As she dodges and ducks the press in Oklahoma City, the wheels are coming off the thinly veiled attempt by Judge Vicki Robertson to punish Judge Bill Graves for opposing the Oklahoma Bar Association’s effort to implement the American Bar Association’s new code of judicial conduct. Graves has taken a public stance against the aspect of the ABA regarding gays.

Virtually all courthouse observers believe Robertson is punishing Graves, but she is avoiding the press and sticking to her fairy tale. The question is, why?

One observer says Robertson has something to hide. “Nobody believes her story: not the press, not the other judges and not the lawyers that practice before her. It’s the worst lie since ‘I did not have sex with that woman.”

“These policies are not based on laws enacted by Congress or the State Legislature, but on proposals of the liberal, pro-homosexual American Bar Association.”- Oklahoma City District Judge Bill Graves

Some well placed sources believe that Robertson may have been responding to pressure from an unnamed Oklahoma State Supreme Court Justice to move Graves. Another believes that it’s simple bigotry, and that Robertson has a personal ax to grind with Graves. Still another thinks the removal of Graves may be linked to the upcoming ‘Oklahoma 3′ trials. While everybody we’ve spoken to doubts the veracity of Robertson’s public line, nobody believes she has made her decision on the only other reasonable explanation: that she’s an incompetent manager.

So we’re left to ponder the reason Robertson has thrown the courthouse into chaos. While dodging the press in Oklahoma is easy to do, it makes for bad public policy. Unfortunately, people like Judge Robertson have seen folks like Mike Turpen, Brad Henry and Harry Coates successfully avoid public accountability by relying on the incompetent press corps to drop the ball, and that encourages others to do the same.

Regardless, Judge Robertson has some explaining to do.

Related:

The Bill Kumpe Blog: Judge Graves Concerned About Homosexual Agenda In Changes to Code of Judicial Conduct