Bar panel pans new judge

A longtime Republican activist credited with helping revitalize the GOP in San Bernardino County was appointed to a judgeship by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in May even though he was rated “not qualified” by a state bar committee, the bar announced Monday.

But a spokeswoman for the State Bar of California said the organization and members of the judicial evaluating commission were legally prohibited from explaining why San Bernardino Superior Court Judge Elia Pirozzi was deemed unqualified.

Ephraim Margolin, a lawyer based in San Francisco who said he has represented about 130 judges during his more than 40 years of practice, said the situation was not unheard of.

“Is it politics? It smells like politics -- maybe it isn’t -- but we don’t know,” Margolin said. “It is questionable when committees are disregarded, and usually there’s a story behind it.”

Aaron McLear, a spokesman for the governor, wouldn’t discuss how the bar committee’s rating factored into the appointment. He said in a statement that Pirozzi was qualified to serve in part because he had been serving as a judge pro tem over the last year -- a position for which he was selected by peers in the legal community.

“He has practiced law for nearly two decades in the Inland Empire, which has given him strong community ties and a vast knowledge of the pressing issues in San Bernardino,” McLear said.

Supporters of Pirozzi, a real estate company owner who has been in private practice since 1991 and specializes in real estate law, roundly denounced the release of the rating Monday and said it was based on Pirozzi’s conservative political views.

Former state Sen. Jim Brulte (R-Rancho Cucamonga), who said he recommended Pirozzi’s appointment to the governor, drew parallels between Pirozzi’s “not qualified” rating and that of Janice Rogers Brown, a U.S. Appeals Court judge for the District of Columbia Circuit.

Brown’s nomination to the federal bench touched off a heated controversy in the U.S. Senate -- in part because the California bar committee had rated her unqualified when she was nominated by Gov. Pete Wilson to the California Supreme Court.

Pirozzi “is an activist, conservative Republican who believes in smaller government,” Brulte said. “I believe their [rating] had nothing to do with qualifications to be a judge and had everything to do with his philosophy of government.... Judge Pirozzi is a incredibly talented lawyer.”

Pirozzi, who graduated from Southwestern University School of Law, has run unsuccessfully for Congress three times. In 2004, he lost by a slim margin during the Republican primary in his bid for the 63rd District Assembly seat. Brulte endorsed one of Pirozzi’s opponents, who won.

Fellow Republicans credit Pirozzi, from Rancho Cucamonga, with helping fill the ranks of the party with new voters when he was the chairman of the San Bernardino County Republican Party.

Pirozzi, through his assistant, declined to comment.

Court officials said he had been on the bench for a few weeks and was based at the Chino courthouse, where he had been handling traffic and Small Claims cases, as well as unlawful detainers and some criminal cases.

maeve.reston@latimes.com