The pro-family organization Campaign for Children and Families has an online voter guide as part of their Pro-Family Election Center (the CCF recommend the same positions on the 13 ballot measures as the FlashReport and our ballot measure guru, Bill Leonard). 
 
The reason for this post is that I thought that in their section under Judges, they offered up some great advice that I am sharing with all FR readers, whether your interest is in finding out more about a judicial candidate, or any other candidate for that matter.  They walk their supporters on how to research candidates online.  Now in the case of the CCF, their examples include research on where candidates stand on abortion or homosexual rights, but obviously you can utilize this research technique to look up whatever issues are of importance to you in deciding how to vote.
 
They say: 

DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH ONLINE

A good way to find out what a judge has done, good or bad, is by searching online. 

STEP 1)  Enter a comprehensive search engine, such as http://www.google.com.

STEP 2)  In the search box, type in the judge’s name and the word “judge” or “justice.” For more detail, also enter a word like “gay” or “abortion” or “religious."

Suggestions for typing your entries in a Google search:
Ex. 1: "Judith McConnell" "judge"
Ex. 2: "Judith McConnell" "judge" "abortion"
Ex. 3: "Judith McConnell" "judge" "gay"

After typing your entry, hit the ENTER key on your keyboard.

STEP 3)  To see what helpful news articles about the judge you are researching, do this additional step: On the Google search page, click the link "news" (located above the search box). If there are news articles on the judge, they will be displayed.

For example, to learn about a First Appellate District justice named William McGuiness, entering “William McGuiness” in the Google News search  reveals that he one of two San Francisco judges who actually protected marriage licenses for a man and a woman on Oct. 5, 2006. 

Another example would be learning about a Fourth Appellate District justice named Judith McConnell. Entering "Judith McConnell" and "gay" in Google reveals several news links, including a 1994 National Review article, which reads, in part, "Originally an appointee of Governor Jerry Brown, McConnell is best known for a 1987 case where she granted custody of a 16-year-old boy to his dead father’s homosexual partner rather than to his mother."

This entry was posted on Monday, October 23rd, 2006 at 12:00 am and is filed under Blog Posts.