This time it’s for real: Somebody other than Jim Camblos has been selected by regional Republican legislators to replace Circuit Court Judge Paul Peatross. That somebody is Ivy resident, Republican, attorney, and former assistant commonwealth’s attorney Cheryl Higgins. The General Assembly still has to vote to accept the nomination, which is scheduled for tomorrow, but odds are vanishingly close to zero that they’d reject her.
The Republican majority figured this out among themselves, with some press announcing the arrangement even before some regional Democrats in the General Assembly learned about it. Three cheers for bipartisanship.
02/23 Update: Bob Gibson has a proper review of the outcome in today’s Progress.
Bipartisanship? This was a Republican chosen by Republicans, over two Republicans.
Sarcasm doesn’t always come through the ether clearly. :)
I didn’t get the sarcasm, either.
I’m also not sure I undertstand if this post is a complaint or not. Ms. Higgins seems well-qualified, and has the additional, outstanding qualification, or not being Mr. Camblos.
I think this is good news.
Complaint? Perhaps some part of two months of blogging has left some question as to whether I support Anybody But Camblos™?
Well, at the last meeting of “Camblos Anonymous” we were wondering when you would update us on the “fast” moving process that the GA embarked on giving us our new judge. Yes, I too am happy it was not JC, that would put me in line with about 75% of the county residents and 99% of anyone who ever had to deal with him professionally.
I was a bit disappointed by Ms. Higgins comments to nbc29 where she said “I’m trying to get across to them, my personality and temperment because I think that’s an important characteristic of person who sits as a judge–my intellectual knowledge of the law and my trial experience,” That sounded to me to be a bit self absorbed and too self promoting. I think she will do a fine job and I am hoping that was just a bad quote or just kind of an excited statement by her.
Worrell had the best line of the day when he said “It’s been a long process, but in the end, it’s nice to be recognized as somebody who the General Assembly and Senate think could be the next judge,” Humble, professional and nice to hear compared to the me first politics of the day.
I wish Ms. Higgins the best for a long and productive career on the bench.
Too bad there weren’t more comments like iknowcvilles’ about that difference between Higgins and Worrell prior to now. Higgins is qualified, and she isn’t Camblos, but she has consistently touted herself because ‘she wants to be a judge.’ As I’ve mentioned before, Worrell was the only candidate to have spoken in each public forum about addressing the rights of both defendant and victim, and ensuring that all voices were heard and respected in the courtroom. It’s not that catastrophe for the community that Camblos would have been, but I don’t think the best person was chosen. And I think this happened because the fear of Camblos made everyone run for the cover of the bar endorsement as ‘non partisan’ (which is why I didn’t hear the sarcasm of ‘bipartisan’).
You know what’s awesome about Higgins? She’s not Jim Camblos. At this point I think that a warm gob of spit could probably beat Camblos in an election for Commonwealth’s Attorney. He is easily the most widely despised public figure in Albemarle County.
Waldo-
In this case, sarcasm is just fine. In fact, a little undignified gloating might be in order.
Now, could someone out there find a viable willing candidate to oppose Camblosas CA so we can give justice a chance around this county?
I believe Iknowcville has already suggested that Worrell might be both viable and willing. He’d certainly bring competence, dignity and integrity to the office, based on how he handled himself around this judgeship. And look at how he managed the 20 year old rape case of the UVa student — we had quite a media circus here in Charlottesville, but there was no foolishness in the press from the prosecutor (Worrell), unlike the equally high profile Duke rape case.
Mama is correct; Worrell handled himself with dignity in both the judicial process and the Beebe case. We all have seen prosecutors who are assigned high profile cases use the spotlight to further their careers. Shameful. Worrell could have been on Oprah with that case but appears to have chosen the path less traveled, humility.
Does he have a chance of unseating a 3 term entrenched republican in Albemarle? Maybe, but he has some work to do. Camblos is a party loyalist and to the republicans, he is now harmless. Neutered, if you will. He has gone for the prize and lost; he will never again seek higher office and will be rewarded for his efforts over the years for his service to the party .
Worrell has a choice, wait for the retirement of a 61 year old prosecutor or begin to raise his profile in the party and in the County to a point where he is a viable candidate. Or…………………………..
Wait until the City Circuit Court to open up and begin the process again, that much older, that much more experienced and that much more qualified.
With regard to Camblos’ expiring seat, I’ll again support Anybody But Camblos. Whether Claude Worrell or Mickey Mouse…whatever. I think the real trick would be finding somebody who couldn’t defeat Camblos. He is, today, at the perigee of his power. He looks weak right now, post-defeat, because he is weak. This situation will not improve much between now and November. The man has only a few allies (as was demonstrated yesterday), and those are largely allies of convenience; now that they see he’s weak, I’ll bet there’s a lot less that they’re willing to do for him.
Republican, Democrat, independent, whatever: somebody has got to run against Camblos, and now is the time.
It’s entirely possible that Camblos won’t even run again, though how losing this judgeship affects that choice is anyone’s guess. But again, I’ll say that Anyonebutcamblos isn’t the best choice. We ended up with the second best option in circuit court thanks to that attitude, and I’d like to see our community do better than that.
In my opinion, Claude Worrell is far from being qualified as either a judge or CA. In my opinion, he is disorganized and flys by the seat of his pants on almost all of his cases. Time to move on to the next candidate.
Agree with budslght…Claude Worrell can have some moments of brilliance at times, but he is quite disorganized at times and can have the same problems that Camblos has with arrogance and self important bearing. But, this will not matter if his name comes up again, bank on it.
If Worrell flies by the seat of his pants for “almost all” his cases, why does he win most of the time? As for arrogance and self importance, I think you have only to look at his comments to the press during the judgeship and compare them to Ms. Higgin’s.
No slight against Claude, but a prosecutor who did not win most of the time wouldn’t be much of a prosecutor.
It’s unfortunate that Bob Downer, who also received the Bar’s endorsement, has gotten lost in the political shuffle….
There’s no doubt that most prosecutors often, if not frankly all the time, fly by the seat of their pants. They’re all mostly juggling dozens of cases. That’s ok for a prosecutor, and expected, but not for a defense attorney. The thing about Claude that should be noted is that he is honest, ethical, fair and treats people — all people, whether victims or defendants, fellow prosecutors or defense attys, rich or poor, black or white, man or woman, gay or straight, etc — with dignity and respect. That’s what we should expect from a judge and from the chief prosecutor. He knows how to try cases and he’s smart and articulate. What better qualifications can there be for county prosecutor?
>No slight against Claude, but a prosecutor who did not win most >of the time wouldn’t be much of a prosecutor.
My point precisely. Folks can nitpick all they like, but they can’t argue with the bottom line. Camblos has botched serious cases. That’s something to criticize.
Mamazinnia must be a relative of Worrell. THe guy was in the standing for one reason only- the same reason he was tapped for the position he already holds. Budslght is accurate- Worrell has no valid qualifications for a judicial appointment- disorganized- yes, unprepared-yes, lazy-yes, slothful-yes. The guy is a walking advertisement for quite a few of the seven deadly sins. God help us if he runs for CA or any other post of influence. Mamazinia is absolutely incorrect in the comment that Worrell is the only candidate in the public forum who addressed both the rights of the victim and defendant. I was there and many of the others spoke of the same issues with indeed more prepardeness than Worrell. Higgins was the correct choice and was professional and in line when stressing her confidence in herself to do a great job in the judicial seat. If you want to see arrogance- if Worrell runs for any other position- you will see his picture in the dictionary beside “arrogance”.
While you may be blackintheknow you certainly do not know Claude Worrell. He can come across as a bit lazy or disorganized but do not let appearances fool you, he is as smart as they come and approachable even in the court house. He will take the time to tell the defendant and their lawyer what his recommendation is going to be and why he has reached that decision. Ask the local defense bar who the enjoy working with in criminal matters and my guess is that Worrell would get a lot of votes. Not because he is unprepared or lazy but because he is a straight shooter who is reasonable and has the knack for knowing what a case is worth.
As for your personal attack on him for his weight “The guy is a walking advertisement for quite a few of the seven deadly sins.” I find no room for that kind of attack in civil discourse and am offended that you would sink to that level.