OPINION
Dear Friends,
I’ve been seeing ads in Delaware newspapers over the past month or so, and folks as I read them, I shake my head thinking, has it really been six years since Andre Bouchard took over the once-prestigious Chancery Court? Feels like 12 years of going backward since he took over. You’ll see in the ad below that the Center for Public Integrity ranked Delaware 48th out of 50 states for transparency and accountability, saying “judges are allowed to set their own open records rules, and dole out punishment among judicial ranks in a system that operates almost completely behind closed doors.”
And now, I look at how Chancery Court Chancellor Andre Bouchard has, in my view, somehow been dragging out one of his first cases, after taking the bench. The TransPerfect case seemingly has been milked on and on out of millions for his old pals at law firm Skadden Arps! I think to myself, how is this happening?! Is Bouchard angry or hellbent on revenge? You may see that anger when you look at his recent orders in the case, possibly because TransPerfect employees successfully helped lobby and make the Delaware Supreme Court more diverse? That happened after Tamika Montgomery-Reeves got the job on the Delaware Supreme Court, a job that Bouchard publicly applied for, and my guess is, he thought he was a shoo-in because he was already the sitting Chancellor.
In applying for that spot, and hoping to defeat Montgomery-Reeves for his own personal gain, I believe that Bouchard once again proved himself to be a man of deplorable character, and unfit for his position. Bouchard falsely trumpets diversity, except when it comes to the Delaware Supreme Court; oh and his own Chancery Court. What did Bouchard do when the one African American judge on Chancery got the open position on the Supreme Court instead of him? His response was to replace her with, who I view, as another rich, male, Country Club pal, Paul Fioravanti.
Bouchard constantly raises the bar on the deplorable hypocrisy of Limousine Liberals, and it somehow always favors his cronies.
It is completely obvious to me in his angry and capricious decisions, that he squarely blames TransPerfectfor his being overlooked for the open spot on the Delaware Supreme Court, and the embarrassment of applying for a job openly and then being rejected. The establishment will never admit it, but it was TransPerfect employees who lobbied intensely to win diversity on the court. Should those workers now face his wrath forever?
It is clear to me that Bouchard is just hellbent on revenge against TransPerfect for costing him his DSC promotion. Bouchard has never denied this vendetta as far as I’m aware, and thus he is in violation of every judicial ethical canon in the book, doling out “vengeance” masked as “justice.” I call it an abuse of power and process.
And, when will the case end?? If you want to see Bouchard stop dragging out the TransPerfect case, and stop what I plainly see as the irregular and suspicious acts that he commits daily, lining his friends’ pockets with TransPerfect funds, then call your elected officials and everyone in power who you know, and have them call, and demand that he recuse himself! Here’s what I think, folks: “Bouchard you are a stain on our state, a disgrace to Delaware Justice, and I call upon you to recuse yourself!”
When will it all end? When will there be equity for TransPerfect? Is anyone in power able to do anything about this? Maybe after the upcoming election? Let me know if you have any ideas on this, folks?
Respectfully Yours,
Judson Bennett-Coastal Network
Citizens for a Pro-Business Delaware Launches Print Ad Campaign Slamming Chancery Court for Conflicts of Interest and Lack of Transparency
Citizens for a Pro-Business Delaware Launches Print Ad Campaign Slamming Chancery Court for Conflicts of Interest and Lack of Transparency
May 28, 2020 01:12 PM Eastern Daylight Time
WILMINGTON, Del.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Following a Delaware Court of Chancery ruling to dismiss with prejudice a lawsuit that sought to vacate a 2014 ruling allegedly tainted by Chancellor Bouchard’s work on the case before taking the bench while also representing the court in a separate lawsuit, Citizens for a Pro-Business Delaware announced it would be launching a series of full-page print ads to run in the Delaware News Journal. The ads highlight the conflicts of interest and failures of transparency that plague the Chancery Court and elite Delaware law firms like Skadden Arps.
Said Chris Coffey, Citizens for a Pro-Business Delaware’s Campaign Manager, “It’s simply egregious that the Court has once again ruled in favor of Chancellor Bouchard’s former client, Roche Diagnostics, despite the obvious conflict of interest posed by his simultaneous representation of both Roche and Chancery Court Vice Chancellor Parsons before taking the bench himself. In any functional court system with checks and balances, Chancellor Bouchard and Vice Chancellor Parsons would have recused themselves from the Roche case. But of course, in Delaware’s court system, where nothing works like it should, that’s not the case.
Over and over again we have seen Chancellor Bouchard’s Chancery Court balk at even the slightest improvements to the judiciary’s ethics standards to restore trust in the state’s courts. This latest ruling makes crystal clear that the Chancery Court cannot be trusted to police itself when it comes to clear self-dealing and conflicts of interest.
“As long as the powerful elites in Delaware’s legal industry continue to enrich themselves at the expense of everyday Delawareans, we will continue highlighting their self-interest and corrupt dealings. Last week, we exposed the gross web of connections that tie the Chancery Court and Skadden Arps together and this week, we’re showing how the Court has failed to police its own judges. We won’t stop until meaningful reforms are made that shine a light on this gross corruption.”
The print ad will run in the Delaware News Journal on Friday, May 29th.