not correct? 22 A Yes, sir. 23 Q Have I inquired at times where the other 24 judges were or have I asked where they were or when are 25 they coming back? 0158 1 A I think you asked -- 2 Q The secretary? 3 A Yeah. I'm not sure if you asked me, but I've 4 heard of your inquiries. 5 Q Yes, sir. Your workload, you're usually 6 there -- give me an example of your work week. 7 A I normally get to the office about between 8 8:00 and 8:30. And since I've been running for this 9 position, I haven't been working quite as late as I 10 normally do because I left to go to some of these 11 receptions that we go to. But I normally would work 12 about 6:00, some nights a lot later. I normally take 13 about one to two days a year vacation and one to two 14 days a year sick leave. 15 Q In fact, I've seen you leaving the garage area 16 about the same time that I leave the garage area at 17 night sometimes, close to dawn, since we've been here in 18 both buildings this long, right? 19 A I leave late some nights. 20 Q Okay. Thank you. 21 REP. DELLENEY: Any other member have any 22 questions for Judge Anderson? Senator Ford. 23 BY SENATOR FORD: 24 Q I'm just kind of curious. On the cases that I 25 heard Attorney Shuler ask about, it didn't sound like 0159 1 administrative law to me. What's the definition for 2 administrative law and what type cases do y'all handle? 3 A We handle whatever -- when you say type of 4 cases, we handle whatever the General Assembly tells us 5 to hear and whatever the Supreme Court decides that we 6 have jurisdiction, because that's how we got the inmate 7 jurisdiction. 8 Q That's what I'm saying. What in the world 9 inmate got to do with administrative law? Is it because 10 we have a shortage of judges, they just throw y'all all 11 kind of cases? 12 A The Supreme Court decided in Al-Shabazz that 13 inmates have a due process right to have their 14 grievances reviewed. 15 Q Right, Administrative Law Judge? 16 A Right. That's how we got those cases. The 17 Department of Corrections was making decisions that the 18 Court held that inmates had a State-created -- that was 19 the operative term -- quote, State-created liberty, end 20 quote, in various aspects of the decisions that the 21 Department of Corrections was making, and it set forth 22 that we have jurisdiction to hear those cases. They 23 later determined that we can summary dismiss those 24 cases. And, like I said, that occurs in about 80 to 25 85 percent of the cases that we have to hear, we have to 0160 1 call a briefing and issue a formal order. I shouldn't 2 say formal, because every order is formal, but a more 3 involved order in the remaining cases. 4 Q What was the mandate from the General Assembly 5 when we created Administrative Law Judges? Because 6 you've been involved in this since day one. What's your 7 understanding of what that's supposed to be? 8 A The mandate? 9 Q Yeah. 10 A Historically the cases have been heard by 11 attorneys appointed by various agencies. And I think 12 there was a perception that there was a concern about 13 the independence of those decision makers. Therefore 14 the -- it was the Administrative Law Judge of the 15 division at the time, but now it's been changed to 16 Administrative Law Court. The Administrative Law Court 17 was created to be more independent of the agencies, and 18 also to be a forum to quickly have their cases heard, 19 because we were created with that in mind. 20 Q Now y'all have a backlog like everybody else? 21 Do you consider your court now just another arm of the 22 Circuit Court? 23 A No, sir, we're very independent of the Circuit 24 Court. Our appeals -- once our decisions are made, our 25 appeals go straight to the Court of Appeals. 0161 1 Q I know that, yeah. But do you think next 2 year, do you think somebody will send y'all some murder 3 cases? 4 A I'm an ex-prosecutor. I probably wouldn't 5 mind getting those, but I don't know of that. 6 SEN. KNOTTS: Mr. Chairman. 7 REP. DELLENEY: Senator Knotts. 8 BY SEN. KNOTTS: 9 Q In fact, Judge, up until just this recently, 10 cases that were being heard by the Administrative Law 11 Court was -- from DHEC was heard by the Board, sent to 12 you, and then after you made a decision, went back to 13 the Board; is that right? 14 A Yes. 15 Q Now we've passed a law last year that makes it 16 so that once you hear it, it goes straight to the Court 17 of Appeals to sort of shortcut some of the appeal 18 process and stuff like that with DHEC. And that's some 19 of the services that y'all, the Court is designed to do, 20 right? 21 A That's correct. And that decision has been, I 22 believe, wonderful in many aspects. Or that decision, 23 your passage of Act 387 has been wonderful as far as, A, 24 streamlining the process, and also granting citizens and 25 lawyers the aspect to go to the Court of Appeals and 0162 1 quickly get or a lot quicker get binding decisions or 2 appellate decisions that both we, the Court, and the 3 lawyers will understand what to do. 4 Q And now are y'all fixing to or have you 5 already started the process for the DMV, as far as 6 Breathalyzer refusals and stuff like that? 7 A That's well -- that's been implemented for 8 about a year and a half now, and we're -- maybe even a 9 little bit longer. I'm not sure. But that is well 10 underway. 11 Q That, along with the inmate caseload, and now 12 what used to be heard down at the DMV is now being put 13 under your jurisdiction, and that's going to create even 14 a bigger caseload? 15 A Yes, sir. 16 Q I'm telling you, it's amazing how much we just 17 keep tacking onto the Administrative Law Court and 18 increasing their caseload. And when we do it and not 19 add new judges, we create the backlog that they have. 20 And I think -- in fact, I don't see how they do it down 21 there. 22 A I do appreciate your concern. 23 Q That's the reason I visit over there so much. 24 A I will tell you -- because look at my 25 caseload. I don't have much of a backlog. And I can't 0163 1 speak for everybody else because I haven't seen their 2 cases. As I tell people, a lot of times I come in, I go 3 to my hole and I do my job, my hole being my office. So 4 I stay right on my tasks currently. 5 REP. DELLENEY: Any other questions for Judge 6 Anderson? Thank you, Judge Anderson. I know you know 7 what the 48-hour rule means. I'll just tell you that 8 we're anticipating perhaps releasing a report on April 9 the 23rd. And commitments, you'll be able to seek 10 commitments on Tuesday, April the 28th, at noon, if all 11 goes as planned. 12 With that, I hope you have a good rest of the 13 afternoon. 14 THE WITNESS: Thank y'all for listening to me. 15 REP. DELLENEY: Thank you. 16 (Witness excused.) 17 MR. SELLERS: There's an error, unless I got 18 an earlier version. His PDQ shows he's been married -- 19 mine says he was married on October 2nd, 1999 and was 20 divorced on February 19, 1998. 21 MS. SHULER: That's because he's been married 22 before. He was divorced. If he's the moving party, 23 then they don't list that -- 24 MR. SELLERS: So there's two marriages? 25 MS. SHULER: There's two marriages. 0164 1 MR. SELLERS: Okay. 2 MS. SHULER: And when he -- there was another 3 candidate Senator McConnell asked me about. When 4 they're the moving party, they don't have to list their 5 former spouse's name. That's why it looks like that. 6 Does that make sense? 7 MR. SELLERS: As clear as mud. 8 REP. DELLENEY: We have with us this afternoon 9 Mr. J. Alex Stanton, IV, who seeks a position with the 10 Family Court, Fourth Circuit, Seat Number 3. 11 If you would, Mr. Stanton, please raise your 12 right hand to be sworn. 13 J. ALEX STANTON, IV, being first duly sworn, 14 testified as follows: 15 EXAMINATION 16 REP. DELLENEY: Thank you, sir. The Judicial 17 Merit Selection Commission has thoroughly investigated 18 your qualifications for service on the bench. Our 19 inquiry is primarily focused on nine evaluative criteria 20 which have a survey of the Bench and Bar, a thorough 21 study of your application materials, a verification of 22 your compliance to state ethics laws, a search of any 23 newspaper articles in which your name may have appeared, 24 a study of any previous screenings you may have been 25 involved in, and a check for economic conflicts of 0165 1 interest. 2 There are no affidavits filed in opposition to 3 your election. There are no witness here to testify 4 today. Do you have a brief opening statement you'd like 5 to make? 6 THE WITNESS: I'd just like to thank y'all for 7 giving y'all's important time, especially with all the 8 things for the state before you today. That's all I 9 have at this time. 10 REP. DELLENEY: Do you have anybody you'd like 11 to introduce to us? 12 THE WITNESS: Yes, I was accompanied here by 13 my wife, Betsey Hayes Stanton, who is a teacher 14 specialist for special needs children in Chesterfield 15 County. 16 REP. DELLENEY: Thank you, ma'am. We're glad 17 to have you here with us today, too. 18 With that, Mr. Stanton, would you please 19 answer any questions Ms. Shuler might have of you? 20 THE WITNESS: I certainly will. 21 MS. SHULER: Mr. Chairman and members of the 22 Commission, I have a few procedural matters to take care 23 of with this candidate. 24 BY MS. SHULER: 25 Q Mr. Stanton, you have before you your Personal 0166 1 Data Questionnaire you submitted as part of your 2 application. Is there any amendment you would like to 3 make to your PDQ at this time? 4 A No, ma'am. 5 MS. SHULER: Mr. Chairman, I would ask that 6 Mr. Stanton's PDQ be entered as on exhibit into the 7 record at this time. 8 REP. DELLENEY: Any objection? Hearing none, 9 the PDQ will be entered into the record at this point in 10 the transcript. 11 (Personal Data Questionnaire for James 12 Alexander Stanton, IV, marked JMSC Exhibit Number 19, 13 for identification.) 14 BY MS. SHULER: 15 Q Mr. Stanton, you have before you the sworn 16 statement you provided with detailed answers to over 30 17 questions regarding judicial conduct, statutory 18 qualifications, office administration and temperament. 19 Are there any amendments you'd like to make to your 20 sworn statement? 21 A No, ma'am. 22 MS. SHULER: Mr. Chairman, I would ask that 23 Mr. Stanton's sworn statement be entered as an exhibit 24 into the record. 25 REP. DELLENEY: Are there any objections? 0167 1 There being none, the sworn statement shall be entered 2 into the record at this point in the transcript. 3 (Sworn Statement of James Alexander Stanton, 4 IV, marked JMSC Exhibit Number 20, for identification.) 5 MS. SHULER: One final procedural matter. I 6 note for the record that based on the candidate's PDQ 7 which was just entered into the record, Mr. Stanton 8 meets the statutory requirements for this position 9 regarding age, residence and years of practice. 10 BY MS. SHULER: 11 Q Mr. Stanton, would you state for the record 12 your town and circuit in which you reside? 13 A I live in Hartsville, South Carolina, which is 14 in Darlington County, which is one of the counties that 15 comprise the Fourth Judicial Circuit. 16 Q Thank you, Mr. Stanton. Mr. Stanton, after 17 practicing law since 1974, why do you now want to serve 18 as a Family Court judge? 19 A I believe that my experience and my knowledge 20 of the Family Court, along with the other courts that I 21 have practiced in, gives me the qualifications to render 22 to the public of South Carolina that comes before the 23 Family Court a fair and honest decision. I believe in 24 my 34 years of practice, that I have developed the 25 expertise in many areas, including the Family Court law 0168 1 area and that I believe that I could be able to listen 2 to the testimony as it is presented, and then analyze it 3 by applying the law to those facts and evidence 4 presented to me. 5 I also was a commander in the National Guard 6 for several years. I had about a hundred or more troops 7 that I had to analyze and make decisions and things in 8 regards to those. I was that for probably three or four 9 years, a commander. 10 In addition to that, I served on a local 11 school board for 16 years, chairman for several of those 12 years, and also the State Board, and chairman on the 13 State Board for at least two years. And during that, we 14 had to take in information on issues that were germane 15 to that area, analyze it, and then make a determination 16 what we felt is best. And I believe I've got the skills 17 and qualifications to do that. 18 I have wanted to be a Family Court judge for 19 several years, but coming from a small county, I 20 realized how difficult it is for someone to be elected 21 on an at-large basis, so I had been waiting for one of 22 the vacancies to open up in our district. 23 And lastly, I've been practicing law for 34 24 years, and I would like to finish my law career out as a 25 Family Court judge. I really thoroughly enjoy the law 0169 1 and I plan, in whatever capacity, to remain involved 2 with either the practice of law or hopefully being a 3 judge for the rest of my career. 4 Q Thank you. Mr. Stanton, I noted on your PDQ 5 that in the last five years, 18 to 20 percent of your 6 practice has been in the family law area. Are there any 7 areas that you would need to prepare for substantively 8 in the law in order to serve as a Family Court judge? 9 A Ms. Shuler, I don't really believe so. I 10 think I need to maybe clarify how I arrived at those 11 percentages. 12 Q All right. 13 A In a small town general practice, we do a lot 14 of different things. But when I answer a question or 15 give the response, I want to have a basis for that. So 16 I went back to my computer records at the office and 17 based that strictly on income. However, I realize and 18 have realized for years that the income that I derive 19 from Family Court practice is not commensurate with the 20 time that is spent on that. I do a large civil 21 litigation practice and, of course, the remuneration on 22 that is probably not commensurate with the time spent on 23 some of that either. So I do think that percentage is 24 probably a good bit higher. And especially when you 25 look at a smaller county, we do not generate the 0170 1 attorney's fees that they do in some of the other areas 2 of the state that would maybe skew that percentage. So 3 that's strictly based on my income, but I think my time 4 spent in Family Court is probably certainly more than 5 the 20 percent. 6 Q So let me clarify. You really have a 7 background in all the different areas that you would 8 hear if you were selected to serve on a Family Court 9 bench, let's say juvenile cases, divorces, adoptions, 10 just for example? 11 A Yes, ma'am. I have handled cases in all of 12 those areas. And in my questionnaire, I think I advised 13 the Commission about several of those recent cases I may 14 have handled. But besides divorce and equitable 15 distribution, I have been involved in adoptions. As a 16 matter of fact, my oldest son was an adopted child, so 17 I'm certainly familiar with that process. 18 And on the abuse and neglect cases in our 19 county, we sort of had been on a rotating basis of being 20 appointed, and I've served in that capacity on many 21 occasions, probably the least amount of time that I 22 spent while in juvenile cases. I've handled several of 23 those, but I don't really handle those on a routine 24 basis. 25 Q What would you do to sort of prepare to handle 0171 1 juvenile cases, if you're selected to serve on the 2 Family Court bench? 3 A I would review that particular area of law 4 that I felt that I had some additional work needed. I'd 5 do the necessary research that was needed to review the 6 cases and things of that sort. 7 Q Thank you. Mr. Stanton, although you address 8 this in your sworn affidavit, could you explain to the 9 Commission members what you believe to be the 10 appropriate demeanor of a Family Court judge? 11 A I feel that a Family Court judge or any judge, 12 for that matter, should give an appearance of being 13 impartial, be open-minded, being fair to all the 14 litigants, the attorneys and the court staff. I feel 15 that a judge needs to be humble and be open-minded with 16 what's presented to them. 17 At the same time, I think the judge needs to 18 juggle to make sure that his courtroom is operated in a 19 proper manner with respect for the various witnesses, 20 the attorneys, and certainly the Court themselves. So I 21 think that the demeanor that someone should have is just 22 the demeanor that we would like to have someone be our 23 judge, too. 24 Q Thank you. If you're selected to serve as a 25 Family Court judge, and after serving your terms, what 0172 1 would you like your legacy to be known for on the Family 2 Court bench? 3 A I would like to be known as someone who was 4 very knowledgeable in the law, because in all these 5 cases we hear the facts in evidence, we have to learn 6 how to apply the law that we have. So first of all, I 7 would like to be known as someone who is very 8 knowledgeable in the law that we are required to apply. 9 Secondly, I would want the individuals who 10 would come before me, the attorneys and the litigants, 11 to believe that they have been given a fair and full 12 hearing on the matters that were before the Court. 13 And last of all, I want the individuals, even 14 if they disagree with my ruling, it may be in the past 15 or something, that they do realize that I was 16 open-minded and I was fair and honest in the delivery of 17 my decisions. 18 Q Thank you. What suggestions would you offer 19 for improving the backlog in the Family Court docket? 20 A In the county in which I primarily practice is 21 Darlington, we don't have a tremendous backlog at this 22 time. Only when we're trying to get a case that's 23 scheduled for two or three days do we have a situation 24 in regards that we have to wait two or three months to 25 get that scheduled. But overall, I think that the 0173 1 proper use of our court time is very, very important. 2 I'm a firm believer in pretrials that we have 3 in Family Court. I think that's something that can be 4 utilized more and more. Because as a lawyer in Family 5 Court, I don't remember too many cases where every issue 6 that we were going to present before the Court was a 7 contested issue. And I think at the pretrial, if the 8 judges will try to cipher out the issues that are not 9 going to be contested, that we can say there's an 10 agreement on these issues, then we can limit the scope 11 of the trial and therefore the time factor. 12 Another thing that I think could be done is to 13 try to schedule as best we can a good number of cases 14 that might be uncontested pretty much on that same day. 15 And even if you sort of overbook it, like they do on the 16 airlines, if we overbook an afternoon with some 17 uncontested cases, we might go over a while after the 18 normal time to be finished court, but it would not be so 19 extenuating. I think those are some areas that could be 20 addressed. Again, in my circuit we don't have the 21 problem that I know that they have in some other 22 circuits. 23 The other thing that I'm not even aware of, 24 how many weeks a family judge gets chamber weeks, but I 25 think if a county began to get backlogged, that there's 0174 1 something that could be looked at as far as possibly 2 taking away some of those chamber weeks. Now, again, I 3 haven't sat as a Family Court judge and I don't know 4 really what the full need of these chamber weeks are or 5 things of that sort, so I'm just speaking from my 6 opinion as an outsider, as far as making comments about 7 the chamber weeks. 8 Q Thank you. Mr. Stanton, in 1990, exactly 19 9 years ago to the day, you were accused of driving under 10 the influence. The records indicate that you were 11 convicted, successfully appealed that conviction, and 12 there is no official documentation as to the disposition 13 of the case. In fact, your SLED report sort of reflects 14 it still being open. Would you please offer your 15 recollection of the events surrounding this matter as 16 well as the final disposition of the charge? 17 A Yes, ma'am, I'd be glad to. First of all, I 18 regret the incident occurred anyway. But I had a 19 condominium at Windy Hill Beach in the North Myrtle 20 Beach area, and it was hit by Hugo in the fall of '89. 21 We only got electricity back into the condo sometime 22 that spring. 23 My two sons at that time were playing Dixie 24 Youth Baseball, and I think they were on spring break 25 with my wife somewhere down in Florida. So I took two 0175 1 of their coaches down there so we could wash the walls 2 down and things of that sort, try to get the mustiness 3 out of it. And I remember we finished late that 4 afternoon, early evening. 5 We went out to eat at a restaurant in North 6 Myrtle Beach called Steven's Restaurant. It's a place 7 where a lot of local people go. They do not serve 8 alcohol there. And we ended up having supper that 9 night. Needless to say, these coaches were a lot 10 younger than I was, so they took their own car to the 11 restaurant and they went somewhere else. 12 And then I did stop at one of the shag places 13 in North Myrtle Beach at Ocean Drive. And I remember 14 specifically I had two drinks. And I remember many 15 times when I was doing some representation of DUIs, 16 everybody had two beers or two drinks. I mean, I 17 realize that is almost a broken record, but I know 18 that's exactly what I had. 19 I was going back to North Myrtle Beach, pulled 20 into a 7-Eleven store, convenience store, one of these 21 ones that were just lit up almost like it's daylight. I 22 bought a pack of cigarettes. I pulled out. I was about 23 two blocks from where I turned to go into Windy Hill. I 24 did not turn my lights on until I actually got close to 25 the roadway. Apparently that's what got the officer's 0176 1 attention and I was pulled over. 2 I was later convicted in a jury trial, and the 3 Circuit Court judge, probably nine, 10 months later 4 reversed it and sent it back for a new trial. At a 5 later point in time the city -- the problem was with the 6 Breathalyzer. The City of North Myrtle Beach did 7 dismiss that charge. 8 Like Murphy's law, the one file you want to 9 find, I cannot find my own file on that. I did not give 10 it a number. It's in some box in storage somewhere. 11 But I remember specifically when I got the dismissal, I 12 went to my insurance company, gave them a copy of it, 13 and I got a refund check of about $7,000 back. I 14 remember that specifically, because I spent that money 15 on the purchase of a Sea-Doo personal watercraft. 16 My insurance agent does not have his records 17 that far back, neither does the City of North Myrtle 18 Beach. The City attorney from North Myrtle Beach did 19 get me a copy of my driving record, which I could only 20 go back 10 years. And he -- I think I've got it right 21 here. He sent it to me, and it shows no DUI 22 suspensions, no suspensions whatsoever. So even though 23 I did send a true copy of the reversal order from the 24 Circuit Court to SLED and, of course, they said they 25 would have to leave it as just hanging 19 years as no 0177 1 disposition. 2 So I would like to state that it was 19 years 3 ago. It's not a routine situation. I do not believe 4 that I was under the influence, and that is certainly 5 not something that I think is a problem that I have. 6 And again, I regret that it even happened. And quite 7 frankly, I wish I had done things that I would have 8 recommended my clients to have done, that if it was 9 dismissed, to have gotten it expunged. But lawyers, 10 unfortunately, sometimes don't do things for themselves 11 that they would make sure that were done for a client. 12 Q Thank you. Mr. Stanton, please offer the 13 Commission a brief explanation concerning the civil suit 14 brought against you related to the Byerly Trust. 15 A This is the only civil action that's ever been 16 brought against me. Mr. Byerly was sort of an eccentric 17 gentleman. He was a friend of mine and a client of 18 mine, and I prepared a trust for him. And there was no 19 money. It was primarily some real estate. There was a 20 lot next to a bank, and there was some lots out in the 21 country. We basically put those in a trust. 22 And I probably prepared anywhere from 50 to 23 100 various trusts, and I believe this is the only one 24 trust in which we limited the -- which he wanted to 25 limit the distribution from the trust to the income and 0178 1 not provide discretionary distributions of principal. 2 He had a friend named as the trustee. He 3 served. For whatever reason, he said, "I'm not going to 4 serve anymore." He then got another friend to serve, 5 and that person served for a year or so and then quit. 6 Mr. Byerly came to me and asked me would I serve as 7 trustee. I initially told him no. And then he came 8 back and said, "I can't get anybody else to do it. 9 Would you please do it for me?" 10 Again, when we started, there was no money in 11 the trust whatsoever. It was just this real estate. So 12 I finally consented to serve as a trustee. What I did 13 not do and should have done, and I wouldn't even be 14 discussing this now if I had, but I did not reread the 15 trust agreement which limited it to income distribution 16 only. 17 Over the period of time we would sell this 18 lot, we would sell another lot, and then I would make 19 distributions to him from $50 to $125 to -- I think the 20 biggest distribution to him was 13,000, which he used to 21 purchase a mobile home. Mr. Byerly at this time was 22 disabled. The only income he had was some Social 23 Security Disability, so the moneys that I was giving to 24 him actually came from the principal, and therefore it 25 was in violation of the trust agreement. 0179 1 When we were contacted by the attorney for his 2 son who was the ultimate beneficiary, I immediately 3 turned the matter over to my malpractice carrier. And 4 through negotiations of that, they ended up resolving 5 that case for a settlement of, I think, around $32,000. 6 I would like to state that I did not take a 7 trustee fee during any of this time that I was serving 8 as trustee. There were interim accountings each year 9 filed showing the moneys coming in and basically being 10 depleted each year. I think there were three or four 11 different small real estate sales that were done. I did 12 receive an attorney's fee for the preparation of the 13 deed and things of that sort. 14 But I admitted my mistake that I should have 15 reread it, realized it only allowed for the principal 16 distributions. But quite frankly, this is the only way 17 this man survived during that period of time. 18 Q Thank you, Mr. Stanton. Have you sought or 19 received the pledge of any legislator prior to this 20 date? 21 A No, ma'am. 22 Q Have you sought or have you been offered a 23 conditional pledge of support of any legislator pending 24 the outcome of your screening? 25 A No, ma'am. 0180 1 Q Have you asked any third parties to contact 2 members of the General Assembly on your behalf? 3 A No, ma'am. 4 Q Have you contacted any Commission members? 5 A No, I have not. 6 Q Do you understand that you're prohibited from 7 seeking a pledge or commitment until 48 hours after the 8 formal release of the Commission's report? And that 9 release date has been changed now to the report on 10 April 23rd, but officially you can obtain commitments or 11 pledges at noon on April 28th. 12 A Yes, ma'am, I'm aware of that. 13 Q Have you reviewed the Commission's guidelines 14 on pledging? 15 A Yes, ma'am. 16 Q As a follow-up, are you aware of the penalties 17 for violating the pledging rules, that is, it's a 18 misdemeanor and upon conviction, the violator must be 19 fined not more than $1,000 or imprisoned not more than 20 90 days? 21 A Yes, ma'am, I'm aware of that. 22 MS. SHULER: I would note that the Pee Dee 23 Citizens Committee reported that Mr. Stanton is a 24 well-regarded candidate who would ably serve on the 25 Family Court bench. 0181 1 And I would note for the record that any 2 concerns raised during the investigation regarding 3 Mr. Stanton were incorporated into the questioning of 4 the candidate today. Mr. Chairman, I have no further 5 questions for Mr. Stanton. 6 SEN. McCONNELL: Does any member of the 7 Commission have any questions? Professor. 8 PROFESSOR FREEMAN: I do. 9 BY PROFESSOR FREEMAN: 10 Q Mr. Stanton, we've got an unusual situation 11 here in that one of the biggest cases that you've had 12 recently is a lawsuit against Ms. Wilmeth. And some of 13 that lawsuit was going on when Mr. Holt, who is also a 14 candidate for this position, was in that firm. And as I 15 understand it, you caught her stealing a large amount of 16 money and recovered over 800,000 from her. 17 A That's correct, yes, sir. 18 Q So just -- and I say that only for the benefit 19 of fellow Commission members. We're talking about some 20 serious, serious misconduct here. 21 Did you ever, in the course of your dealings 22 on behalf of your clients against Wilmeth and/or her law 23 firm, ever see any sign of any impropriety on the part 24 of Mr. Holt? 25 A No, sir. 0182 1 PROFESSOR FREEMAN: That's what I wanted to 2 know. Thank you. 3 SEN. McCONNELL: Any other members of the 4 Commission have any questions? 5 All right. Then that concludes this stage of 6 the screening process. Several things: One is to thank 7 you for your cooperation with our staff on getting the 8 paperwork done. The second thing is to remind you again 9 about the 48-hour rule. Tentatively we're hoping to 10 have a report out around April the 23rd. If we do, then 11 around April 28th, 12:00 noon, you'll be able to start 12 asking for commitments. I would confirm that, though, 13 with the staff on that. 14 Lastly, not that there's anything pending, but 15 the Commission reserves the right up until it issues a 16 report to keep the record open. And should we have any 17 additional matters we need to address, we would contact 18 you or ask you to come back. That's not to indicate 19 there's anything there, but just so you understand the 20 record still remains open. With that, thank you for 21 coming. 22 THE WITNESS: Thank y'all for giving us this 23 time to appear before you. 24 SEN. McCONNELL: Yes, sir. 25 (Witness excused.) 0183 1 (Discussion off the record.) 2 SEN. McCONNELL: Good afternoon. We'll go 3 back on the record now. We have before us Honorable 4 Carolyn C. Matthews, offering again for Administrative 5 Law Court, Seat 1. Is that correct? 6 THE WITNESS: That's correct, but actually 7 it's the Chief Judge's position. 8 SEN. McCONNELL: It's the Chief Judge's 9 position there. Okay. If you'd be so kind as to raise 10 your right hand. 11 JUDGE CAROLYN CASON MATTHEWS, being first duly 12 sworn, testified as follows: 13 EXAMINATION 14 SEN. McCONNELL: Thank you. The Judicial 15 Merit Selection Commission has thoroughly investigated 16 your qualifications for the bench. Our inquiry is 17 focused on nine evaluative criteria, and it has included 18 a survey of the Bench and the Bar, a thorough study of 19 your application materials, a verification of your 20 compliance with state ethics laws, a search of newspaper 21 articles in which your name appears, a study of the 22 previous screenings, and a check of economic conflicts 23 of interest. 24 We have received no affidavits filed in 25 opposition to your election. No witnesses are present 0184 1 to testify. I'd ask you if you have a brief opening 2 statement you wish to give before I turn you over to 3 Mr. Gentry, who is our staff counsel who will ask the 4 questions on behalf of the Commission. 5 THE WITNESS: Thank you, Senator McConnell. 6 It is my privilege to be here. With me is my husband, 7 John McAllister, and my daughter, Austin Bruner, who is 8 an assistant county attorney for Charleston County. 9 I am ready to answer any questions you have. 10 SEN. McCONNELL: All right. With that, 11 Mr. Gentry. 12 MR. GENTRY: Mr. Chairman and members of the 13 Commission, I have a few procedural matters to take care 14 of regarding Judge Matthews. 15 BY MR. GENTRY: 16 Q Judge Matthews, you have before you the 17 Personal Data Questionnaire you submitted as part of 18 your application. Are there any amendments that you'd 19 like to make to your PDQ? 20 A Yes, there is, Mr. Gentry. I was notified 21 that there were two cases filed against me, one, a civil 22 complaint by Mr. Gerald Brown. This is in answer to 23 question number 34. It was filed in Richland County 24 Court by an inmate, and it was dismissed on 25 January 18th, 2002. 0185 1 Then there was a prison condition case, which 2 was filed, William C. McKinney, prisoner, versus Jon 3 Ozmint, Governor Jim Hodges, Attorney General Charles 4 Condon, NFN McKie, the General Counsel's Office, Warden 5 Rickie Harrison and Caroline Matthews. And on 6 September 3rd, 2004, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals 7 denied a petition for rehearing. And I was told by the 8 federal clerk who looked at this that there was no proof 9 that I was ever served that. So I'd like that added to 10 my file, please. 11 MR. GENTRY: Mr. Chairman, I'd ask that Judge 12 Matthews' PDQ and amendments be entered as exhibits into 13 the hearing record. 14 SEN. McCONNELL: Is there any objection? 15 Hearing none, the Personal Data Questionnaire, along 16 with the amendments, will be entered into the record at 17 this time. Mr. Gentry. 18 (Personal Data Questionnaire for Judge Carolyn 19 Cason Matthews marked JMSC Exhibit Number 21, for 20 identification.) 21 (Amendment to PDQ for Judge Carolyn Cason 22 Matthews marked JMSC Exhibit Number 22, for 23 identification.) 24 BY MR. GENTRY: 25 Q Judge Matthews, you have before you a sworn 0186 1 statement you provided with detailed answers to over 30 2 questions regarding judicial conduct, statutory 3 qualifications, office administration and temperament. 4 Are there any amendments that you'd like to make to your 5 sworn statement? 6 A No, there are not, and they stand as is. 7 MR. GENTRY: Mr. Chairman, I'd ask that Judge 8 Matthews' sworn statement be entered as an exhibit into 9 the hearing record. 10 SEN. McCONNELL: Is there any objection? 11 Hearing none, the sworn statement will be entered into 12 the record at this time. Mr. Gentry. 13 (Sworn Statement of Judge Carolyn Cason 14 Matthews marked JMSC Exhibit Number 23, for 15 identification.) 16 MR. GENTRY: One final procedural matter. I 17 note for the record that based on the testimony 18 contained in Judge Matthews' PDQ, she meets the 19 statutory requirements for this position regarding age, 20 residence and years of practice. 21 BY MR. GENTRY: 22 Q Judge Matthews, why do you want to serve as 23 the Chief Judge of the Administrative Law Court? 24 A Well, I've been there for 10 years. I've been 25 a lawyer for 31 years. And I think the legislature 0187 1 created the Court in 1995 to serve as a neutral forum 2 for the citizens of this state to handle everything from 3 the simplest of contested cases, like alcoholic beverage 4 permitting cases, to the most complex environmental 5 cases, dock permits, permit for the new generating 6 plant, and environmental penalties, to the really 7 complex cases like the Certificate of Need cases. And 8 the General Assembly has also given us authority over 9 all the appeals of the 49 licensing boards of the Labor, 10 Licensing and Regulation. So whether you're a doctor, a 11 dentist, a nurse, a realtor, a general contractor, if 12 the Board disciplines you, then that's appealed to our 13 court. 14 We also hear regulatory hearings from agencies 15 governed by a single director, and they're primarily 16 from LLR and the Department of Insurance. And we also 17 have injunctive powers and the ability to issue cease 18 and desist orders. 19 And the legislature has steadily given us 20 increasing jurisdictions. The courts have given us 21 increasing jurisdictions. In 2000, we got the 22 jurisdiction over all the inmate cases. That was done 23 by Supreme Court decision. We've gotten the ones from 24 the Department of Probation, Pardon and Parole. And in 25 2006, the legislation made the Office of Motor Vehicle 0188 1 hearings the division of our court. 2 So I think we're doing an excellent job for 3 the citizens of South Carolina in providing a neutral 4 forum, and we're also getting orders out in a timely 5 fashion and dispensing justice quickly. And the Court 6 has recognized how important what we're doing is and the 7 breadth and diversity of what we're doing by providing 8 just a few years ago that all our appeals go directly to 9 the Court of Appeals now. So the magnitude of our 10 decisions has increased greatly and the scrutiny our 11 decisions are given has increased. 12 So we have a great Court and are giving 13 everybody great service, but after 15 years with 14 basically one CEO, I think it's time to do a 15 comprehensive evaluation of the Court, both internally 16 and externally. By internally, what I'd like to do is 17 to ask everybody there, down to the receptionist, to 18 give a full job description and let's analyze who's 19 doing what and are we making the best use of our 20 resources, the best use of our people. I'd like to have 21 a one-day facilitation done by an outside facilitator to 22 come in and help us define our goals, our objectives and 23 our mission. And I'd like to involve everybody in that. 24 I'd also like to propose an external review. 25 The legislature has made extensive use of panels in the 0189 1 past and they've accomplished a lot. I'd like to 2 impanel one with probably a lawyer to appear before us 3 as the chair of it, and ask a member of the legislature 4 to serve on it, some of the heads of state agencies, 5 some of the tax assessors who come before us, CPAs, 6 lawyers in private practice, lawyers in government, and 7 tell us what we're doing right, what we're doing wrong. 8 No suggestion is too strange. I'd like them to take a 9 comprehensive look at our statutes, at our Rules of 10 Procedure, internal operating rules, and try to make 11 them -- to streamline some of these procedures and hear 12 these cases faster and move these cases along faster and 13 continue to give due process to everyone. 14 I don't want an open-ended two-year thing. 15 I'd like it to be a six-month time period starting in 16 July, if I am elected Chief Justice - Chief Judge, and 17 then ending no later than January 1st, so if there are 18 legislative proposals or rule changes proposed, we could 19 get them to the legislature in 2010. 20 I'd also like to comprehensively evaluate the 21 Court, who is responsible for what. For example, our 22 website is terribly out of date. Judge Gossett and 23 Judge Geathers are still on there, and Judge Geathers 24 left in August. Our orders are not being put on there 25 promptly enough so the Bench and Bar and just pro se 0190 1 litigants can tell exactly what we're doing and why. 2 I'd like to look at our case management 3 system, which is brand-new, and I'm not sure is giving 4 us very accurate data as to what's actually pending. 5 But I'd like to put my stamp on the Court. 6 Q Can you explain to the Commission how you feel 7 your legal and professional experience thus far will 8 assist you to be an effective Chief Judge of the 9 Administrative Law Court? 10 A Well, I have the broadest background of anyone 11 on the Court. I'm one of the few lawyers who's served 12 in all three branches of state government. I started 13 out in Supreme Court as a staff attorney, then clerked 14 with Chief Justice Gregory, so I learned a lot about 15 order writing, along with about how a court is 16 structured. And I particularly learned then that I 17 could use some per curiam opinions which can be used to 18 move cases along faster, particularly the ones that 19 don't need a complete review by the Court. We had not 20 done that at our court, and that's something I'd like to 21 look at, especially in these inmate cases, more per 22 curiam opinions. 23 I have worked at the Attorney General's 24 Office, and I've worked at the House Judiciary 25 Committee, and I've been a partner at the largest law 0191 1 firm in the state and I've been a partner at a smaller 2 law firm when I sought litigation experience. So I've 3 seen the diversity of cases that we handled. I've 4 handled a lot of them myself at the trial and at the 5 appellate level. 6 I have a lot of ideas that I'd like to run by 7 the other judges and see how they feel about them. I 8 have met with Ray Stevens, who now runs the Department 9 of Revenue, and with my friend Dukes Scott, who now runs 10 the Office of Regulatory Hearings -- the Office of 11 Regulatory Staff. They're both former Administrative 12 Law Judges and they're running state agencies, and 13 they've given me some really good ideas. And I would 14 lean on them for some of these things. 15 I have seen various management styles and 16 techniques at all these different places, and I think I 17 can bring maybe the things that work to the Court and 18 discard the things that don't. 19 Q Pursuant to Section 12-35-70 of the South 20 Carolina Code, the Chief Judge of the Administrative Law 21 Court has additional responsibilities other than just 22 serving as a judge. Explain what in your background 23 would assist you in managing the Court. 24 A Well, the Chief Judge is charged with the 25 budgetary responsibilities, with assigning cases to all 0192 1 judges based on subject matter, and with case rotation 2 and with supervising staff, and the staff of the Office 3 of Motor Vehicles. 4 I would like to, like I said, look at the 5 allocation of duties among those people, but my 6 management style would be to foster collegiality among 7 the judges. I would like to have weekly meetings of the 8 judges to talk about issues of concern, what orders 9 should maybe be resolved via en banc hearing by all the 10 judges that would help the public, issues that need 11 uniformity or a pressing public interest. 12 And I would generally ascribe to have an 13 open-door policy, and no idea or no suggestion is too 14 strange. 15 Q You mentioned your managerial style. What 16 would you perceive to be your three major strengths and 17 weaknesses? 18 A I believe my first strength as a leader and as 19 a manager would be that I'm a good analyst of what needs 20 doing. And I'm not scared, as I said, of any 21 suggestion. And I like to solve problems. Whatever the 22 problem is by whoever presents it, I think that would be 23 the greatest challenge, and the most rewarding part of 24 the job as Chief Judge would be to solve a problem. 25 The other, second strength would be I'm 0193 1 genuinely nice to everybody. I don't care whether it's 2 the janitor or the CEO. I really care about what's 3 going on in people's lives. And I have been in private 4 practice and I understand the pressures on lawyers. And 5 this little case that I've got before you is not the 6 only thing going on in their lives. 7 And I think in these very tight budgetary 8 times, with the staff we've got, and we've been cut 9 about a full third in the past five years, I think you 10 get more out of people and they work harder if they feel 11 like they kind of own the process and their input is 12 appreciated and what they're doing is appreciated. And 13 I think that's a real strength of mine. 14 My third strength, I believe, is that I'd be a 15 great ambassador for the Court, and I really already am. 16 I think the Chief Judge has to be the public face of the 17 Court. I am very active in the Richland County Bar. I 18 serve on the committees. The South Carolina Bar, I'm 19 currently on the task force to evaluate why and how we 20 can keep young lawyers in the profession longer. 21 Various other committees. I am the secretary of the 22 South Carolina Women Lawyers' Association. I'll be the 23 president in two years. We're planning a joint seminar 24 in Charleston with the North Carolina Women Lawyers, 25 which I'd invite all of you to attend, September 30th to 0194 1 October 1. Justice Sandra Day O'Connor is going to be 2 our honored guest, and we're going to have some great 3 seminars and great parties. 4 I'm on the South Carolina Administrative and 5 Regulatory Law Rules Committee, and I attend all the 6 South Carolina Bar conventions and have since 1974. I 7 think I've missed one in that time. I've attended some 8 of the National Central Panel conferences and I am very 9 interested in that. I am a member of the John Belton 10 O'Neall Inn of Court, which fosters professionalism and 11 collegiality among lawyers, members of the Bench, law 12 professors and law students. 13 I would continue to speak at Bridge the Gap. 14 I feel very honored that for the past 10 years the Chief 15 Justice has asked me to be the judge who speaks at 16 Bridge the Gap, which is a program for third-year or law 17 students who have graduated to basically bridge the gap 18 between law school and the real world. And I've been 19 doing that several times a year for the past 10 years. 20 I'm a frequent speaker on administrative law 21 and professionalism, and some of those matters at 22 various seminars. But I would also try to continue to 23 listen. I spent 31 years building relationships with 24 all these people statewide, and they tell me things. 25 And I think they would tell me honestly what they think 0195 1 we need to do, and I would listen. 2 Q And, Judge, what would you perceive as your 3 weaknesses? 4 A My first weakness is I've never been a Chief 5 Judge. I think the only remedy for that is on-the-job 6 training. But again, I have talked with Judge Stevens 7 and I have talked with Judge Dukes Scott, and I have 8 tried to learn from the Central Panel conferences and 9 from just my observation at various jobs I've had in the 10 past what works and what doesn't. So that one I can't 11 really do anything about. 12 The second weakness would be I've never 13 planned a state budget. I've looked at our budgets. 14 I'll be honest with you, I find it difficult to 15 understand, and I think I can't really do that -- first 16 of all, I'd want the input of all the other judges on 17 this after we've looked at who has what responsibilities 18 and where the organizational emphasis should be and then 19 say, what can we do. I know in these tight budgetary 20 times, it's basically where can we cut. I think we've 21 basically cut as far as we can, and we've had a good 22 deal of attrition with our staff attorneys and law 23 clerks. We've got two staff attorneys left, and we had 24 six at the beginning of the year. So we haven't been 25 able to pay them what we'd like to. 0196 1 But again, I talked with Ray Stevens, I've 2 talked to Dukes Scott, I talked to Kaye Hearn about 3 budgeting matters. And I would rely heavily on the 4 folks over here and the folks in the House Ways and 5 Means and also finance. 6 The third thing is I've never fired anybody. 7 And all those people in the Office of Motor Vehicle 8 hearings work at the will of the Chief Judge. But I 9 will tell you that I'm not scared to make tough 10 decisions. And if that's what it took or that's what is 11 required, I thought that was the best decision after 12 consultation with the other judges, that's what I'd do. 13 Q Based on your present plans, discuss the 14 length of time you intend to serve if you're elected to 15 Chief Judge and you're nominated by this Commission? 16 A Well, I'm 58 years old right now. And I know 17 ladies in the south aren't supposed to tell that, but 18 that's okay. You can go ahead and put it on my 19 tombstone. I would plan to serve two five-year terms. 20 I think that would be a reasonable amount to, in a 21 sense, put my stamp on the Court and let someone else 22 have a chance at it. 23 Q The current Chief Judge is planning to 24 implement electronic filing at the Administrative Law 25 Court. Do you intend to follow through on that goal? 0197 1 Also, what concrete plans do you have to improve the 2 operations of the Administrative Law Court? 3 A I have not been privy to the Chief Judge's 4 thinking on this electronic filing, and that's something 5 I just have to start anew with. If it will save us a 6 bunch of money, save time and make it easier for the 7 litigants, then I'll be happy to look at it. That's 8 really all I know about that. 9 Q Could you please explain to the members of the 10 Commission what you think is the appropriate demeanor 11 for a judge? 12 A I think a judge is always supposed to be 13 dignified, courteous, fair, honorable, honest with 14 everybody, but it also says we're allowed to have a 15 sense of humor, so I appreciate that. 16 Q If nominated and elected, what would you like 17 your legacy to be as a Chief Judge in the Administrative 18 Law Court? 19 A I would like my legacy to be that lawyers, 20 agency heads, the tax assessors, the citizens of South 21 Carolina felt that the Administrative Law Court was 22 where they were treated fairly and the law was applied 23 equitably in every instance, and they were always 24 treated courteously. 25 I'd also like them to say the Administrative 0198 1 Law Court processed cases and got out orders faster than 2 any court in the state. And I would like it said that I 3 was an excellent ambassador for the Court, and that I 4 enhanced judicial administration by continuing to be 5 involved in local, state and national organizations, and 6 that my participation in seminars and conferences and 7 panels, et cetera, increased professionalism in the 8 administration. 9 Q The Commission received one anonymous Bench 10 and Bar Survey regarding your candidacy. The Bench and 11 Bar Survey raised concern as to whether you have the 12 required work ethic necessary to serve as the Chief 13 Judge of the Administrative Law Court. How would you 14 respond? 15 A I would respond -- and tell me the context of 16 that unsigned survey, and I will tell you that I'm 17 really saddened that someone would go to such lengths to 18 create falsehoods. But I did pull my 2008 Judicial 19 Evaluation Survey, which I was just given by Ms. Shuler 20 in the fall, and it had 90 separate responses. And I 21 would note that on all of these responses about 22 knowledge and application of rules of law, substantive 23 law, effective skills, absence of favoritism, not 24 influenced by identities of litigants, courtesy to 25 lawyers, judicial temperament, all of mine are in the 0199 1 high 70s, some in the 80s, some in the 90s on good and 2 excellent. The only one that was slightly less than 3 what I would want says 66 percent on promptness of 4 making judicial decisions. 5 And I would like to tell you that I have done 6 one thing, I have adopted what I call "the third day 7 rule." And I'm sure you lawyers will be thrilled to 8 hear that. But I put this on record in the last case I 9 did. I see no reason why we cannot get out every order 10 from my court within 30 days after the hearing or within 11 30 days after proposed orders have been submitted. And 12 that is what I told the lawyers in front of me. I make 13 it part of the record and write them a letter specifying 14 the dates that their proposed orders are due and when I 15 will get them ordered. And I told them, if I don't get 16 them ordered in 30 days, my law clerk will be calling 17 them and e-mailing them to tell them when they can 18 expect it and what -- you know, why it's complex or 19 whatever. But that is my new 30-day rule. And I would 20 like to talk with the other judges on the court to see 21 if they can do that. 22 I am not opposed to the legislature imposing 23 rules for orders, timelines for orders. For example, 24 the legislature did that last year in the state 25 provisions of 123-600(h)4. I'm the only judge who's had 0200 1 one of those cases so far, Motion to Lift Stay. And the 2 statute specifies we have to hold hearings within 30 3 days and an order within 15 business days. I did it. 4 You do whatever you have to. So I'm not at all opposed 5 to that. 6 And I have one other suggestion I meant to 7 mention about reducing any backlog at the court. I have 8 come up with a system for getting rid of inmate cases, 9 disposing of them as quickly as possible. I think I can 10 take 70 percent of the inmate load, which is currently 11 about 1,800 new cases a year, off our judges. The way I 12 would do that is, first of all, as soon as the Notice of 13 Appeal comes in, I would let the clerk's office look at 14 it. If there is no service on the Department of 15 Corrections, because it's required under the rules, then 16 I would have the clerk's office dismiss it on our 17 procedural rules. 18 Secondly, the rules provide that the appellant 19 has to file a brief within 65 days after it's assigned 20 to a judge. I wouldn't assign it to a judge. I would 21 change our rules to say 65 days after receiving the 22 Notice of Appeal. If the appellant doesn't file the 23 brief, we'd dismiss that. That takes another 10 percent 24 of the caseload off. Then there's what's called the 25 Slezak dismissal. That is a case in the South Carolina 0201 1 Supreme Court that says unless there's a property or 2 liberty interest, then the Court does not have the 3 jurisdiction to review that. Well, that's another 4 30 percent of those, and I would have a staff attorney 5 review those and have per curiam opinions circulated 6 among the judges every two weeks, so they could each 7 sign off on them and I'd make sure we weren't missing 8 anything. 9 And then the other 25 percent I'd have a staff 10 attorney review for mootness, inmate release from 11 prison, failure to exhaust administrative remedies, and 12 the other reasons that we can dispose of those cases 13 that do not involve the merits. When you add those 14 together, that is 70 percent of the current cases which 15 can never be assigned to a judge, never be on a judge's 16 docket, and they can be handled by the Court per curiam. 17 That's what we did at the Supreme Court and I would like 18 to implement that. 19 BY SENATOR FORD: 20 Q Could you do that again, the first part? I 21 wasn't clear. 22 A Sure. I have notes in front of me. I'm not 23 sure if I can remember all those percentages. 24 We get about 1,800 cases a year, the 25 Department of Correction cases, in the PPPS, Probation, 0202 1 Pardon and Parole. As it is now, as soon a Notice of 2 Appeal comes in -- it's always handwritten by the 3 inmate -- the clerk's office takes it to the Chief 4 Judge. The Chief Judge assigns them to a judge, an 5 Administrative Law Judge, and he keeps some himself. 6 But if there is no proof of service by the inmate on the 7 Department of Corrections, then we don't have 8 jurisdiction to hear it and that can be dismissed 9 procedurally by the clerk's office. So that's about 10 five percent of them needs never go to a judge. 11 And then secondly, there are about 10 percent 12 of them where they don't file an appellant's brief on 13 time. That's a dismissal that can be done by the 14 clerk's office, never have to send that file to a judge. 15 So you're up to 15 percent of total cases. 16 Then there are another 30 percent of the cases 17 I believe could be reviewed by one staff attorney, 18 what's called Slezak. That was the prisoner's name. 19 That's when the Supreme Court says we don't have to 20 review it if it doesn't raise something like property or 21 liberty. In other words, we're not taking away good 22 time credits from them. They're saying that the grits 23 are cold or they don't like that they can only have one 24 book in the cell, or something which isn't a liberty or 25 property interest. That's another 30 percent. 0203 1 And then all these other reasons, mootness -- 2 we find some where they've been released from prison -- 3 failure to exhaust their administrative remedies in the 4 prison, that they didn't lose good time credits, so we 5 can't hear those. They don't want to have to pay for 6 DNA tests. There is one -- the legislature just passed 7 a statute that says we cannot hear a permanent denial of 8 parole on cases. So that's another 25 percent. 9 And I've talked to every judge and every law 10 clerk in the Court. The law clerks tell me that these 11 cases take up 40 percent of their time because they have 12 to do all the filing of every one of these handwritten 13 things that comes in. And it's just -- if we could take 14 away 40 percent of these law clerks' work, then they 15 could devote more time to quality opinions on the cases 16 that really do require it. So that's -- I think that's 17 a great idea and that's something I'd like to see 18 implemented. 19 MR. GENTRY: Mr. Chairman, I would ask that 20 the document that Judge Matthews referred to earlier be 21 entered as an exhibit into the hearing record at this 22 time. 23 SEN. McCONNELL: Is there an objection? 24 MS. SHULER: Her mid-year report. 25 SEN. McCONNELL: Her mid-year report. 0204 1 THE WITNESS: Sure, this 2008 Judicial 2 Evaluation. I made some extra copies. 3 SEN. McCONNELL: Is there an objection? 4 SENATOR FORD: Mr. Chairman, is that the same 5 thing she just talked about? Could I have a copy? 6 THE WITNESS: Of this evaluation? 7 SENATOR FORD: No, of the reduction. 8 THE WITNESS: You're welcome to have my notes. 9 SEN. McCONNELL: This is the mid-year 10 evaluation. Is there an objection to the admission of 11 the mid-year evaluation? There being none, so ordered. 12 (Judicial Evaluation: Matthews, Carolyn C. 13 marked JMSC Exhibit Number 24, for identification.) 14 BY MR. GENTRY: 15 Q Judge, please describe your typical work week, 16 including the days and hours you work, as well as the 17 type of activity. 18 A My typical work week is normal state hours, 19 but it doesn't end there. Last night I took a file 20 home. I had a conference call today on a Motion to 21 Compel and a Motion to set a three-week hearing on a 22 Certificate of Need case. And I spent about two hours 23 with those last night. And I was glad I was well 24 prepared for that. So a lot of times I'll take files 25 home with me. Since we can work on our orders at home, 0205 1 a lot of times I'll be there. 2 But basically, we keep full office hours. I 3 have a hearing scheduled for Friday morning. I've got 4 one scheduled for Monday morning. And I normally take 5 the state holidays plus one week or so of vacation a 6 year. I go to the Bar conventions, which takes a couple 7 of days per year. But basically, I think the numbers of 8 my caseload and the complexity of my caseload reflects 9 that. 10 Q The Bench and Bar Survey also raised concerns 11 whether you hold hearings and issue orders in a timely 12 fashion. I know you responded a moment ago with your 13 answering. The staff has obtained from the clerk of the 14 Administrative Law Court information related to the 15 number of cases you've been assigned from 2005 to 2009, 16 organized in the categories of Non-Inmate, Department of 17 Corrections, and PPP cases. The information also 18 provides the number of pending cases at the end of each 19 year. You've been furnished a copy of this information 20 prior to the hearing today; is that correct? 21 A That's correct. 22 Q According to this information, you were 23 assigned 537 non-inmate cases from 2005 to 2009. Of 24 those cases, 108 are still pending. Do you believe 25 these numbers reflect the proper amount of cases that 0206 1 should still be pending? 2 A Well, I'll tell you, Mr. Gentry, when 3 Ms. Shuler was nice enough to call over and ask for this 4 the other week from our clerk on April 6th, this is the 5 first time I have seen a printout of the numbers from 6 our new case management system. We got it in November, 7 and I'll be honest with you, I can't make heads nor 8 tails out of it. 9 We used to get a weekly in-house report and 10 it's a lot easier to tell exactly what you did have 11 pending. But I will tell you, you know, we're down to 12 four judges for the last year, basically. And the Chief 13 Judge routinely assigns me the more complex cases, 14 especially the Certificate of Need cases, because of my 15 background of a litigator, and a lot of the 16 environmental cases. And some of those I would like to 17 move along a lot faster. I had the conference call 18 today. This case is going to involve 36 expert 19 witnesses for the various hospitals, 30 other witnesses, 20 and they want four weeks to try it. I don't think it's 21 going to be tried in four. They have now agreed to hear 22 it after Labor Day. I pushed them as much as I could to 23 do it, you know, end of May, June, July, August. And I 24 don't really have any mechanism for making them try a 25 case like that any faster. So some of these things do 0207 1 stay on here. 2 But I will say that since my law clerk has 3 been out for the past three months on maternity leave 4 and only came back to work on April 1st, we had not done 5 what I call an inmate day in a while. So on April 6th 6 we sat down and did inmates and we got rid of 75 cases 7 in one day, because we just kind of have a system. I've 8 got 13 different proposed orders and we can dispose of 9 those. 10 We also found, since I've never seen a 11 printout of this nature before, that a lot of cases that 12 we have remanded and were really closed on the system 13 were not reflected as closed. So you can flip through 14 here and see her various notations in there. But 15 essentially there are 75 fewer inmate cases in the 16 total, and about 32 are regular cases. 17 Q According to this information, you've also 18 been assigned 52 PPP since 2003 of which 21 are still 19 pending. Do you believe these numbers reflect the 20 proper amount of cases? 21 A I'm sorry. Which are those? 22 Q There were 52 PPP cases since 2003 of which 21 23 are still showing as pending. 24 A We have a whole group of cases which have been 25 remanded to us very recently because of, I believe it's 0208 1 the Cooper case, which said the Department of Parole and 2 Probation Services was not analyzing the 15 statutory 3 factors. So they are all remanded to us. We have 4 remanded them to PPPS, but they're still on our books 5 until they send us back an Order and we see if the Order 6 complies with the Supreme Court Order. So that's the 7 reason for that. 8 Q Thank you, Judge Matthews. 9 MR. GENTRY: I would ask that the information 10 regarding Judge Matthews' assigned and pending cases be 11 entered as an exhibit into the record at this time. 12 SEN. McCONNELL: Is there any objection? 13 Being none, so ordered. 14 (Case Docket of Judge Matthews marked JMSC 15 Exhibit Number 25, for identification.) 16 BY MR. GENTRY: 17 Q Judge, have you sought or received the pledge 18 of any legislator prior to this date? 19 A I have not. 20 Q Have you sought or have you been offered a 21 conditional pledge of support of any legislator pending 22 the outcome of your screening? 23 A I have not. 24 Q Have you asked any third parties to contact 25 members of the General Assembly on your behalf? 0209 1 A Certainly not until the date which I thought 2 was May 5th, but I understand it is now April 23rd, no. 3 Q Have you contacted any members of the 4 Commission? 5 A No, I have not. 6 Q Do you understand that you're prohibited from 7 seeking a pledge or commitment until 48 hours after the 8 formal release of the Commission's report? 9 A Yes, I am. 10 Q Have you reviewed the Commission's guidelines 11 on pledging? 12 A Yes, I have. 13 Q Are you aware of the penalties for violating 14 the pledging rules, that is, it's a misdemeanor, and 15 upon conviction, the violator must be fined not more 16 than $1,000 or imprisoned not more than 90 days? 17 A Yes, sir. It's very severe. I'm aware of it. 18 MR. GENTRY: I would note that the Midlands 19 Citizens Committee report found the Honorable Carolyn 20 Matthews to be a very eminently qualified and a most 21 highly regarded candidate who would most ably serve Seat 22 1 of the Administrative Law Court in an outstanding 23 manner. 24 I would just note for the record that any 25 concerns raised during the investigation regarding Judge 0210 1 Matthews were incorporated in the questioning today. 2 Mr. Chairman, I have no further questions. 3 SENATOR FORD: Mr. Chairman. 4 SEN. McCONNELL: Yes, sir. 5 SENATOR FORD: Before you finish, can I ask 6 one question? 7 SEN. McCONNELL: Yes. What's your question? 8 SENATOR FORD: You were saying 537 cases from 9 2003 to now? 10 MR. GENTRY: Mr. Chairman? 11 SEN. McCONNELL: Yes, sir. 12 MR. GENTRY: The information we have that was 13 entered into the record mentions that Judge Matthews, 14 with regards to the non-inmate cases -- these are 15 non-inmate cases -- that from 2005-2009, there were a 16 total of 537 cases assigned to Judge Matthews. Of that 17 there are 108 pending cases. 18 SENATOR FORD: She dealt with 75 and 30. That 19 means there are eight left or what? 20 MR. GENTRY: Mr. Chairman, I believe the judge 21 was referring actually to the inmate cases. 22 THE WITNESS: The 75 were the inmate cases. 23 SENATOR FORD: That's not in the 537? 24 THE WITNESS: No, sir. That's in the DOC 25 cases, Department of Corrections cases. There were a 0211 1 total of 1,028 assigned to me since 2005, and there are 2 143 minus 75 pending now. And you can't -- the way 3 they're assigned to us now, I can't go through and look 4 and see if there isn't a Notice of Appeal served on the 5 DOC or appellant's brief. It's just easier to wait 6 until you get that appellant's brief 65 day out 7 deadline, take them all and do them, just have an inmate 8 day like I said. So we can usually dispose of 35 in a 9 day. 10 SEN. McCONNELL: Does any member of the 11 Commission have any questions? Senator from Lexington. 12 BY SEN. KNOTTS: 13 Q Thank you, Ms. Matthews. How are you doing 14 today? 15 A I'm well. Hope you are. 16 Q It states here that in 2005 you received 274 17 DOC cases, and 11 of them are still pending. 18 A Yes, sir. Without looking at the files, I 19 can't really tell you exactly what is going on with 20 those cases, but some of those are probably ones that I 21 mentioned earlier that have been remanded to the 22 Department for them to maybe figure out a prevailing 23 wage at the time or whatever, and that under our system 24 should have been put as closed. I'm really -- 25 apparently, from my law clerk's numbers, there are 0212 1 really only four left that way. 2 Q It says here 11. 3 A Yes, sir. 4 Q What could possibly be some of the reasons why 5 a case would be four years -- 11 of them would be four 6 years still pending? 7 A Well, it could be that we finished the case, 8 did an order, say, in 2005-2006. It was appealed. Back 9 then to Circuit Court is where they went. That could 10 have taken two years. We're up to 2008. Then if it was 11 appealed to the Court of Appeals and they remanded it to 12 us for further action, there are just some peculiar 13 things the way the system used to be. Now everything 14 goes straight to Court of Appeals, so we shouldn't have 15 that situation anymore. 16 Q Wouldn't it be a better way of keeping a 17 record if you had decided that instead of pending in 18 your court, that you could have it pending in the 19 Appeals Court or in the Circuit Court, and instead of 20 just have it pending? The way it looks here, they 21 haven't been heard. 22 A Yes, sir. And I totally agree with you. 23 That's one thing I'd like to look at in this situation. 24 For example, I don't think it's an accurate reflection, 25 this printout -- I don't mean Ms. Shuler's numbers are 0213 1 wrong. I think they're an accurate reflection, what's 2 on here. But these cases are classified very 3 peculiarly. For example, I was looking today. I have 4 five Certificate of Need cases. It only shows two. 5 Some of them were apparently unscheduled or some of them 6 were classified other ways. I agree with you, Senator, 7 I'd like to give y'all a lot truer picture of what's 8 going on. 9 Q This makes me think the 11 cases, if I'm 10 looking at it, are just sitting over there on somebody's 11 file drawer. 12 A No, sir. They've all had something done to 13 them, I can guarantee you that. 14 Q How many cases on the six did you take care 15 of? 16 A On the six? Well, I said my law clerk had 17 been out for three months on maternity leave. She's my 18 only staff. And I had a staff attorney who was filling 19 in, but he was also helping Judge Kittrell whose law 20 clerk just had twins, so we had two maternity leaves. 21 And then Judge Durden didn't hire anybody for the first 22 five weeks she was there, so he was helping her also. 23 In fact, Judge Durden told me the reason she hired a 24 paralegal instead of a lawyer to be her assistant is 25 because she said, "I've seen how much clerical work the 0214 1 law clerk is doing, and I don't think I can get a lawyer 2 to do it." 3 Q I understand that, but how many cases did you 4 tell us -- 5 A We did 75 cases, inmate cases on that day. It 6 may be between 70 and 75. You can tell that toward the 7 back it will say, "closed 4/7," because we were 8 originally told by our clerk that the numbers would be 9 run as of April 8th. And since -- as I said, since 10 she'd been gone three months, I said, "Let's have an 11 inmate day." 12 Q What did you do the rest of the week? 13 A The rest of the week? Well, we had a hearing 14 that day until 4:00, so we didn't start on the inmate 15 cases till 4:00, and we stayed there till 9:00. 16 Q How about the rest of the week, Tuesday, 17 Wednesday, Thursday, Friday? 18 A I either had hearings or was working on 19 orders. I can't tell you without looking at my 20 calendar. 21 Q You were there all last week? 22 A Yes, sir. As far as I remember, yes. 23 Q Did you see me over there any time? 24 A I did not. 25 Q Hmm. 0215 1 A I'm sorry. 2 Q I didn't see you either. 3 A Well, sir, if you could tell me when it was, 4 I'll attempt to -- 5 Q Thursday, Wednesday. 6 A Well, sir, I was there every day. 7 Q Does the receptionist usually know when you're 8 there? 9 A The reception -- I'm maybe not as good as I 10 should be about telling where I am, but my law clerk 11 always knows. 12 Q Okay. 13 A And if you'd let me know, I would have been 14 glad to come see you. You can come visit any time. 15 SEN. McCONNELL: Are you finished with your 16 questions, sir? 17 SEN. KNOTTS: Yes. 18 SEN. McCONNELL: Senator from Charleston, do 19 you have a question? 20 SENATOR FORD: Yes. 21 BY SENATOR FORD: 22 Q Judge, cases are assigned to Administrative 23 Law Judges. In the Circuit Court, are cases assigned to 24 them? Like we've got 104,000 pending cases, close to 25 40,000 in Charleston. Does that mean those 40,000 cases 0216 1 are assigned to somebody? 2 A Yes, sir, as I understand. I'm really not 3 terribly familiar with how they assign them to the 4 Circuit Judges. We're a peculiar animal, because the 5 Circuit Judges, of course, are in the 16 circuits. And 6 if the case falls off or settles, they can just call the 7 next case. But the Administrative Procedures Act 8 requires us to give 30-day notice, so we can't just pick 9 up the phone and call somebody. 10 Q So all the cases that ALJ offers are assigned 11 to a judge? 12 A Yes. 13 Q So 537 in -- you have 108 pending. 14 A Yes, sir. 15 Q That would be something like 75 -- 70 percent 16 of the ALJ cases that you got since '03 have been 17 resolved. 18 A Yes, sir. 19 Q Well, they got somebody with a better record 20 than that, do you know? 21 A Well, sir, I honestly have not compared the 22 other judge's records. 23 Q Now, you made a bold statement about in 30 24 days, you're going to get rid of them. In 30 days, you 25 could get rid of all pending cases. 0217 1 A No, sir. 2 Q All -- 3 A I can get rid of 30 cases a day in inmate 4 cases, yes, sir. 5 Q No. You were saying something about -- 6 A Of the pending cases -- 7 Q Not pending cases. You said in a bold 8 statement about 30 -- you could keep a case 30 days and 9 get rid of it, I think, resolve it. 10 A No. What I had pledged in my new rule is, if 11 you have a case in front of me, or somebody from 12 Charleston County does, whether it's a simple case like 13 an alcoholic beverage license case or whether it's a 14 giant tax assessment appeal involving the County of 15 Charleston or whatever, I am going to pledge to them 16 that I will have an order out 30 days after the hearing 17 or, if it's a real complex case and I ask them to submit 18 a proposed order, they will get that order drafted and 19 in their hands no more than 30 days after they submit 20 it. That's my new rule. 21 Q This is a new type of case that the General 22 Assembly keeps sending to y'all? 23 A Yes, sir, every type of case you send to us, 24 that would be my pledge. Whether it's a simple 25 alcoholic beverage case or whether it's a complex 0218 1 environmental case, I am going to make my personal 2 pledge to you, I would like to know as a judge in South 3 Carolina that we can get orders out in 30 days every 4 time. 5 Q Now, on the young gentleman from Charleston, 6 when you talked about the inmate cases and the fact that 7 you could resolve most of those by all kind of 8 administrative procedures, would that not interfere with 9 his basic civil rights? 10 A No, sir. 11 Q That's not going to be -- 12 A No, sir. The Supreme Court in the Al-Shabazz 13 decision and the ones that have come after that said 14 that they do have rights to have these cases where we 15 take a liberty or a property interest, where the 16 Department does, that those are to be reviewed on the 17 merits. That's about 30 percent of them. 18 And the usual situation is where some piece of 19 property has been confiscated or more likely that 20 they've lost good time credits within the prison system. 21 And that is very important to them because it means they 22 get out earlier. And it's important to the prison 23 system because it gives them an incentive to keep people 24 nicer and better behaved. So when they have had good 25 time credits taken away for a prison infraction, they 0219 1 have every right to have a review on the merits and we 2 do. We look at the full record and make sure they've 3 been given due process, confront the witnesses, right to 4 counsel, right to cross-examine. 5 Yes, sir, that's what it's for. That's what 6 the Supreme Court meant when it passed that case. It 7 didn't mean every, you know, like I said, the grits were 8 cold or I don't like what classification I have as a 9 prisoner necessarily. 10 Q You've been an ALJ for how long? 11 A 10 years. 12 Q And also, you started 10 years ago at the ALJ 13 office? 14 A It was started 15 years ago. I was still in 15 private practice. 16 Q So now you're running for the Chief? 17 A Yes. 18 Q Tell me your headquarters, where y'all work 19 at, the courtroom. 20 A We are right next door at the Edgar Brown 21 Building. I'd love you to come by and see us any time. 22 We have three courtrooms, two small and one large. 23 Q I just want to be clear on something. Now, 24 you have a private office? 25 A I do. 0220 1 Q Okay. Now, if a senator comes in to see 2 another judge, your office door would be closed or what? 3 Explain that, because Senator Knotts is one of my heros, 4 and he was kind of disturbed about that. 5 A Wait a minute. I do remember last Thursday 6 morning or Friday morning, I was gone that morning for 7 two and a half hours at the Bar Task Force on the 8 retention of lawyers in the profession. I remember that 9 now, that I was not there then. The rest of it, I'd 10 have to look at a calendar. 11 But if you came by there and you came into our 12 suite of offices, the way it's set up is there are two 13 long halls, and there's a small law clerk's office at 14 the outset, and the judges' offices are turned at an 15 angle. So you can't really see into the judges' office 16 as you're walking down the hall. You can only see the 17 law clerk. 18 Q Okay. So you have private chambers? That's 19 what you say? 20 A Yes, sir, but the door is always open. If you 21 want to come by -- 22 Q Not if you have somebody in there, right? 23 A Well, I normally keep the door open all the 24 time. 25 Q Even if you have a lawyer talking about a case 0221 1 or lawyers talking about a case? 2 A Well, I'm not supposed to talk to lawyers 3 about a case without anybody being there, so nothing I 4 would say to anybody would be private. 5 Q So tell me, what I'm trying to find out is if 6 you're going to be chief, you've got to set examples. 7 A Absolutely. 8 Q Tell me about your work habits. 9 A Well, my work habits are that I keep the 10 normal state hours. Probably three days a week and on 11 the weekends I take files home with me. I can assure 12 you I had four hours of cross motions for summary 13 judgments the week before last. I had 10 four-inch 14 notebooks given to me with various motions, 15 countermotions, responses. There were 500 pages of 16 memoranda of law, and I read every word of them 17 because -- 18 Q And this is on your time? 19 A That was on the weekend. That was on my time, 20 because I am not going to walk in there and have 21 eight -- I think there were 11 lawyers on that one -- 11 22 lawyers who are going to try to pull something over on 23 me or think there's some facet of the case I don't 24 understand. 25 Q So you work five days a week? 0222 1 A Yes, sir. 2 Q And what time do you go to work and what time 3 do you leave? 4 A I normally go to work around 8:30, sometimes 5 9:00. We start hearings at 9:00 or 10:00. The only 6 reason we ever start hearings at 10:00 is usually on the 7 first day of a multiple-hearing day, because when you've 8 got lawyers driving in from, say, Hilton Head, they've 9 got to get up early to get here. And this is a State 10 office building. We're not a court. I'm not in charge 11 of the whole building. It opens at 8:30 in the morning. 12 And so that's the first time people can get in. And 13 when they're doing a big trial, they'll walk in with 14 boxes of exhibits, and those all have to be marked by 15 the court reporter, and that takes a little bit of time. 16 So I'll normally start a multiple-day trial at 17 10:00, and then after that 9:00. My practice is to go 18 from 9:00 to 1:00. We break for an hour for lunch. We 19 normally go until 5:30 or so in the day, because then 20 you start losing people. People get locked out of the 21 State building. 22 Q This is every day? 23 A No, it's not every day because we don't have 24 hearings every day. There are many days where we'll be 25 working on proposed orders, or we've gotten motions in 0223 1 there or we've got arguments on a motion. It varies. 2 We're somewhat different from the Circuit Judge. Like I 3 said, we can't just call -- 4 Q What do you do on Fridays? 5 A This Friday, I'm holding court. I'd love for 6 you to come over. 7 Q No, no, no. On other Fridays, what's your day 8 like? 9 A Friday is the same basically as any other day. 10 I can tell you this past Friday, I was the only person 11 in the courtroom. 12 Q So you give the citizens of South Carolina a 13 full day every day? 14 A Yes, sir. 15 Q And on the weekends? 16 A Yes, sir. And I'll just tell you, too, what I 17 said about being an ambassador for the Court. I don't 18 think, if you're a judge, being a judge stops with doing 19 the work at the office. I think it means being out in 20 the community, being accessible, being involved in Bar 21 Associations, giving presentations at seminars, serving 22 on panels, task force, and just being part of the 23 community. 24 Q So if I was living in this area, I would have 25 some time, like my Senator from Lexington, you know, to 0224 1 find out what's going on because we've got some serious 2 problems with judges in the courtroom. So I would 3 probably be snooping around like he was doing. Now, 4 when he's snooping around and you're not there, you 5 could -- you could honestly say to us that if I was not 6 there, then I was doing something to benefit the 7 citizens of South Carolina? 8 A Yes, sir, I could. 9 Q Well, look at him and please say that because 10 I know we're going to be hearing more about this. 11 A If I'm not there, I'm out doing something to 12 benefit the citizens of South Carolina. Now, you know, 13 I do go to lunch occasionally with a friend. I went to 14 lunch with Ray Stevens, the Department of Revenue, last 15 Friday at 11:30 -- I met him early -- and I got back to 16 the office about 1:00, I remember that. Other than that 17 and the hearing that was all day Tuesday until 4:00, and 18 staying there 'til 9:00 that night on these inmate 19 cases, I can't tell you about the rest of it. 20 Q Do you have a good relationship with the rest 21 of the judges in the ALJ? 22 A Yes, sir, I do. I consider them all bright 23 people, hard-working people, and I want more of their 24 input on budgetary matters, staffing, everything. 25 MR. SELLERS: Mr. Chairman? 0225 1 SEN. McCONNELL: Yes, sir, Mr. Sellers. 2 BY MR. SELLERS: 3 Q Judge Matthews, I don't do a lot of work in 4 your court. 5 A Well, come on. We'd love to have you. 6 Q But I do do a lot of work in the federal 7 court, in complex litigation. I was just concerned, is 8 there any reason under the Administrative Court rules 9 that you couldn't implement a scheduling order to 10 control how these cases come up, when they come up? I 11 know lawyers sometimes take advantage of courts when 12 they don't have a deadline. Is that a possible 13 procedure that you could use? 14 A That is a possible procedure, and under our 15 rules we do scheduling orders. This particular case I 16 was talking about today, we had a scheduling order until 17 they decided to file the cross motions for summary 18 judgment, which kind of threw it all out the window. We 19 do scheduling orders routinely. We try to do pretrial 20 testimony, but I would like to make better use of that 21 and I would welcome any suggestions from the Bar as to 22 how we can somehow streamline these cases and move them 23 along faster. 24 One thing I don't do we're allowed to do is 25 ask for pleadings. I have found that our prehearing 0226 1 statement, which they outline the issues and the law 2 involved in the case and what they want, is sufficient. 3 And that's one way that we simplify things a little bit, 4 but we're trying. 5 SEN. McCONNELL: Any other questions? All 6 right. Then this concludes this stage of the screening 7 process. I want to thank you for your cooperation with 8 our staff getting all the paperwork done. 9 THE WITNESS: Your staff is astonishing, 10 compassionate, thoughtful and extremely intelligent, and 11 I appreciate it. 12 SEN. McCONNELL: Thank you. Second thing, 13 very quickly, is to remind you of the 48-hour rule. 14 Right now we are on course. We hope to issue the report 15 around the 23rd. If we do on April 23rd, then around 16 April the 28th, the 48-hour period would expire. And so 17 I'd just remind you of that. 18 Lastly, we keep the record open until we issue 19 a report, so if something comes up, we reserve the right 20 to bring any candidate back or to ask any additional 21 questions we need. That's not to indicate there's 22 anything outstanding. It's just the process. 23 THE WITNESS: I understand that's your 24 procedure. And I know you always want to honor the 25 process, and I want to do the same. 0227 1 SEN. McCONNELL: Thank you so much. Have a 2 nice day. 3 (Witness excused.) 4 SEN. McCONNELL: We need to go into executive 5 session for some comments. 6 PROFESSOR FREEMAN: So moved. 7 MR. HARRELL: Second. 8 SEN. McCONNELL: So moved and seconded. We'll 9 open it for discussion. Is there any discussion? There 10 being no discussion, we need to go into a vote. All in 11 favor of going into executive session, please indicate 12 by saying, "aye." 13 THE COMMISSION: Aye. 14 SEN. McCONNELL: Opposed say, "Nay." Ayes 15 have it. 16 (Executive session continued under separate 17 record.) 18 * * * * * 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 0239 1 SEN. McCONNELL: We will start out then in the 2 order that we've got them on the 13th. We'll start with 3 the 13th, Eric Englebardt. What we'll do is we'll vote. 4 Does anybody wish to discuss anything in open session? 5 PROFESSOR FREEMAN: I move that the five of 6 them be found qualified. 7 REP. CLEMMONS: Second. 8 SEN. McCONNELL: The Professor has moved that 9 all five be qualified. It's been seconded. The floor's 10 open for any discussion. No discussion. We'll move the 11 meeting into a vote. All in favor of finding all 12 qualified, please raise your hand for the public record. 13 (Hands raised.) 14 MS. SHULER: 10. 15 SEN. McCONNELL: Thank you. Opposed by a like 16 sign. 17 Now we have found them all qualified. Now we 18 have to report three. So based on that, what we'll do 19 is we'll call the roll and start taking votes until we 20 get a majority for three, if that's acceptable as the 21 procedure to go. And to remind everybody, you can only 22 vote three times. 23 REP. DELLENEY: And Stilwell is on the second 24 page. 25 SEN. McCONNELL: Yeah, we'll call his name. 0240 1 We'll start with Eric Englebardt. Those who find him to 2 be -- 3 (Hands raised.) 4 MS. SHULER: Eight. 5 SEN. McCONNELL: Thank you. Allen Fretwell. 6 (Hands raised.) 7 MS. SHULER: Eight. 8 SEN. McCONNELL: Kristie Hodge. 9 (Hands raised.) 10 MS. SHULER: Two. 11 SEN. McCONNELL: Benjamin Shealy. 12 (Hands raised.) 13 MS. SHULER: Two. 14 SEN. McCONNELL: Rob Stilwell. 15 (Hands raised.) 16 MS. SHULER: Ten. 17 SEN. McCONNELL: Why don't you announce the 18 results. 19 MS. SHULER: Englebardt, with eight, is one of 20 the ones qualified and nominated. Allen Fretwell, with 21 eight, qualified and nominated. And Rob Stilwell, with 22 ten, qualified and nominated. Hodge and Shealy had two 23 votes each. 24 SEN. McCONNELL: Moving next to the Family 25 Court for the Third Judicial Circuit, there we have 0241 1 Mr. Geddings and Ms. Taylor. 2 SENATOR FORD: I move that both be qualified. 3 SEN. McCONNELL: Senator from Charleston moves 4 they both be qualified. Senator from Lexington seconds. 5 Floor is now open for discussion. Is there any 6 discussion? There being no discussion, we'll move 7 immediately into a vote then. 8 All in favor of finding both candidates 9 qualified, please raise your hand. 10 (Hands raised.) 11 SEN. McCONNELL: Thank you. Like sign 12 opposed. There is none. So we find both of them to be 13 qualified. Given the fact that we do not have more than 14 three, there's nothing further for us to do in that 15 particular race. 16 Now we move to the Circuit Court for the 17 Fourth Judicial Circuit, Seat Number 3. Is there any 18 motion regarding the qualifications of these candidates? 19 MS. SHULER: You said they were just 20 qualified. Let's clarify for the record, they are 21 qualified and nominated. 22 SEN. McCONNELL: Correct, that's what I said, 23 because there is no further action for us to take. If 24 there's three or less, under the statute you can't 25 refuse to nominate if you find them qualified. They are 0242 1 nominated. That's why we got into an argument in the 2 Senate regarding that. I don't want to go back and 3 follow the practice of saying we've got to nominate 4 them. That's only when there's more than three. We 5 find them qualified. They are nominated. 6 Family Court for the Fourth Judicial Circuit, 7 Seat Number 3. With this one we have more than five. 8 What is the feeling of the panel regarding their 9 qualifications? 10 SENATOR FORD: Move that all five are 11 qualified. 12 SEN. McCONNELL: Senator from Charleston has 13 moved that they all be found qualified. 14 MS. McLESTER: Second. 15 SEN. McCONNELL: Ms. McLester seconds. The 16 floor is now open for any discussion. There being none, 17 then all in favor of finding them qualified, please 18 raise your hand. 19 (Hands raised.) 20 MS. SHULER: Ten. 21 SEN. McCONNELL: Thank you. No need to call 22 for opposed. It was an unanimous vote. 23 Now we're down to the question of having to 24 nominate because there are more than three qualified. 25 So with that, we'll start down the line. Mr. Bryan 0243 1 Braddock. Those who find Mr. Braddock qualified. 2 MR. SELLERS: Nominated, you mean? 3 (Hands raised.) 4 MS. SHULER: Seven. 5 SEN. McCONNELL: Mr. Michael Holt. 6 (Hands raised.) 7 MS. SHULER: Eight. 8 SEN. McCONNELL: Ms. Salley Huggins McIntyre. 9 (Hands raised.) 10 MS. SHULER: Eight. 11 SEN. McCONNELL: Ms. Elizabeth Munnerlyn. 12 (Hands raised.) 13 MS. SHULER: Six. 14 SEN. McCONNELL: And Mr. Alex Stanton. 15 (No response.) 16 SENATOR FORD: Mr. Chairman? You've got 17 seven, eight and eight. 18 MS. SHULER: Seven, eight, eight and six. 19 SENATOR FORD: That's four candidates. 20 SEN. McCONNELL: That's right. Nobody's voted 21 more than three times. 22 SENATOR FORD: Seven, eight, eight and six. 23 SEN. McCONNELL: If anything, there's a 24 deficiency. 25 MS. SHULER: We've got three winners: Bryan 0244 1 Braddock with seven, Michael Holt with eight, and Salley 2 Huggins McIntyre with eight are found qualified and 3 nominated. 4 SENATOR FORD: That's four people. 5 MS. SHULER: I guess Mr. Stanton didn't get 6 any votes. 7 SENATOR FORD: I know you got your mathematics 8 in a school in South Carolina. Y'all have got to 9 improve your public school system. 10 SEN. McCONNELL: We have to vote again as a 11 whole group. 12 MS. SHULER: Let's go back and vote again 13 since we have four. And we'll take Mr. Stanton out 14 because he has zero. Mr. Braddock. 15 (Hands raised.) 16 MS. SHULER: Seven. 17 Michael Holt. 18 (Hands raised.) 19 MS. SHULER: Eight. 20 Salley McIntyre. 21 (Hands raised.) 22 MS. SHULER: Eight. 23 And then Elizabeth Munnerlyn. 24 (Hands raised.) 25 MS. SHULER: Six. 0245 1 SENATOR FORD: That's the same thing. That's 2 six again. You can't do that. 3 MS. SHULER: One vote each now. One vote each 4 now. 5 SEN. McCONNELL: For? 6 REP. CLEMMONS: Your top candidate, is that 7 what you're asking? 8 MS. SHULER: You won't get three. We'll just 9 continue voting until we get -- 10 SENATOR FORD: Somebody voted too many times. 11 SEN. McCONNELL: No, nobody did. You've got 12 multiple fields, Senator, and everybody can cast up to 13 three votes. And then as a result, somebody -- one 14 candidate could have up to 10 votes. Another candidate 15 may only have so many votes. It just spread that we 16 got, eight, eight, and then we got seven, six. It's not 17 that anybody voted more times. It's that we have not 18 reached a total consensus yet. 19 MR. SELLERS: I guess the question is, do you 20 have to vote three times? 21 SEN. McCONNELL: No, you're not required to 22 vote three times. 23 MR. SELLERS: So if you vote two times, you 24 get your top pick. 25 SEN. KNOTTS: Now we've got to vote between 0246 1 two people, right? 2 MS. SHULER: No, we have to vote for all four 3 because all four have a majority. Mr. Stanton is out of 4 it because he doesn't have any votes at all. 5 SEN. McCONNELL: I'm just wondering if 6 somebody can help us, before we vote, between Braddock 7 and Munnerlyn and just tell us that they have any 8 comments that they want to make or anything they'd like 9 to speak in favor of them. 10 PROFESSOR FREEMAN: I'll speak in favor of 11 Munnerlyn. I keep voting for her. I thought she came 12 across as extremely articulate, extremely poised and 13 somebody I sat there and said, "I think she's going to 14 be a good judge if she gets elected." That's why I'm 15 voting for her. I thought she handled herself very 16 well. 17 REP. MACK: I felt the same way. 18 MR. SELLERS: I voted for her, too. My notes 19 say I was impressed by her well-rounded experience. She 20 seemed to have a lot of -- 21 SEN. KNOTTS: I have that on my sheet. 22 MR. SELLERS: And she had very good idea 23 regarding the court backlog, I thought. 24 SEN. McCONNELL: Somebody on Braddock? Let me 25 ask, do y'all want to try to do it that way or do you 0247 1 want to take the two tops and eliminate them, and 2 everybody have one vote and vote between the last two? 3 REP. CLEMMONS: That's the way to handle it. 4 SENATOR FORD: Let the two tops go, and 5 then -- 6 SEN. McCONNELL: All right. The two top we 7 will take out. Everybody will have one vote and we will 8 vote between Braddock and Munnerlyn. Is everybody 9 agreeable to that? 10 SENATOR FORD: Yes, sir. 11 REP. CLEMMONS: That's why you're the leader. 12 SEN. KNOTTS: Would you like to be screened, 13 Mr. Chairman? 14 SEN. McCONNELL: Not if you're going to be 15 asking questions. 16 MR. SELLERS: What was the vote count again? 17 MS. SHULER: Braddock had seven, Holt had 18 eight, McIntyre had eight, and Munnerlyn had six. So 19 Holt and McIntyre are the two top vote-getters, 20 qualified and nominated. Taking them out, because 21 they're definitely qualified and nominated, and choosing 22 between Braddock and Munnerlyn. 23 SEN. McCONNELL: Is everybody agreeable to 24 that? Everybody has consented to that process. With 25 that I'll ask you to call those two names and the 0248 1 members will vote. 2 MS. SHULER: Bryan Braddock. 3 (Hands raised.) 4 MS. SHULER: Two. 5 Elizabeth Munnerlyn. 6 (Hands raised.) 7 MS. SHULER: Eight for Munnerlyn and two for 8 Braddock. 9 SEN. McCONNELL: Now we move to Judge Anderson 10 and Judge Matthews. There are two of them so the 11 question will be qualifications. 12 SENATOR FORD: Move that both are qualified, 13 Mr. Chairman. 14 MR. SELLERS: Second. 15 SEN. McCONNELL: Moved by Senator from 16 Charleston, seconded by Mr. Sellers. The floor is not 17 open for any discussion. 18 REP. CLEMMONS: I want to put it on the record 19 that I'm recusing myself. 20 REP. DELLENEY: I'm recusing myself. 21 SENATOR FORD: We don't have to do that, do 22 we? 23 SEN. McCONNELL: Representative Clemmons and 24 Representative Delleney are on record as recusing 25 themselves from this vote. With that, all in favor of 0249 1 finding the two candidates qualified, please raise your 2 hand. 3 (Hands raised.) 4 MS. SHULER: Eight. 5 SEN. McCONNELL: Thank you. And of course 6 there will be no need to take a vote because we have two 7 recused. We find them qualified. Now, for tomorrow -- 8 MS. SHULER: We have modified the agenda for 9 tomorrow. We have reduced the candidates' times to a 10 half hour each. We're going to work through lunch. And 11 we've had a candidate withdraw, so -- 12 SENATOR FORD: We just have one seat left, 13 right? 14 MS. SHULER: Right, Administrative Law Court, 15 Judge Gossett's seat. 16 SEN. McCONNELL: At this point let me go on 17 the record and state that one of the candidates that's 18 head of the Judiciary Committee, I hired him, so he 19 works for me. For that reason, I will not be 20 participating in the Administrative Court hearing, so I 21 will be recusing myself on that. 22 And, Representative Delleney, you are not 23 going to be here, right? He has a hearing in 24 Greenville. So the Professor will be -- 25 MR. SELLERS: Would you like these ballots? 0250 1 MS. SHULER: I would like the ballots. I will 2 take them and then shred them at the end. 3 SEN. KNOTTS: I've asked the Professor here to 4 clarify whether myself or -- 5 SENATOR FORD: I'm voting. I'm voting. 6 REP. MACK: I don't think they're required to 7 recuse themselves. I think you're making a judgment 8 personally because you had that committee, and I 9 understand that, but I don't think that that applies 10 to -- I think you could, if you wanted to, out of 11 appearance and abundance of caution you're stepping 12 aside. I don't think that transfers to these folks. 13 SEN. McCONNELL: I don't either. I just think 14 in a situation I'm in where I'm an appointing power and 15 a hiring authority, that it would not appear to look 16 right. And I don't want there to be any shadow of 17 question on this panel. I'm recusing myself. 18 Let me ask so we can excuse the court 19 reporter, is there anything else we need to put on the 20 record this afternoon? She doesn't want to have to sit 21 there and take all this informal talk. With that we 22 will stand in recess until the next call, which is at 23 9:30 in the morning. 24 (Proceedings were adjourned at 4:30 p.m.) 25 0251 1 CERTIFICATE OF REPORTER 2 3 I, Cynthia First, Registered Professional Reporter and Notary Public for the State of 4 South Carolina at Large, do hereby certify: That the foregoing testimony was 5 taken before me on the date and at the time and location stated on page 1 of this transcript; and that the 6 foregoing transcript of that testimony is a true, accurate and complete record to the best of my ability. 7 I further certify that I am neither related to nor counsel for, nor employed by any party to 8 the investigation, nor am I financially interested in the investigation. 9 Witness my hand, I have hereunto affixed my official seal this 19th day of April, 2009, 10 at Columbia, Richland County, South Carolina. 11 12 13 _______________________________ Cynthia First, 14 Registered Professional Reporter Notary Public 15 State of South Carolina at Large My Commission expires: 16 October 16, 2018 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 0252 1 I N D E X 2 Page 3 Executive Session 4,34,54,97,228 4 Open Session 3,13,47,58,100,239 5 6 EXAMINATION OF: 7 JUDGE ROB B. STILWELL 14 8 WILLIAM T. GEDDINGS, JR. 47 9 ANGELA R. TAYLOR 65 10 BRYAN W. BRADDOCK 79 11 MICHAEL HOLT 100 12 SALLEY HUGGINS McINTYRE 113 13 ELIZABETH R. MUNNERLYN 121 14 JUDGE RALPH KING ANDERSON, III 133 15 J. ALEX STANTON, IV 164 16 JUDGE CAROLYN CASON MATTHEWS 183 17 Certificate of Reporter 251 18 19 E X H I B I T S 20 JMSC EXHIBITS Page 21 1 Personal Data Questionnaire for Judge Rob B. Stilwell 17 22 2 Sworn Statement of Rob B. Stilwell 17 23 3 Personal Data Questionnaire for 24 William T. Geddings, Jr. 49 25 4 Sworn Statement of William T. 0253 1 JMSC EXHIBITS (Continued) Page 2 5 Personal Data Questionnaire for Angela R. Taylor 67 3 6 Sworn Statement of Angela R. Taylor 67 4 7 Personal Data Questionnaire for 5 Bryan W. Braddock 81 6 8 Amendments by Bryan Braddock 81 7 9 Sworn Statement of Bryan W. Braddock 81 8 10 Personal Data Questionnaire for Michael S. Holt 102 9 11 Sworn Statement of Michael S. Holt 102 10 12 Personal Data Questionnaire for 11 Salley Huggins McIntyre 115 12 13 Sworn Statement of Salley Huggins McIntyre 115 13 14 Personal Data Questionnaire for 14 Elizabeth R. Munnerlyn 123 15 15 Sworn Statement of Elizabeth R. Munnerlyn 123 16 16 Personal Data Questionnaire for 17 Judge Ralph King Anderson, III 135 18 17 Sworn Statement of Judge Ralph King Anderson, III 136 19 18 Case Docket of Judge Anderson 145 20 19 Personal Data Questionnaire for 21 James Alexander Stanton, IV 166 22 20 Sworn Statement of James Alexander Stanton, IV 167 23 21 Personal Data Questionnaire for 24 Judge Carolyn Cason Matthews 185 25 0254 1 JMSC EXHIBITS (Continued) Page 2 22 Amendment to PDQ for Judge Carolyn Cason Matthews 185 3 23 Sworn Statement of Judge Carolyn 4 Cason Matthews 186 5 24 Judicial Evaluation: Matthews, Carolyn C. 204 6 25 Case Docket of Judge Matthews 208 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25