After sorting through all the reporting and letters and findings, this is my synopsis of events in the Blount Co Circuit Court.

What seems strange to me is that none of the Republicans seem to care that Young falsely charged Meares with being behind on his caseload. Has Hatcher or Young apologized, and I just missed it? In David Black's long letter, I see no concern for whether Meares had been falsely accused.

Random fact that didn't fit: Duggan wrote last August that the Local Rules should be revisited. The bar could have resolved the matter long before election season if they took it up when Meares and Duggan were saying they should, but they dragged it in instead.

UPDATE:

• Maryville Daily Times

• Knoxville News Sentinel

• Blount Today

Previously...

In case you were wondering what all this "Judge Meares stuff" was about, here is the official finding of fact with regard to statements made to the local media about Blount County court rules and the statistical reporting of case dispositions.

It's some very interesting reading, in terms of all the misinformation being tossed around from another judge, the court clerk, and local lawyers, and I don't have time to summarize it for you right now. Better to read the whole thing and judge for yourself.

You probably won't read about it in the papers, unless the Knoxville paper decides to distort it for the benefit of the local political bosses.

If you're just looking for the bottom line, here it is...

According to the Maryville Daily Times, the Tennessee Court of the Judiciary is looking in to questions about recordkeeping, the disposition of cases and issues related to local court rules. The questions were raised by Judge Mike Meares after another judge wrote a letter to the editor with confusing information about the disposition and assignment of cases.

The scope of the investigation is not clear from the article. It says there is "apparently" an investigation, and some witnesses were "reportedly" questioned, and that there "appears" to be a dispute regarding court administration.

The latest Blount Co. GOP dispatch to the Knoxville News Sentinel is puzzling. Judge Young sounds like he's running for something. I thought the race was between Meares and Duggan?

A reader alerts us that Blount County Circuit Court Clerk Tom Hatcher will appear before Blount County Judge Mike Meares on Wednesday afternoon at 1:30 p.m. to discuss discrepancies in statistical court reporting between Blount County and the State of Tennessee.

Hatcher reportedly provided erroneous information to Blount County Judge W. Dale Young, which was later used in a letter to the editor published in a local newspaper. The letter to the editor, dated April 27 from Young, charged that there was a significant "backlog" of cases before Judge Mike Meares. Later, it was discovered that some of those cases had been closed but, according to Hatcher, were "lost in the mail."

Should be interesting.

Related

The Blount GOP appears to have the Knoxville News Sentinel's Blount County stringer on their fax speed dial, given the number of dispatches about Judge Meares lately. And apparently, Judge Meares either a) doesn't have a sympathetic ear in the media, or b) is less concerned about the political spin cycle and more concerned about doing his job.

I don't speak for Judge Meares, and I don't pretend to know what he's thinking. But reading between the slanted lines of recent reporting, anyone paying attention might conclude that:

• His opponent's handlers, who include prominent local Republicans, a sitting Republican judge, and lawyers simultaneously representing the county's top GOP official and the local newspaper, have made various unfounded accusations against Judge Meares in print and in letters to the editor, not to mention floating an unsubstantiated "whisper campaign" in the Knoxville paper, and…

• Judge Meares has probably tried (just surmising here) to talk to these people directly to resolve any concerns about the operation of Blount Co. courts and has most likely run into a brick wall because they won't return his calls, and…

• Judge Meares, believing it incumbent upon himself as an officer of the court who is sworn to uphold his duties and protect the integrity of the court he serves (just surmising here, again), took what some might consider drastic action to get answers about whether the procedures and rules are being followed and whether in fact rules about making the rules are being followed.

As reward for trying to actually do his job when no one else will, Judge Meares has now been accused of playing politics from the bench.

This is "swiftboating," pure and simple. It's an attempt to twist a candidate's virtues into political liabilities for purposes of winning an election at any cost. The irony is that it's being done by people who value desperate partisan politics over virtue and the public trust.

Personally, I don't think selection of Tennessee's local judiciary should be determined by partisan elections. Or maybe even elections at all. But that's neither here nor there, because it is what it is and here we are.

I also think that Judge Meares' opponent is probably a good guy, and maybe even marginally qualified for Circuit Court Judge. But I wonder if he really wants to get dragged down into all this partisan mudslinging at the hands of his handlers.

My guess is that both candidates would rather run on their records and let voters decide who is more qualified and more experienced. Informed voters who look past partisan politics and media spin should be able to come to their own conclusions.

The only thing I would add is that Judge Meares has repeatedly said there's no place for politics in the courtroom. His opponent, however, is running ads in the local paper saying that he's the "Republican candidate" and that people in the community "share his values."

Maybe I missed something in high school civics class, but the only values anyone should care about regarding judges charged with dispensing "equal justice for all" are a) upholding the Constitutions of the State of Tennessee and the United States of America as they are sworn to do, b) having an extensive knowledge of the law and its application, and c) ensuring that everyone appearing in their court gets a fair trial. Are there some other "values" I'm missing? Surely the Blount GOP is not suggesting that local judges should be "legislating from the bench" in deference to the political whims of the electorate?

And as far as any controversy surrounding accurate reporting of case dispositions, I would only add that the "explanations" offered by the County Court Clerk, an elected Republican who has been involved in a number of controversies, are laughable.

Blount Co. voters ought to be asking about all these mistakes and inefficiencies and scandals and politics that plague our Blount Co. courts, where judges are just trying to come to work and do their jobs every day free from political influence and interference. Voters should also be asking who has what agenda and who is more credible, instead of who is the Democrat and who is the Republican. And more important, they should be asking themselves whose values they really share.

Once again, I do not speak for Judge Meares, and have had little contact with him or his campaign other than meeting him at a few campaign events and knowing one of his campaign people who I trust and respect. In fact, his campaign didn't reply to my email regarding questions about all this. I take that as a sign that Judge Meares is busy being a judge, as opposed to getting dragged down into local partisan politics and the mud being slung by the Blount GOP.