Pubdate: Tue,  4 Nov 2003
Source: Traverse City Record-Eagle (MI)
Copyright: 2003 The Traverse City Record-Eagle
Contact:  http://www.record-eagle.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1336
Author: Patrick Sullivan, Record-Eagle staff writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/judge+Gilbert

LAWMAKERS GIVE GILBERT 30 MORE DAYS TO RESPOND

They Are Considering Removing Him

TRAVERSE CITY - Suspended 86th District Court Judge Thomas Gilbert has been
given 30 more days to respond to questions from three Republican lawmakers
about his marijuana use.

Monday was Gilbert's deadline, but state Sen. Michelle McManus said she and
two other lawmakers decided to extend it after they received an afternoon
letter from Gilbert's attorney, Michael Dettmer.

McManus, R-Lake Leelanau - along with state Rep. Ken Bradstreet of Gaylord
and Sen. Alan Cropsey of DeWitt, chairman of the state Senate Judiciary
Committee - sent Gilbert a letter last month saying they were considering
action in the Legislature to remove him from office.

"My only thought is, maybe his mind is a bit cloudy right now and he just
hasn't had enough time to fully devote to the letter," McManus said Monday.

In his letter, Dettmer asked the legislators to reconsider their position
before the inquiry becomes one of "vindictiveness, voyeurism, or pure
political grand-standing."

"An ill man made a mistake and has suffered a severe penalty," Dettmer
wrote. "There is a point in every controversy where fact-finding ceases to
be the accuser's organizing principle and another set of principles start to
emerge."

Gilbert is serving a six-month suspension for smoking marijuana at a rock
concert in Detroit last year. Gilbert said alcoholism caused him to smoke
marijuana and that he is in treatment.

The lawmakers demanded Gilbert be more specific about his marijuana use
since he has been a judge, disclose where he got the drugs and say whether
he had ever provided marijuana to anyone else.

McManus denied grandstanding.

"I'm a mom and I've got to tell my daughter, 'You can't smoke pot and if you
smoke pot you're going to jail,' " McManus said. "Those sorts of things
should apply to everyone, no one is above the law."

Dettmer said Gilbert wanted to answer the questions but that he, as his
attorney, advised him not to because of potential legal implications.
Dettmer said he would wait for the second letter from the legislators before
deciding what to recommend.

Gilbert was suspended for six months by the Michigan Supreme Court after an
investigation by the Judicial Tenure Commission, but Justice Elizabeth
Weaver dissented, saying Gilbert should be removed from office because he
admitted using marijuana repeatedly while he was a judge.

McManus said Article 6, Section 25 of the state constitution allows for the
removal of a judge from office if both houses of the state Legislature call
for it by at least two-thirds majorities.

Gilbert did not return a message left at his home Monday.
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MAP posted-by: Doc-Hawk