The State - News from Sept. 4, 1986

Calling her conduct a breach in “judicial integrity,” state Sen. Ed Davis (R-Valencia) charged that Chief Justice Rose Elizabeth Bird violated a judicial conduct code when she voted recently to review a case in which the California Bar Assn. and her campaign chairman are defendants. “Her action in voting for bringing this case up to the Supreme Court is unethical and improper,” Davis told a Sacramento press conference. Davis said he has asked the state Commission on Judicial Performance to investigate. Bird’s defenders contend that Davis is unfairly targeting the chief justice to hurt her bid to win reconfirmation on the Nov. 4 ballot. “The charges are absolutely false. His (Davis’) attack is blatantly political and the latest in the continuing campaign to intimidate her,” said Bird’s campaign chairman, Los Angeles attorney Anthony Murray. Murray, a defendant in the case, was Bar president when its officials launched a “public education program,” which critics charged supported confirmation of four justices on the 1982 ballot.