Husband of state Supreme Court Justice Gurich wrote advocacy memo using state email
Published: October 9th, 2012
OKLAHOMA CITY – A state government employee who used his state email account to advocate retention of all 12 members of the state judiciary facing retention votes in November, is the husband of Supreme Court Justice Noma Gurich, CapitolBeatOK has learned.
In an email to 125 individuals both inside and outside of government, dated October 1, John Miley called for recipients to vote yes for retention of the four Supreme Court justices, three criminal appeals judges and five civil appeals judges. Miley works at the Oklahoma Employment Securities Commission (OESC) in Oklahoma City.
Stuart Jolly, director of the conservative Americans for Prosperity, Oklahoma chapter, told CapitolBeatOK, “This appears to be yet another case of a public employee using public time and resources to improperly electioneer. The severity of this problem clearly hinges on what, if anything, improper was in the email. It would be appropriate for an investigation to ensure no public time or funds were misused.”
Popular retention votes for the court are customarily routine, with “yes” majorities of two-to-one or stronger the norm. All appellate court judges in Oklahoma are subject to yes/no retention votes every six years. Newly appointed justices stand for retention at the earliest possible statewide election after their initial appointments.
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Twitter: @capitolbeatok.