Adam Bonin, ’97, Begins Column in Philadelphia Magazine

Adam Bonin, ’97, is a new columnist with Philadelphia Magazine. In his first column, he calls for an end to the "judicial fundraising charade":

It’s a part of the campaign process which gives many a sense of the oogies; the relentless quest for cash in which candidates for office call their friends, colleagues, former colleagues, ideological sympathizers, anyone who’s given money to people like them, anyone who might have a beef with the other candidates, and then, inevitably, all these same people again next week.
It’s especially uncomfortable when it comes to candidates for judicial office, because judges are supposed to be impartial, and as the U.S. Court of Appeals explained in 1991:
It is no secret that aside from family and close personal friends of the candidate (rarely affluent, or necessarily enthusiastic sources) judicial campaigns must focus their solicitations for funds on members of the bar. This leads to the unseemly situation in which judges preside over cases in which the parties are represented by counsel who have contributed in varying amounts to the judicial campaigns.
Pennsylvania, like most states which elect judges, tries to take some of the ickiness out of the process by preventing judges (and judicial candidates, but I’ll just say “judges” from here) from raising the money themselves. The Rules of Judicial Conduct expressly prohibit such personal solicitations; money can only be raised by members of the judge’s campaign committee instead.
In practice, however, the phone calls go like this...