an Diego County Superior Court Judge Judith McConnell can't seem to get a break.
When she was nominated for the federal bench in 1994, conservatives howled so loudly about her ruling in a 1987 gay guardianship case that she had to withdraw her name. And now that she's in the running for a seat on the state appeal court, another possible roadblock -- though likely nothing more than a bump in the road -- has emerged.
Carla DiMare, an attorney in Del Mar's Flynn, Sheridan & Stillman, is planning to appear at McConnell's confirmation hearing in Los Angeles Wednesday to accuse the judge of corruption, judicial misconduct and cronyism.
"To elevate [McConnell]," DiMare wrote the state's Commission on Judicial Appointments, "would be a tragedy for the state of California."
In the past few years, DiMare represented New Age guru and best-selling author Deepak Chopra in a series of cases in San Diego County Superior Court, at least four of which ended up in front of McConnell. Chopra and DiMare claimed that the cases -- including one in which employees at Chopra's San Diego-based wellness center were accused of sexual harassment -- went against them because of alleged bias by McConnell and other judges toward hometown law firms.
"I believe Deepak is being used by God," DiMare told reporters last year, "to expose the corruption in the San Diego judicial system." For his part, Chopra vowed to "get Judge Judith McConnell in the end."
All of Chopra's allegations were subsequently found groundless on appeal, supporters say, and DiMare is the only person speaking Wednesday in opposition to McConnell's elevation to the Fourth District Court of Appeal.
"Although I know I will be further retaliated against if I testify and continue to practice law in San Diego," she wrote in her letter, "I also know that the only way to rid the system of the bad judges is for attorneys to come forward to identify them."
Kathryn Karcher, a partner in the San Diego office of Gray Cary Ware & Freidenrich -- one of the firms McConnell allegedly favored - plans to rebut DiMare by noting that neither she nor anyone in her firm has ever had a social relationship with McConnell.
"I would be personally surprised," Karcher said Monday, "if [DiMare's comments] could be an impediment to Judge McConnell's nomination."
She's probably correct. The State Bar's Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation rated McConnell well qualified, calling her, among other things, "intelligent, hard working and courageous in ruling on difficult issues." And commission hearings, though occasionally contentious, are rarely fatal for appointees.
Letters of support have poured in to the Commission on Judicial Appointments -- consisting of Chief Justice Ronald George, Attorney General Bill Lockyer and Fourth District Court of Appeal Justice Daniel Kremer -- from lawyers, judges and even peace officers. In addition, those speaking in McConnell's support Wednesday include San Diego County Superior Court Presiding Judge Wayne Peterson; Fourth District Justice Richard Huffman; State Bar Governor Judith Copeland, a partner at San Diego's Copeland & Tierman; and possibly Lynn Schenk, Gov. Gray Davis' chief of staff.
In a letter mailed to the Commission on Judicial Appointments last week, McConnell denied all the "false charges" made by DiMare. She rebutted specific allegations that she had been the target of federal and state corruption investigations and noted that she had disclosed stock in a company in which a board member was also before her in court.
McConnell also noted that she recused herself from one Chopra case the day trial was to begin because of a constant barrage of personal attacks.
"Ms. DiMare's conduct, as well as the conduct of members of her firm, was extremely disrespectful, hostile and unrelenting," she wrote, adding that DiMare "continued to personally attack every subsequent judge assigned to the case."
McConnell's nomination to the federal bench was derailed after conservatives lambasted her 1987 decision to grant a gay man guardianship over his deceased partner's teen-age son, rather than give custody to the natural mother.
