October 12, 2004
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Candidate Review
state politicsASSOCIATE JUSTICE-SUPREME CT 6
(i) ALAN C. PAGE vs TIM TINGELSTADI am choosing to vote for Alan Page.
Alan Page : Senior member of the Minnesota Supreme court with a moderate record and, in the words of Jordan Kushner: “the only member at this time who applies to his legal decision making generally recognized problems of the extremely disproportionate numbers of people color getting arrested and imprisoned”
Tim Tingelstad : In the words of his web site:
“Our founding fathers were inspired by God to create the greatest form of government the world has ever known. These were men of strong convictions and a deep faith in God. They were certain that this Nation would only prosper if we continue to embrace the Biblical principles upon which they built our constitutional government. It is time to rediscover our Godly heritage; to restore His Truth to our communities, our State and our Nation.”
and
“There is a growing misinterpretation of the ‘wall of separation’ between Church and State which is destroying the foundation of this Godly Nation. The United States Constitution does not contain the words ‘wall of separation.’ The framers of the Constitution did not desire a wall to be built which would keep the Word of God from influencing the government and the people, and they would be in complete opposition to the direction our courts have taken us toward taking God out of our public institutions. The Church must return to its vital role of supporting and influencing the State.”
I don’t believe that a person’s religion should be held against them, but when they make it such a major pillar of their campaign platform, one must take it into consideration.To be clear on my bias, I am not Christian, and I have no desire to see any Church (Christian variants or otherwise) increase its influence over our government and our lives.
Clearly, a Judge will sometimes be required to use their own discretion to make a decision that is not clear cut in the letter of the law.
That decision will, of necessity, be driven by that judge’s values and beliefs. One’s values and beliefs will often come from one’s religion, and I think that it is reasonable to let people know where you’re coming from. In general, I think Christian ethics are good ethics and I have no trouble with a Judge using them as their moral base.
However, reading Tingelstad’s web site made me believe that he wants to go further than simply letting us know that his faith will drive his discretionary decisions. I believe he actively wants to increase the influence of the Church upon the state.
Secondly, those aspects of the Christian religion that I do appreciate, respect, and try and follow in my own life are those that were taught by the prophet Jesus. Surprisingly, I found no reference to Jesus anywhere on Tingelstad’s site. For that matter, I believe almost everything I saw was drawn from the Old Testament.
From what I’ve read, while Christ was a teacher of love and forgiveness, the Old Testament is pretty clear in directing its followers to be intolerant of those who do not follow the word of God. Logically (and, based on my experiences, it holds), Christians who focus more on the Old Testament than on Christ’s teachings will tend to be more intolerant towards those of us who do not follow their ways.
So, I don’t want to vote for Tingelstad, but should I vote for Page?
Here is some information about him, according to Jordan Kushner from the MPD (State Politics Discussion) List:
Alan Page is the most senior judge currently serving on the Minnesota Supreme Court (12 years). His overall records could only fairly be labelled as moderate since he usually does not demonstrate significant dissension from other justices in most areas, and does not take the same side in any particular regardless of the case. Page has demonstrated a specific commitment, however, to exposing racial disparities in the criminal justice system. He is the only African American who has ever served on the Minnesota Supreme Court, and is the only member at this time who applies to his legal decision making generally recognized problems of the extremely disproportionate numbers of people color getting arrested and imprisoned. (One would have to go back more than 10 years to the era of Perprich-appointed judges to find majority opinions indicating a commitment to attacking racism in the criminal justice system). Page has authored detailed dissents in particular cases where he has thoroughly documented patterns of differential treatment based on race. An overall study of Page’s opinions would most likely demonstrate a greater orientation than his colleagues towards the rights of the individual versus the interests of government, corporations, or insurance companies.
This sounds pretty good to me, and as I haven’t seen any of this debunked on the state list, I’m going to trust that it is a reasonably accurate assessment.
I’ve also found that he is the founder of the Page Education Foundation which provides mentoring and scholarships encouraging Minnesota students to continue their studies after high school. He also helped create “the Kodak/Alan Page Challenge” which is an essay contest aimed at encouraging urban youth to recognize the value of education. These actions were not highlighted on his campaign site, and while they don’t necessarily make him a better judge, they do speak to his character.
Alan Page for Associate Justice, Minnesota State Supreme Court 6
