One thing leads to another, and suddenly, hundreds of miles away, I’m following Perry County politics. Today’s Indiana Law Blog picks up a story from the Perry County News reporting that, for the first time “in decades,” Perry County voters will have a primary contest to decide in the race for Circuit Court judge. Incumbent Democratic Judge James McEntarfer will face Lucy Goffinet who is currently the Deputy County Prosecutor.
For some reason the name “Goffinet” rang a bell, so I ran a search on my blog and found that Chris Goffinet is the Perry County attorney and presumably advised them on the legality of adopting the Certificate of Need ordinance of which I have been so critical. (Quick background: Perry County adopted an ordinance which had already been declared illegal when adopted in Morgan County. Goffinet said they were aware of the court ruling but their ordinance was drafted narrowly enough to withstand challenge. I strongly disagree with that assertion.)
Goffinet is an unusual enough name that I am going to guess that Lucy and Chris are related. Husband-wife? Father-daughter? I don’t really know. But, hypothetically, if they are husband and wife, and someone wants to challenge the Certificate of Need ordinance, will Judge Goffinet have to recuse herself because Attorney Goffinet is the County Attorney? Will she have to recuse herself in every suit in which the county is involved? Yahoo Maps tells me its 213 miles from my office to Tell City, so why am I bothering with this post? Good questions all.
Ms. Goffinet is married to the brother of the attorney in question. “Goffinet” is Perry County’s “Smith”. Perry County politics is a fascinating subject. I have been here almost five years, and still miss most of the little subplots.