Gary Kreep clinches win for judge -- UT San Diego, CA

[bsteadman]

Gary Kreep clinches win for judge

San Diego Union-Tribune
Greg Moran
6/19/2012

Excerpt:

"SAN DIEGO — Ramona lawyer and conservative legal advocate Gary Kreep, nationally know for challenging the legitimacy of President Barack Obama’s birth certificate, has clinched a seat on the San Diego Superior Court.

Kreep led Deputy District Attorney Garland Peed by 1,569 votes Tuesday, with 1,000 ballots left to count from the June 5 election.

Kreep and his public-interest law firm, U.S. Justice Foundation, have gained national attention for taking on high-profile cases over the past three decades. In addition to what’s become known as the “birther” case involving Obama, he was the lawyer this year for a Camp Pendleton Marine sergeant who was discharged from the corps for criticizing the president on Facebook.

He was also the lawyer for an anti-abortion group in Nevada that attempted to get an initiative on the ballot this year declaring human life begins at conception. A judge struck down the petition because it was too vague.

Kreep, 61, recognizes his legal work has brought scorn in some quarters but said it cuts both ways.

“Look, a lot of people may disagree with the cases I take,” he said. “But there are a lot of people who admire me for taking on those same cases.”

As a judge, he said, he will rule based on the law and not his own views.

He was elected to a six-year term and will earn $178,789 a year. He said he hopes to be assigned to a family law court.

In the past, Kreep’s foundation has been involved in same-sex marriage legal fights, suing in 2008 to block gender-neutral marriage licenses in California from being issued.

The foundation also serves as legal counsel for the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, which works to stop people from illegally crossing into the United States. In 2009, Kreep also sued Caltrans on behalf of the San Diego Minutemen over the agency backing out of an agreement to give the group an Adopt-A-Highway sign near the San Clemente border checkpoint. The state settled by agreeing to allow the sign and paying $157,500.

Kreep will now be in the spotlight as a judge, sure to be scrutinized for any indication that his conservative legal views are playing into his judicial decisions.

Nationally, critics have questioned his work on the lawsuit challenging Obama’s birth certificate because almost all experts agree the president was born in the U.S.

During the judicial campaign, when asked if he thinks Obama’s presidency is legitimate, he said, “I have sincere doubts.”

His win is a significant upset in the local legal establishment. Peed, a deputy district attorney for 27 years, had the backing of major law enforcement unions and most of the Superior Court judges. Historically, being a prosecutor with the support of police unions and sitting judges has meant an easy win in judicial elections.

Kreep’s victory may signal “a realignment of that whole dynamic,” said John Dadian, a Republican political consultant not involved in the judicial races.
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View the complete article at:

http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/...win-for-judge/

[bsteadman]

Eligibility Attorney Gary Kreep Wins California Election For Superior Court Judge

Birther Report
6/19/2012

"SAN DIEGO — Gary Kreep, a Ramona lawyer who has long worked on controversial conservative legal causes such as challenging President Barack Obama's birth certificate, clinched a win for a seat on the San Diego Superior Court Tuesday.

Kreep, 61, has a lead of 1,569 votes over veteran prosecutor Garland Peed. There are 1,000 ballots left to count, meaning there is no way Peed can catch Kreep.

"I feel very blessed," Kreep, a devout Christan, said. "I'm extremely gratified by all the people who stuck their neck out to vote for me."

View the complete Birther Report presentation, including video, at:

http://obamareleaseyourrecords.blogs...reep-wins.html

[bsteadman]

How San Diego Elected a 'Birther' Judge

Voice of San Diego
Keegan Kyle
6/27/2012

Excerpts:

"One of the most intriguing results from the June 5 election involved two candidates for San Diego Superior Court judge: Gary Kreep and Garland Peed.

Kreep, a constitutional law attorney and head of a nonprofit legal foundation, narrowly defeated Peed, a 27-year county prosecutor. The countywide result came down to less than 2,000 votes.

Judicial elections typically receive little public attention, but Kreep's victory attracted national scrutiny because he is prominent advocate for the “birther movement,” which claims President Barack Obama was not born in the United States. Kreep has participated in commercials questioning Obama's eligibility for office.

The two candidates' last names have also drawn a fair amount of snickering and mockery. MSNBC's Rachel Maddow, for example, struggled to discuss the election on her June 7 show while trying to retain her composure. Still laughing, she wiped tears from her eyes at the end of the segment.

Together, these factors have fed speculation that the roughly 400,000 people who voted in the election were ill-informed and randomly picked candidates based on their names. Had voters been adequately informed about Kreep's background, the argument went, his opponent would've won.

"I doubt that more than a handful had any idea who he was when they marked their ballots," wrote Andy Cohen for the San Diego Free Press, a progressive news website. "More likely the voters saw his funny name and thought it would be a riot to put a guy named 'Kreep' onto the bench."

In an editorial, the alt-weekly San Diego CityBeat directly chastised county voters for supporting Kreep. It wrote, "Did you really think he was the best man for the job? Or did you choose him because his last name tickled your fancy?"
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"[They] said today my election is the reason people shouldn't be allowed to vote for judges," Kreep said. "The liberal elitist establishment believes that the common people are too stupid to make the decisions."

Instead, Kreep told Ramona Patch last week, his victory should be attributed to his campaign strategy. He purchased a "tremendous amount" of slate mailers from various organizations and robo-calls to voters. (He spent $14,000, CityBeat reported.)

It's impossible to measure whether the names greatly influenced the election's outcome without exit polling, but I decided to examine precinct results for any indication of a discernible pattern. The map below shows who won each precinct, according to unofficial results released by county election officials.

The map doesn't show a random pattern but rather a clear geographic divide between rural and urban parts of the county.

My takeaway? The results undermine the idea that many voters randomly selected the candidates based on their last names. If that factor had been widespread, a very distinct and bizarre difference exists between what urban and more rural voters find funnier. - (bold emphasis added in the preceding two paragraphs)

At first glance, the geographic divide appears to follow a more historic split between conservative and liberal voters, but party affiliation doesn't appear to be a consistent indicator in this case. (See this U-T San Diego map of party registration for reference.)

Peed, for example, won precincts with some of the highest concentrations of registered Republicans (like Point Loma and Rancho Bernardo) as well as areas dense with registered Democrats (like Hillcrest and North Park).

Kreep's support also extended beyond rural areas historically won by Republican candidates. Much of the South Bay, where a majority of registered voters are Democrats, backed Kreep for judge. - (bold emphasis added)
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View the complete article at:

http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/gover...9bb2963f4.html