THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, November 2, 1995 TAG: 9511020001
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Long : 205 lines
The job of clerk of Norfolk's Circuit Court pays some $90,000 a year, plus benefits and retirement. The qualifications for it are, at bottom, the ability to persuade, first, enough party members to give you the party nomination for clerk, and then enough voters to give you the job.
At least that's the way it's been in times past. That's the way it will be again if City Councilman Randy Wright wins and his Republican challenger, attorney Al Teich, loses on Nov. 7.
Welcome progress has been made in moving the job of clerk (and of other ``constitutional officers'') from being a way to reward good men who've come to the aid of their party, or to sidetrack men who've outlived their usefulness in higher-profile positions, or to tempt men out of elected positions the party would rather fill with someone more to its liking. Any or all may apply in this case. Councilman Wright has been a populist on council, occasionally suiting his constituents more than his council colleagues. That can be a useful role on council. The fact is, however, that the clerk's job requires an increasing degree of expertise and professionalism. So does public confidence in the court system.
Mr. Wright is running on the Democratic ticket, thanks to the decision of party honchos last Feburary to jettison the longtime Democratic incumbent, Bill Ryan. Their decision came as a surprise to Mr. Ryan, who agreed not to oppose Mr. Wright for the nomination if Mr. Wright would promise to keep the current clerk's office staff. That, of course, would benefit Mr. Wright: Having no experience with the myriad duties of the Circuit Court clerk, he would have to rely heavily on staff. And having said that he would like to make the job of clerk more community active than it has been of late, Mr. Wright would have to have someone back at the office performing the clerk's myriad essential duties.
Those duties are not just a matter of the good business sense small businessmen can gain from their private endeavors. Many matters for which the clerk is responsible require both a knowledge of law and an excellence of judgment that Mr. Teich's experience - as an attorney, former state legislator and former professor of business law at Old Dominion University - provides him and Mr. Wright's does not. Mr. Wright lacks the preferable legal knowledge. And his practice of hawking his private printing business on the back of his official City Council business card (see below) raises a question about his judgment: Can he distinguish what is best for Randy Wright from what is best for the office he holds?
``I'm not a politician, he is,'' Democrat Ryan said of Randy Wright after the party had shifted the nomination. ``If you want a politician in the clerk's office, he's your man.'' Mr. Wright has won political office; to many of his constituents, he has as councilman served them well and will continue to do so. But in the person of the clerk of court, the public is paying $90,000-plus a year for an excellent clerk of court, not for a populist or party politician. Mr. Ryan does not want a politician in the office to which he dedicated years of his life, so Democrat Ryan supports Republican Teich.
We too urge Norfolk voters, who are paying $90,000-plus a year for an excellent clerk of court, not for a politician, to support Al Teich.
The job of clerk of Norfolk's Circuit Court pays some $90,000 a year, plus benefits and retirement. The qualifications for it are, at bottom, the ability to persuade, first, enough party members to give you the party nomination for clerk, and then enough voters to give you the job.
At least that's the way it's been in times past. That's the way it will be again if City Councilman Randy Wright wins and his Republican challenger, attorney Al Teich, loses on Nov. 7.
Welcome progress has been made in moving the job of clerk (and of other ``constitutional officers'') from being a way to reward good men who've come to the aid of their party, or to sidetrack men who've outlived their usefulness in higher-profile positions, or to tempt men out of elected positions the party would rather fill with someone more to its liking. Any or all may apply in this case. Councilman Wright has been a populist on council, occasionally suiting his constituents more than his council colleagues. That can be a useful role on council. The fact is, however, that the clerk's job requires an increasing degree of expertise and professionalism.
Mr. Wright is running on the Democratic ticket, thanks to the decision of party honchos last Feburary to jettison the longtime Democratic incumbent, Bill Ryan. Their decision came as a surprise to Mr. Ryan, who agreed not to oppose Mr. Wright for the nomination if Mr. Wright would promise to keep the current clerk's office staff. That, of course, would benefit Mr. Wright: Having no experience with the myriad duties of the Circuit Court clerk, he would have to rely heavily on staff. And having said that he would like to make the job of clerk more community active than it has been of late, Mr. Wright would have to have someone back at the office performing the clerk's myriad essential duties.
Those duties are not just a matter of the good business sense small businessmen can gain from their private endeavors. Many matters for which the clerk is responsible require both a knowledge of law and an excellence of judgment that Mr. Teich's experience - as an attorney, former state legislator and former professor of business law at Old Dominion University - provides him and Mr. Wright's does not. Mr. Wright lacks the preferable legal knowledge. And his practice of hawking his private printing business on the back of his official City Council business card (see below) raises a question about his judgment: Can he distinguish what is best for Randy Wright from what is best for the office he holds?
``I'm not a politician, he is,'' Democrat Ryan said of Randy Wright after the party had shifted the nomination. ``If you want a politician in the clerk's office, he's your man.'' Mr. Wright has won political office; many of his constituents believe he has served them well as councilman and will continue to do so. But in the person of the clerk of court, the public is paying $90,000-plus a year for an excellent clerk of court, not for a populist or party politician. Mr. Ryan does not want a politician in the office to which he dedicated years of his life, so Democrat Ryan supports Republican Teich.
We too urge Norfolk voters, who are paying $90,000-plus a year for an excellent clerk of court, not for a politician, to support Al Teich.
The job of clerk of Norfolk's Circuit Court pays $92,755 a year, plus benefits and retirement. The qualifications for it are, at bottom, the ability to persuade, first, enough party members to give you the party nomination for clerk, and then enough voters to give you the job.
At least that's the way it's been in times past. That's the way it will be again if City Councilman Randy Wright wins and his Republican challenger, attorney Al Teich, loses on Nov. 7.
Welcome progress has been made in moving the job of clerk (and of other ``constitutional officers'') from being a way to reward good men who've come to the aid of their party, or to sidetrack men who've outlived their usefulness in higher-profile positions, or to tempt men out of elected positions the party would rather fill with someone more to its liking. Any or all may apply in this case. Councilman Wright has been a populist on council, occasionally suiting his constituents more than his council colleagues. That can be a useful role on council. The fact is, however, that the clerk's job requires an increasing degree of expertise and professionalism.
Mr. Wright is running on the Democratic ticket, thanks to the decision of party honchos last Feburary to jettison the longtime Democratic incumbent, Bill Ryan. Their decision came as a surprise to Mr. Ryan, who agreed not to oppose Mr. Wright for the nomination if Mr. Wright would promise to keep the current clerk's office staff. That, of course, would benefit Mr. Wright: Having no experience with the myriad duties of the Circuit Court clerk, he would have to rely heavily on staff. And having said that he would like to make the job of clerk more community active than it has been of late, Mr. Wright would have to have someone back at the office performing the clerk's myriad essential duties.
Those duties are not just a matter of the good business sense small businessmen can gain from their private endeavors. Many matters for which the clerk is responsible require both a knowledge of law and an excellence of judgment that Mr. Teich's experience - as an attorney, former state legislator and former professor of business law at Old Dominion University - provides him and Mr. Wright's does not. Mr. Wright lacks the preferable legal knowledge. And his practice of hawking his private printing business on the back of his official City Council business card (see below) raises a question about his judgment: Can he distinguish what is best for Randy Wright from what is best for the office he holds?
``I'm not a politician, he is,'' Democrat Ryan said of Randy Wright after the party had shifted the nomination. ``If you want a politician in the clerk's office, he's your man.'' Mr. Wright has won political office; many of his constituents believe he has served them well as councilman and will continue to do so. But in the person of the clerk of court, the public is paying $90,000-plus a year for an excellent clerk of court, not for a populist or party politician. Mr. Ryan does not want a politician in the office to which he dedicated years of his life, so Democrat Ryan supports Republican Teich.
We too urge Norfolk voters, who are now paying $90,000-plus a year for an excellent clerk of court, not for a politician, to support Al Teich.
The job of clerk of Norfolk's Circuit Court pays $92,755 a year, plus benefits and retirement. The qualifications for it are, at bottom, the ability to persuade, first, enough party members to give you the party nomination for clerk, and then enough voters to give you the job.
At least that's the way it's been in times past. That's the way it will be again if City Councilman Randy Wright wins and his Republican challenger, attorney Al Teich, loses on Nov. 7.
Welcome progress has been made in moving the job of clerk (and of other ``constitutional officers'') from being a way to reward good men who've come to the aid of their party, or to sidetrack men who've outlived their usefulness in higher-profile positions, or to tempt men out of elected positions the party would rather fill with someone more to its liking. Any or all may apply in this case. Councilman Wright has been a populist on council, occasionally suiting his constituents more than his council colleagues. That can be a useful role on council. The fact is, however, that the clerk's job requires an increasing degree of expertise and professionalism.
Mr. Wright is running on the Democratic ticket, thanks to the decision of party honchos last Feburary to jettison the longtime Democratic incumbent, Bill Ryan. Their decision came as a surprise to Mr. Ryan, who agreed not to oppose Mr. Wright for the nomination if Mr. Wright would promise to keep the current clerk's office staff. That, of course, would benefit Mr. Wright: Having no experience with the myriad duties of the Circuit Court clerk, he would have to rely heavily on staff. And having said that he would like to make the job of clerk more community active than it has been of late, Mr. Wright would have to have someone back at the office performing the clerk's myriad essential duties.
Those duties are not just a matter of the good business sense small businessmen can gain from their private endeavors. Many matters for which the clerk is responsible require both a knowledge of law and an excellence of judgment that Mr. Teich's experience - as an attorney, former state legislator and former professor of business law at Old Dominion University - provides him and Mr. Wright's does not. Mr. Wright lacks the preferable legal knowledge. And his practice of hawking his private printing business on the back of his official City Council business card (see below) raises a question about his judgment: Can he distinguish what is best for Randy Wright from what is best for the office he holds?
``I'm not a politician, he is,'' Democrat Ryan said of Randy Wright after the party had shifted the nomination. ``If you want a politician in the clerk's office, he's your man.'' Mr. Wright has won political office; many of his constituents believe he has served them well as councilman and will continue to do so. But in the person of the clerk of court, the public is paying $90,000-plus a year for an excellent clerk of court, not for a populist or party politician. Mr. Ryan does not want a politician in the office to which he dedicated years of his life, so Democrat Ryan supports Republican Teich.
We too urge Norfolk voters, who are now paying $90,000-plus a year for an excellent clerk of court, not for a politician, to support Al Teich.
KEYWORDS: ENDORSEMENT ELECTION NORFOLK ELECTION
VIRGINIA NORFOLK CLERK OF COURT RACE by CNB