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HenchPAC NewsLITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) -- A judge who helped write Arkansas' ethics laws stepped aside from hearing President Clinton's disbarment trial Wednesday, and the case fell to a judge appointed by the state's Republican governor just last month.
Leon Johnson became a judge on June 2, replacing one ousted for misdeeds.
Since the state Supreme Court's disciplinary committee sued Clinton on Friday to strip him of his license to practice law, four judges assigned to preside at the trial have stepped aside, all citing ties to the president.
Clinton, as governor of Arkansas, had appointed three of them to judgeships. The fourth judge, Chris Piazza, said in stepping aside Wednesday that when he was a local prosecutor and Clinton was governor, Clinton had named him to a panel that drafted the state's ethics laws.
Johnson was appointed by Republican Gov. Mike Huckabee to hold the judgeship until the end of the year. If the disbarment case is not resolved by then, it will fall to his successor, who will be elected in November. No trial date has been set.
The disciplinary committee said Clinton is unfit to be a lawyer for denying during the Paula Jones sexual harassment case that he had a sexual relationship with Monica Lewinsky.
Clinton lawyer David Kendall has said the president will fight disbarment ``vigorously.''
HENCH adds: Ahh, things are starting to look up. Or down, in Slick's case.
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