Investigation of of Former Harbor Judge Is Dropped

State judicial authorities on Friday dropped their investigation of former Harbor Municipal Judge Russell A. Bostrom, one of six judges at the Newport Beach courthouse to be investigated for possible misconduct.

Jack Frankel, director of the Commission on Judicial Performance, said the agency considered the results of a preliminary investigation and decided to close the matter because Bostrom resigned Sept. 22 after six years on the bench.

Bostrom declined comment on the commission’s action.

Although he was a target of the commission when he stepped down, Bostrom, 46, said he wanted to resign for personal reasons and never wanted to serve longer than one term in office. He said at the time that he wanted to leave the legal profession entirely to begin a writing career.

Frankel declined to comment on the investigation, except to say it is customary for the commission to close cases if judges resign or retire during an inquiry. He would not say whether the agency reached any conclusions about Bostrom’s conduct.

Bostrom, who has denied any wrongdoing, is one of six Harbor Municipal Court judges to come under the commission’s scrutiny during the past several years. The commission monitors the performance of the state’s 1,500 judges and has the power to take disciplinary action for violations of judicial ethics.

During the investigation, the most serious allegations--trading judicial favors for sex from two prostitutes--involved Judges Calvin Schmidt and Brian Carter.

Carter retired amid the investigation, and the commission dropped its case against him. Disciplinary hearings were held several months ago for Schmidt, who contends he knew nothing about the women. A decision in the case is pending.

With respect to Bostrom, the commission reportedly looked into whether he and Judge Selim Franklin tried to pressure Newport Beach police officials into ending their investigations of Carter and Schmidt.

Sources also said the commission tried to determine if Bostrom improperly campaigned for defeated Orange County sheriff candidate Linda Calligan in 1986 and solicited campaign contributions for her in excess of amounts allowed by judicial canons. Under those rules, judges also cannot endorse candidates or participate heavily in political campaigns.