Letter to the Editor
Daily Report
September 14, 2006
AS MADE CLEAR in the Sept. 12 article “Chamber role in court race draws lawyers’ ire,” Georgia Chamber of Commerce members (including lawyers) have the option of either canceling or not renewing their membership if they objected to or disagreed with chamber President George Israel’s comments regarding Georgia judicial races.
Unfortunately, members of the Georgia Bar Association who disagree with bar President Jay Cook’s comments (“We politicize judges at our peril,” June 23) aimed at the Georgia chamber do not have that option.
Georgia has a mandatory bar. This means that attorneys who want to practice law in Georgia cannot cancel their membership or not renew their membership if she or he disagrees with the statements by the president of the Georgia Bar Association. It is the kind of double standard that gives lawyers a bad name—do as I say, not as I do.
Supposedly, Georgia attorneys are protected by a rule that the bar cannot support a position that is political or ideological because it is a mandatory bar. Of course, Jay Cook’s attack on the chamber (and its president) was on behalf of the Georgia Bar Association (including those who do not agree with him). He used bar resources to publish and distribute his comments. These actions illustrate both his and the Bar Association’s disregard of the rule against using the Bar Association for political purposes.
Basically, there is an obvious disconnect when the guardians of the right to dissent are the most vocal in opposing a contrary view while imposing rules on their own members that make meaningful dissent impossible.
—Randy Evans
Atlanta