Could a Maine probate judge chair a gubernatorial campaign committee, and what if the judge was seeking reelection?
Apply this to your situation
This page answers the general question as of 2005. Ask about yours and see what the current rules of professional conduct in your state say for your facts, with citations.
Plain-English summary
The committee answered two questions: whether a probate judge not running for reelection could chair a gubernatorial candidate’s political committee, and what restrictions applied to another probate judge planning reelection while participating in the same primary campaign. Source: Opinion 05-5.
Under the then-current Code’s probate-judge applicability provision, the committee said Canon 5A(1)(a)-(d) did not apply to probate judges. It therefore found no Canon prohibition on the noncandidate judge serving as state chair, while leaving acceptance of that role to the judge’s discretion. Source: Opinion 05-5.
For the probate judge who intended to seek reelection, the committee applied Canon 5(C) and Canon 5(B), with the remaining Canon 5A(1)(e)-(f) prohibitions. Both judges remained subject to the ban on soliciting funds for, contributing to, or buying party-event tickets for a political organization or candidate. Source: Opinion 05-5.
In practice
The opinion distinguished a noncandidate probate judge’s campaign committee role from a probate judge’s own reelection activity. It permitted the former chairmanship but preserved the specific fundraising and candidate rules described in its conclusion. Source: Opinion 05-5.
Common questions
Q: Could the noncandidate probate judge serve as state chair?
A: Yes. The committee said the Canons did not prohibit chairing the gubernatorial candidate’s political committee. Source: Opinion 05-5.
Q: Did the opinion allow campaign fundraising by that judge?
A: No. It retained the Canon 5A(1)(e) restrictions on soliciting funds, making contributions and purchasing political party event tickets. Source: Opinion 05-5.
Q: What additional rules applied to the judge planning reelection?
A: The committee said that judge had to follow Canon 5(C) and Canon 5(B), as well as the applicable Canon 5A(1)(e)-(f) prohibitions. Source: Opinion 05-5.
Background and rules framework
The opinion applied Maine Code of Judicial Conduct Part II, Section 1B(1)(b) and Canon 5’s political-conduct provisions to probate judges. The first three scanned pages contain the opinion; attached Code pages are largely unreadable in OCR, so the original-text section links the complete PDF instead. The conclusions were checked against the official page images. Source: Opinion 05-5.
Citations and references
Maine Code of Judicial Conduct:
- Part II, Section 1B(1)(b); Canon 5A(1)(a)-(f); Canon 5B; Canon 5C; Canon 5D.
See also
Source
- Landing page: Maine advisory-opinion index
- Original PDF: Opinion 05-5
Original opinion text
Reproduced from the official source for research purposes. The linked source is authoritative.
Full opinion text unavailable from the official source; see the linked source above for the complete text.
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