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It took his likely removal from office to get Mecklenburg District Judge Bill Belk to resign. But the result is welcome nonetheless. He never should have been elected a judge, and regularly since he got on the bench he has proven why. His childish behavior, lack of judgment and skewed ethical compass illustrated clearly that he's unsuitable to hold the job.
Belk gave no reason for stepping down in the letter he addressed to Carol Swann, the assistant for Chief District Court Judge Lisa Bell. But it doesn't take much pondering to figure out. Belk was fighting misconduct charges and said just a week ago that the N.C. Judicial Standards Commission had recommended his removal from the bench.
What were those misconduct charges?
Belk was accused of violating the state's judicial code of conduct by serving on a corporate board and engaging in an angry confrontation with Bell, his supervisor, after she denied his request for time off to attend a board meeting.
The judicial code prohibits judges' service on business boards to avoid conflicts of interest. But despite several opinions, Belk continued to serve on the board of Sonic Automotive, an act the judicial commission's counsel called "willful disobedience" of rules meant to ensure public trust in the legal system and a "selfish pursuit" of his own interests. (Sonic paid Belk $143,502 in stock and fees in 2008.)
Additionally, at the judicial panel's hearings, Bell cast doubts on Belk's ability to even do the job. "It's difficult to find an assignment for him he's capable of doing competently," she said, citing examples including statutorily inadequate judgments in DWI cases and exceeding the state's guidelines when giving some punishments. All are serious allegations that if true would be costly to taxpayers to rectify and unfair to those seeking justice in our courtrooms.
Belk has said the charges are sour grapes on the part of Bell and others who don't like him and his crusade for judicial reform. But as we said last week, Belk's inappropriate behavior has undercut that valuable reform message. The court system in Mecklenburg and North Carolina is indeed flawed. Change is needed but Bill Belk was a part of the problem, not the solution.
In fact, his candidacy for judge spotlighted one of the judicial reforms needed in North Carolina - appointing judges. Under our system of electing judges, Belk, a wealthy man with name recognition and who never practiced law was able to defeat the judge who angered him by awarding Belk's ex-wife a little more than half their joint estate in a divorce settlement.
As we've said many times, North Carolina should switch to a system in which judges are appointed from a list of candidates chosen by a panel. After a set period of time, voters could then opt to retain or oust the judge. Belk's sad sojourn on the bench illustrates vividly why that change is needed.
Belk was apparently conscientious to people he worked with at the courthouse, as illustrated by this part of his resignation letter. "P.S.," he wrote, "I hope this doesn't cause an inconvenience on scheduling next week."
We wish he had been as conscientious of the voting public and decided not to run last year. But he did, and he won, and it has cost taxpayers time and money to correct the mistake.
Reforms are needed to ensure this calamity doesn't happen again.
