Judge and Son’s Parking Tickets

What was the Honorable Charles D. Boags thinking when he routinely dismissed those thick batches of parking tickets to which his son pleaded guilty in the privacy of his father’s chambers? Could he have been distracted with plans for yet another special arrangement to carry out his son’s moral education? Or were these acts of civil disobedience meant to draw attention to the brutally punishing parking laws in Beverly Hills?

What, then, are we to do when confronted with a municipal judge who excuses his misconduct by claiming to be unaware of the reasons for the violations because he had made some other special arrangement for his son’s parking in the area of a school he was attending by yet another special arrangement?

His Honor has not only abused his privileges, corrupted his son’s morals and violated the Code of Judicial Ethics, he has also insulted public intelligence to say he didn’t know what he was doing, but has “done the best damn job I can do.” We can do him the honor to believe him. So the only honorable response is to remove him and his modest abilities from a position that demands more integrity and moral alertness than His Honor can bring to it.

That this unethical judge is running unopposed for reelection is one of the saddest comments on our judicial system and public awareness. That he has already trained his son as a scofflaw invites another generation of smirking disregard for laws. Judge Boags said he was not going to give his son better treatment than anyone else. In fact, he is giving his son and the community the worst possible treatment by his examples of scorn for public trust. If he would show his son how to duck parking tickets, what should we assume he would do when confronted with more serious offenses the boy could also expect to commit with impunity?

FRAN ANDERSEN

Los Angeles