The Honorable Steven Fagenstrom

The voters spoke. Steven Fagenstrom won the election. He now must live up not only to the canons, but also to the public scrutiny. I expect that the supporters of Sam Harris will be hard on him. But that should not be his concern. The public who voted for him, especially readers of Electric City Weblog, will be watching more closely, and be more demanding.

Many of us saw that the Justice Court had problems. It appeared to be becoming less and less of a people's court, where regular folks had a fair shake. But it took a long time to act, too long to speak out. Sam Harris thought he was doing the public good, and even though many disagreed, he was allowed to follow his path for years. I believe that he took the silence as tacit consent for his actions, which encouraged him to get further out of synch with what we expected.

We helped create the situation by not paying attention, not speaking out. That will create a backlash, a swing to the other extreme. Good luck, Judge Fagenstrom. Judge Harris is out from under the microscope, but you are not. Your scrutiny is just beginning.