swearingbible
Don't watch dirty videos at work: It seems like a common-sense rule, especially since the statewide embarrassment that was porngate is likely to still be fresh in the minds of Pennsylvania's public officials.
But that rudimentary lesson learned from the ruined careers of two state Supreme Court justices and other state officials who had pornographic emails on their government computers was apparently lost on a Monroe County magisterial district judge who last week was hit with ethics charges.
The Supreme Court's Judicial Conduct Board charged Judge Michael R. Muth with looking at pornography on multiple occasions in full view of the court staff at his chambers, nestled in the scenic mountainscape of the Poconos.
It's unclear what was going through Muth's mind at the time or times he viewed the videos on the job. At a deposition before the board in February, Muth admitted that he possessed and viewed pornography on his judicial computer in his chambers, but has not responded to multiple calls and emails for comment.
What is clear is that reform advocates in Pennsylvania are yet again calling for a better selection process in putting judges on the bench, along with intensified ethics training when judges are in office.
Maida Milone, executive director of the judicial reform group Pennsylvanians for Modern Courts, is one of those advocates.
Clearly this kind of behavior evidences a need for a continued and aggressive emphasis on training around ethical behavior, Milone said.
Milone's organization has long endorsed merit selection that is, the appointment of judges and justices by the governor rather than through elections.
Whether a judge is appointed or voted in, the question still remains: Does someone really need advanced training to know to avoid watching pornography at work?
I do think we all benefit from continued exposure to what in changing times is considered appropriate conduct, Milone said. At the same time, I do believe that character is most important in our selection of all jurists in Pennsylvania.
However, David Thornburgh, president of the governmental reform group the Committee of Seventy, said telling a judge not to pull up pornographic websites at work shouldn't even be necessary.
You don't need a law or a reference to what happened in 'porngate' to lead to that conclusion, Thornburgh said.
Ethics training is always a plus, according to Thornburgh, but he added, you'd hope to have a member of the judiciary who's supposed to be attuned to ethics responsibilities and where to draw the line that this should be a truth that is self-evident.