Murphy Tries To Explain Judge Application

By Jacob Longan/Stillwater NewsPress ~ After resigning the position in early June, Robert Murphy has applied for the vacant Payne County associate district judge position.

Murphy is the Democratic Party’s nominee for State Senate District 21 after winning a July 29 primary.

He took 63.48 percent of the vote, defeating Carney police and fire chief Greg Wilson, 2,270-1,306, to win the nomination.

Murphy had to leave the bench in his quest for the Senate seat being vacated by Co-President Pro Tempore Mike Morgan, D-Stillwater, because the Code of Judicial Conduct requires judges to resign if they file to run for a partisan office.

In a June interview, Murphy said the timetable would not make it feasible for him to re-apply for the job because applications had to be submitted within 30 days of the job being posted.

“It would be asinine,” Murphy said at the time. “If I wanted to do that, why wouldn’t I just stay there? That seat doesn’t expire until the end of 2010.”

But Tuesday, he said the timetable changed because the deadline for applications came Aug. 1, about a month later than he expected. That, he said, makes it unlikely the position will be filled until after the election Nov. 4.

“The reason I (applied) was every day since I resigned people have come up to me, my wife and a lot of other people and said, ‘Judge, we wish you were still on the bench,’” Murphy said.

“People may think I look like I’m hedging my bets or keeping my options open, but these are both public service positions. I don’t see it as a bad thing to be a legislator or a judge. If I can’t be a legislator, I’d like to be a judge.”

Murphy said he does not believe his application will have any affect on the election and he would serve four years in the Senate if he wins.

“I’ll withdraw my application (if I win),” he said.

His opponent, former Oklahoma State University President James Halligan, a Republican, said he had heard rumors Murphy was applying for his former job.

“I’m sure that Bob Murphy will do whatever he feels is appropriate,” Halligan said.

The Oklahoma Republican Senatorial Committee sent out a release about Murphy’s application, stating it “raises serious questions about whether Democrats believe Murphy can be competitive in the race...”

Murphy, asserting he is more confident he will win the election everyday, said the release shows the GOP is “in total panic mode.”

“They’ve hit the panic button and they’ve come out with all kinds of nutty stuff,” he said.

He also said the release’s assertion he simply wanted to hang out with trial lawyers is “indicative of their total lack of knowledge of what government is. That’s why it’s so scary they are about to get in control of it. That’s why I got off the bench. I couldn’t sit there and watch them destroy the state.”

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