Difference between revisions of "Cobb County - Judicial Misconduct"

Cobb County Superior Court is known as a "Pay-to-Play" judicial system, which by definition is technically a violation of the Georgia Code of Judicial Conduct. What exactly does Pay-to-Play mean in the judicial system context? It means that when a judge has discretion to appoint someone to a paid role (e.g., mediator, Guardian Ad Litem, etc.) in a case, the judge will select an individual that contributes, usually substantially, to the judge's election campaign.

Cobb County Superior Court is known as a "Pay-to-Play" judicial system, which by definition is technically a violation of the Georgia Code of Judicial Conduct. What exactly does Pay-to-Play mean in the judicial system context? It means that when a judge has discretion to appoint someone to a paid role (e.g., mediator, Guardian Ad Litem, etc.) in a case, the judge will select an individual that contributes, usually substantially, to the judge's election campaign.

* List of Cobb County Guardian Ad Litems [[File:GAL_List_2021.pdf]]

* List of Cobb County Guardian Ad Litems [[File:GAL_List_2021.pdf]]

In an article by [https://scalawagmagazine.org/author/arvinddilawar/ Arvin Dilawar] published in 2020 by the SCALAWAG online magazine, Judge Leonard is exposed for appointing a Guardian Ad Litem in 2017 to a child custody case that happened to also be the highest financial donor to his re-election campaign. When one of the parties requested that the Guardian be removed from the case, Judge Leonard required that the requesting party pay to the Guardian the full amount billed by the Guardian which totaled $12,350.00, despite the fact the Guardian failed to complete work worth that amount of pay.<ref>[https://scalawagmagazine.org/2020/07/georgia-guardian-ad-litem-accountability/ ''How Georgia's court-appointed advocates are failing children and parents'' (2020), scalawagmagazine.org]</ref>

In an article by [https://scalawagmagazine.org/author/arvinddilawar/ Arvin Dilawar] published in 2020 by the SCALAWAG online magazine, Judge Leonard is exposed for appointing a Guardian Ad Litem in 2017 to a child custody case that happened to also be the highest financial donor to his re-election campaign. When one of the parties requested that the Guardian be removed from the case, Judge Leonard required that the requesting party pay to the Guardian the full amount billed by the Guardian which totaled $12,350.00, despite the fact the Guardian failed to complete work worth that amount of pay.<ref>[https://scalawagmagazine.org/2020/07/georgia-guardian-ad-litem-accountability/ ''How Georgia's court-appointed advocates are failing children and parents'' (2020), scalawagmagazine.org]</ref>