In my opening statement before every municipal court session, I preface my remarks by advising my captive audience that what I am about to tell them is largely common sense. Several weeks ago, all municipal and superior court judges attended a mandatory all-day seminar to help us better understand that we need to be very mindful of the words we utter from the bench. Seems like common sense to me. But it seems like a week does not go by where a judge does not make a comment that is, quite frankly, astonishingly inappropriate.

In Recommendation 11, issued by the Supreme Court's Working Group on Municipal Courts, the committee proposed that municipal court judicial candidates be vetted through the county Judicial and Prosecutorial Appointments Committees (JPAC), much like superior court appointments. This too seems like common sense. The need for this additional scrutiny is highlighted by these incidents. And while it will not eliminate ignorant, errant insensitive statements it, obviously, can only help.

In 1969, Richard J. Hughes, then governor of the State of New Jersey, entered into an agreement with the New Jersey State Bar Association. The agreement, commonly referred to as the Hughes Compact, established the Association as the only non-political step in the appointment process. Under the Hughes Compact, the Association agreed to review nominees' qualifications under rules of strict confidentiality and report to the governor whether the candidate was "highly qualified," "qualified" or "not qualified." A subsequent amendment to the Compact eliminated the finding of "highly qualified."

The JPAC manual requires the committee to consider a candidate's integrity, legal knowledge and ability, professional experience, judicial temperament, diligence, physical and mental abilities, financial responsibility and public service. Adding this input from the county JPAC committees will provide the municipalities with a vital tool thereby enhancing their due diligence. While hope springs eternal, I believe that every municipal governing body wants the best qualified candidates. If that is truly the desired goal, then our municipalities should welcome this input.

It will nonetheless be a challenge to convince 551 municipalities to agree to submit prospective candidates to this process. As in 1969, I implore the Association to pick up this mantel. Our Association is no stranger to tackling challenges of such magnitude. Despite a governor who did not respect the need for an independent judiciary, the Association jumped headfirst into the fray, garnering national support and prevailing in the end. If common sense succeeds, and the need for county JPAC committees is presented in the correct light, no municipality can object to hearing from those people who know these candidates best.

Paris P. Eliades is the managing partner of the Eliades Law Firm LLC in Sparta, a municipal court judge in two towns, and a past president of the NJSBA.