I’ve had two opportunities recently to hear Greg Wersal speak to groups. The first was to the CD3 Full Committee Meeting, the second was this morning at the SD45 informal coffee meet up at Mountain Mudd in Plymouth. Wersal is running a double campaign, one is the message: A campaign for Judicial Accountability, the other is the actual position on the ballot as candidate for Minnesota Supreme Court Justice.

If you are a conservative, this is an easy one. There are only two people on the ballot this year, Incumbent Helen Meyer, appointed in 2002 by Governor Ventura; and Greg Wersal, the Republican and Constitution Party endorsed candidate. If you want one key reason beyond the endorsement, I would offer this: Meyer wants to take away your right to vote, and Wersal supports your right to vote for justices in free, open and competitive judicial elections. For me this is simple, I oppose judicial activism, which I see more and more of from the courts. And I support transparency, accountability and more information about candidates, rather than an elite selection process that essentially puts people in office for life. Here is a bullet point look at Greg Wersal's goals if elected:

1. ACCOUNTABILITY
Greg Wersal would work to establish, once and for all, judicial accountability to the people of Minnesota
* by establishing free, open and competitive judicial elections,
* making changes to the Board on Judicial Standards to create transparency and make its work open to the public.

2. PROTECT INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS AND ECONOMIC FREEDOM
Greg Wersal believes that the Constitution was meant to protect the people and their property from a too powerful government. To that end, he believes that where there are conflicting interests, the Court should error on the side which preserves individual rights and economic liberty. With this principle in mind, the Court should protect a. the right to private property by limiting the abuse of the power of eminent domain b. the right of free speech -- especially political speech -- from government controls c. the right to bear arms from government restrictions

3. TORT AND LITIGATION REFORM
As a member of the Minnesota Supreme Court, Greg Wersal would work to make the legal system more accessible and economical for all Minnesotans. Greg believes the judiciary must advance litigation reform and methods to end spurious litigation.

4. JUDICIAL ACTIVISM
We will never stop judicial activism unless we begin to elect judges who respect our Constitution and the Rule of Law. That is why we need Greg Wersal on the bench

Want him to win? Good. But there's a challenge here. The MnSCJ and other justice positions are not usually on the most people's radar. And they will not get a lot of visibility with so many other high profile races this summer. Couple that with the many obstacles that keep justice candidates from fundraising and campaigning effectively. But an organization has been founded to help. George Wu, Joe Salmon, and Dorothy Fleming started JIM (Justice In Minnesota.org) PAC to help out conservative justice candidates, specifically:

Greg Wersal For MN Supreme Court http://wersalforjustice.com/
Tim Tingelstad For MN Supreme Court   http://www.highesthill.com/
Dan Griffith For MN Court of Appeals   http://www.griffithforjudge.com/

Here is the Justice in Minnesota mission statement:

Justice In Minnesota is a non-partisan, citizen driven effort to restore our judicial branch of government. We believe that the judicial branch of government should remain independent of the other two branches of government (separation of powers), but never be independent of the people of Minnesota, or of the Constitution of the United States of America.

To this end, Justice In Minnesota seeks to:

1. Raise awareness of the history and importance of meaningful judicial elections while; educating Minnesotans about the manipulative threat to our constitutional right to vote for judges in the state of Minnesota.
2. Expose the MSRE by revealing the corruption that this manipulative bill seeks to keep in place as well as the inherent dangers of the Merit Selection and Retention Elections (MSRE) bill.
3. Elect Constitutionally Conservative Judges who will interpret the law and remember the separation of powers in every court decision by applying only the law and the evidence to decisions from the bench.
   
   

How can you help? Spread the word. Join their Facebook page. send out e-mails to your friends about Greg, Tim and Dan. Get their names in circulation. That is the most important thing.— get your friends know who to vote for. You can also send Justice in Minnesota some cabbage to help their effort to support more conservative candidates. There has not been a better political climate in many years for conservative candidates who honor the constitution.

Get to it.

Cross-posted at Freedom Dogs.