Statewide judicial candidates make cases for re-election during law meeting in Albany

ALBANY – Back in the 1980s, a song by the alternative group The Replacements urged listeners to look for them “Left of the dial,” at the very end of the FM radio tuner where the college radio stations that played alternative music were found.

The judicial candidates for the Georgia Court of Appeals and Supreme Court have a similar situation in that their names will be found at the very bottom of a lengthy May 19 ballot. The nonpartisan candidates’ races will be below all the exciting partisan races for governor and U.S. senator and state House and Senate seats and below the ballot questions.

On Wednesday, a few of those candidates were in attendance at the May Day Law Meeting held by the Dougherty County Bar Association. While those candidates are not allowed to talk about any legal issues before the court or how they could rule on future cases, they asked voters not to overlook those contests when they are at the polls.

“I believe in an impartial judiciary committed to the rule of law,” Supreme Court incumbent Charlie “Charles” Bethel said. “I believe that when parties come before the court, they are entitled to have the rules enforced and never be subjected to the personal biases of the judges.”

Bethel, who was appointed by former Gov. Nathan Deal to the Court of Appeals in 20016 and to the Supreme Court in 2018, was elected to a six-year term in 2020.

The biggest single source of cases before the Supreme Court come from individuals requesting hearings for murder convictions, a review by the court that is automatic in the state. The court, which is not a trial court but a court of review, hears both civil and criminal cases.

Prior to his time on the state courts, Bethel served on the City Council in his native Dalton and was elected to the state Senate. He worked in legal practice for more than a decade

The other candidate in the race is challenger Miracle Rankin.

Also in Albany for the meeting were Court of Appeals Judges Trenton “Trent” Brown and Elizabeth Gobeil, both of whom have opposition. The incumbents face, respectively, Will Wooten and Fatima Harris Felton in the May 19 nonpartisan election.

Before being appointed to the court in 2018, Brown served as a Putnam County State Court judge for five years and five years as a Superior Court Judge. 

“I think what Georgians expect out fo the judges are fair and impartial public servants who simply apply the law,” he said. “Judges are expected to provide a great service. No party politics have a place in a court.”

Appointed by Deal in 2018, Gobeil is seeking her second six-year term. She explained that the court’s 15 members are divided into five panels that review cases.

“We are an intermediate appellate court,” she said. “What that means is that when people are dissatisfied with a decision of one of Georgia’s trial courts, over 90% of appeals come to us.”

The incumbent also referred to former Appeals Court member Herbert Phipps, who served a lengthy tenure on the court and was honored at the Wednesday meeting.

“One of the honors of my life is being able to overlap with Judge Phipps in serving,” she said. “I like to think of him as the spiritual dean of our court.”