Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Do Not Vote For My Dad For Judge!


The Huffington Post and probably by now, a dozen or more websites feature the story of the judicial candidacy of Oklahoma attorney, John Mantooth (pic) which is being actively opposed by his own daughter that features advertising, a website and a facebook page opposed to his candidacy.

This is from the Huffington Post account:
"An Oklahoma judicial candidate is fending off a political attack from his daughter, who has taken out a local newspaper ad urging voters: 'Do not vote for my dad!'

McClain County judicial hopeful John Mantooth's daughter and son-in-law paid for the quarter-page advertisement, which features a picture of the daughter's family, highlights cases in which Mantooth has been sued and lists a website the couple started, . http://www.donotvoteformydad.com/

Mantooth said the bad blood stems from his 1981 divorce from his daughter's mother.  'This is a family issue which should have been kept private,'  he said Monday. 'I'm very sad about this. I'm very disappointed. I'm hurt, but I love my daughter, and I want things to get better, and I hope they will.'

Jan Schill, 31, said she never has had a good relationship with her father and doesn't think he'd make a good judge.

'We just felt like it would be bad if he were to become a judge,' Schill said in a telephone interview from her home in Durango, Colo. 'I assumed that he would not appreciate it, but he's made so many people mad, I'm just another mark on his board of people's he's had a beef with.'

Keith Gaddie, a professor of political science at the University of Oklahoma, said such campaigning illustrates that 'none of us wants our lives too closely examined. It's reality show politics,' Gaddie said. 'It's unsavory. It's undignified, and it's real.'

But Mantooth also suspects political maneuvering. He said his son-in-law, Andrew Schill, was once law partners with one of his opponents in Tuesday's primary, Greg Dixon.  'That's a very strange set of circumstances,' Mantooth said. 'For a person to believe that Greg Dixon had nothing to do with this is like trying to believe that cows give chocolate milk.'

Andrew Schill said he and Dixon were law partners for about three years, but that the partnership was dissolved after Schill and his family moved to Colorado in 2007. He said he and his wife are responsible for the ad and that there was no coordination with Dixon.  'We put that stuff out there,' Andrew Schill said. 'We want people to look at this record and his cases. I think people can look at that and draw their own conclusions.'

Dixon also said he had nothing to do with the ad or website.
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Talk about some unresolved family issues.

3 comments:

  1. Dear Jan,
    My father was a son of a bitch too. He abused not only my mother, but all his children too. He died alone, nobody wanted to see him. He was an attorney too and he had a lot of charm.
    I just read a comment about: "It is not good to talk about your father that way and blablabla. But what do they know? People like your father and mine put their testicles first and family second.
    DO NOT LISTEN TO STUPID COMMENTS. I DO NOT LISTEN TO THEM. THEY ARE TRYING TO MAKE YOU FEEL GUILTY.
    AND IF YOUR FATHER HAS MORE SKELETONS IN THE CLOSET BRING THEM OUT.

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  2. I think everyone is missing the point here. The man may be a bad husband and a bad father, neither of those would or should impact on his ability to be a good judge.

    What does is the fact that he is clearly not too familiar with what is lawful or as in the case of the will, what is ethical or moral. It also shows he's an idiot, for thinking he'd get away with swindling 200,000 from an old ladies estate. These are issues you should know about if he's on a ballot for judge, particularly if you may be facing him one day in that capacity.
    That it was his daughter who blew the whistle may suggest there was some spite, her recent comments to the press certainly do. Does that really make the information on his less than honorable dealings with regard to the law any less important when he's asking you to let him judge you or someone you love.

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  3. I would think a person's character and fitness to be a "good judge" is somewhat revealed by his judgment and character in precisely the sorts of things his daughter and son in law raise. Fair or not, these offended relatives reflect his impact on their lives.
    BL

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