Trending
CHARLESTON -- A judicial disciplinary board is calling for the Nicholas County circuit judge-elect to be punished for sending out campaign fliers suggesting that his opponent had partied with President Barack Obama.
The state Judicial Hearing Board recommended Tuesday that the West Virginia Supreme Court bar Judge-elect Stephen Callaghan from taking the bench for a year and suspend him from practicing law for a year, The Charleston Gazette-Mail reported.
Callaghan, a Summersville lawyer, defeated longtime Nicholas Circuit Judge Gary Johnson by 220 votes in May.
The state Judicial Investigation Commission filed ethics charges after the election and said the fliers were created to "deceive voters into believing that (Johnson and Obama) were drinking beer and partying at the White House while conniving with one another to kill coal mining jobs in Nicholas County."
Justices should also order Callaghan to pay $15,000 and pay for the cost of the proceedings against him, the hearing board's Tuesday filing also stated.
Charleston lawyer Lonnie Simmons, who represents Callaghan, has said his client didn't make false or misleading statements about Johnson.
Callaghan has filed a lawsuit in federal court against the Judicial Disciplinary Counsel officials accusing him of misconduct. He has asked U.S. District Judge Thomas Johnston to put a stop to the disciplinary case against him and find that the ethics charges he faces violate his First Amendment rights.