Judge Hastings made some news in the last day by striking down part of the Obama health care bill. I'm not sure what part he didn't like or why other than it was the part about "making people buy health insurance". That is a good point I guess.
Normally I'd defer to a judge but then I got interested in him a bit and found Judge Hudson has invested about 50 grand in a firm called Campaign Solutions in which he has made his money back and then some in the past half dozen years. Again, good for him.
Campaign Solutions seems to be pretty good too. They advised the Virginia Attorney General, a guy named Cuccinelli, and got him elected. He was the guy, incidentally, who brought the suit that we are talking about. Campaign Solutions also was a pretty tough bunch lobbyists in opposition to the health care bill and lobbied very hard against it - making more money and rewarding the judge.
No individual is a bad actor here. Lobbying is fine and legal. Helping in an election is good too. It is the American way. Making a profit is what investing is all about so we are good to go here. Oh, I forgot. The judge, he is a bad actor.
Not disclosing the relationships, however, Judge Hudson DO YOU HEAR ME JUDGE HUDSON and perhaps getting out of way of this one would have been prudent. If you serve on a jury you are almost always asked if you know the defendant or the prosecutor or any of the parties and you are generally stricken from the jury pool as a result. But no...and DO YOU HEAR ME JUDGE HUDSON - you are in a mess now and it is gonna get worse because the press smells blood and they are going to be looking in your sock drawer.