Who Are You To Judge?

Margaret answers my call for more information on judges who appeared on The David Strom Show:

We interviewed Haeg and Gildea 2 weeks ago on our show. The podcast is up at Townhall. [shamless plug #1] Gildea impressed us with her knowledge and cool Scandinavian temperament. People who care about property rights should be aware of her opinion in the Wensmenn case which is a good backstop to Kelo-type takings of people's property by cities and government entities by eminent domain. IMHO, that alone is a good reason to support her. I have nothing against Hedlund and I think some social conservatives support her. Hedlund is a Hennepin Co. district court judge but the Supreme Court requires broader experience and knowledge of the law and I think Gildea's resume fits better.

The Haeg interview was interesting. He was a judicial referee, which is more than a mediator and less than a district court judge but the post was downsized and he got laid off. He worked under Swenson (i.e. Swenson was his boss). We were kind of wondering about the personal dymamic there and Haeg dropped a bombshell on air that Swenson was sued by some court worker for hostile work environment and workplace discrimination. It was settled for $75,000, needless to say without admissions by either party. Rick Morgan, who is a highly regarded attorney in town was sitting in with us that day to share his expertise and noted that it wasn't a particularly judicial thing to do to drop bombs like that and argued that it spoke to the temperament issue. I wasn't as put off by it, but then, I'm not a lawyer and tend to see things in more political terms. Haeg got a good hearing on the show as to his diverse background (he's held a number of different kinds of jobs) and grew up on the Northside of Minneapolis and Robbinsdale. Anybody who wants to know more about the guy should listen to the show.[shamless plug #2] Swenson's a sitting judge and has rave reviews from his peers. Haeg is the challenger so he probably has a higher bar to cross.