SANFORD APPOINTEE BANNED FROM BENCH FOR RACIAL REMARK

The Associated Press has breaking news that Former Beaufort County Magistrate George Peter Lamb has been banned from the bench by the South Carolina Supreme Court after calling crack cocaine addiction a “black man’s disease.”

According to the AP, Lamb, who is white, accepted the punishment and resigned before the order was issued. But that comment wasn’t the only strike against Lamb.

The justices’ ruling outlined problems with Lamb that included behavior toward female employees that the high court said could have been considered inappropriate and the judge incorrectly telling a defendant at a bond hearing the penalty he could face if convicted. [...]

Lamb is a lawyer who served on Beaufort County Council until 2006, when Republican Gov. Mark Sanford appointed him a part-time magistrate.

Lamb was publicly reprimanded by the state Supreme Court, which said it was the harshest punishment it could issue since he had resigned as judge. Lamb agreed to not seek any judicial position in the state without first getting written permission from the state’s high court, effectively banning him from the bench. [JEFFREY COLLINS - AP]

This debacle hits the same month as FITSNews and others have begun shedding light on the serious problems with our state’s magistrate appointment structure and the absurd amount of control lawmakers have in determining the fate of the judges, who are appointed to four year terms and confirmed by the Senate. While that story isn’t a full blown “scandal,” it will be inevitably once there is a sexy enough instance of nepotism, corruption or wrongdoings.