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Judge Takes Overly Aggressive Stance On School Board Issue, Gets Admonished For His Efforts – Above the Law

Sonoma
County,
California
Superior
Court
Judge
James
G.
Bertoli
is
now
the
proud
owner
of
a
public
admonishment
(available
in
full
below).
Listen,
Above
the
Law’s
judicial
ethics

tag
is
filled
with
a
wide
variety
of
questionable
behavior
from
jurists,
but
I’m
pretty
confident
this
is
the
first
time
that
a
judge’s
love
of
their
high
school
alma
mater
gets
them
in
hot
water
with
professional
responsibility
authorities.
The
California
Commission
on
Judicial
Performance
issued
a
public
admonishment
of
the
judge
after
he
led
an
effort
block
the
renaming
of
his
high
school.

This
may
not
seem
like
the
sort
of
development
to
devolve
into
name
calling
and
protests
but
that’s
what
happened.
Bertoli’s
high
school,
Analy
High
School
was
merging
with
its
rival,
El
Molino
High
School.
El
Molino
students
would
go
to
the
Analy
campus,
and
the
school
board
temporarily
renamed
the
combined
school,
West
County
High
School.
And,
as

reported
by

Law360,
this
is
when
the
hard
feelings
started.

The
proposed
consolidation
and
renaming
became
a
“controversial
and
emotionally-charged”
local
issue
that
“involved
lawsuits,
protests,
and
petitions
to
recall
members
of
the
school
board,”
and
played
out
for
the
rest
of
2021.

For
roughly
eight
months,
Judge
Bertoli
was
a
major
figure
in
the
movement
to
preserve
the
Analy
name.

He
served
on
the
board
of
directors
of
the
Analy
Alumni
Association
and
repeatedly
made
his
position
known
at
in-person
events,
some
of
which
he
helped
organize,
and
on
social
media.

Many
local
residents
were
well
aware
he
was
a
sitting
judge
and
local
newspaper
coverage
always
identified
him
as
such,
creating
the
appearance
Judge
Bertoli
was
“lending
the
prestige
of
[his]
office
to”
the
alumni
association,
the
decision
said.

The
commission
said
Bertoli
“demeaned
the
judicial
office”
with
his
behavior.
That
included
calling
opponents
“a
bunch
of
frickin’
(I
cleaned
that
up)
morons!”
on
social
media,
calling
the
school
board
“myopic,
analytical,
and
self-aggrandizing,”
and
claiming
outside
actors
had
“greased
the
palms
of
school
administrators,
board
members,
athletic
directors,
etc.”

Judge
Bertoli’s
attorney,
James
A.
Murphy,
said
of
the
admonishment,
“The
biggest
problem
we
have
with
this
is
the
chilling
effect
it
could
have
on
the
speech
of
other
judges.”

But,
for
my
money,
the
best
revelation
about
Bertoli
and
his
judicial
temperament
isn’t
even
about
the
high
school.

The
commission
also
said
Judge
Bertoli
should
have
known
better,
because
in
2021
he
received
an
advisory
letter
warning
him
about
using
his
status
as
a
judge
to
promote
his
band,
“Court
‘n’
Disaster.”

“The
band’s
website
identified
Judge
Bertoli
as
a
sitting
superior
court
judge,”
the
commission
said.
“Photographs
on
the
website
identified
the
judge
as
‘Judge
Jimmy
Bertoli.’
Marketing
and
promotional
materials
also
identified
the
band
as
‘your
standard
courthouse
band.’”

But
in
the
end,
despite
the
questionable
nature
of
the
judge’s
behavior,
his
campaign
was
successful.
In
December
2021,
the
school
board
voted
to
keep
the
Analy
name.

judge
bertoli
admonishment




Kathryn Rubino HeadshotKathryn
Rubino
is
a
Senior
Editor
at
Above
the
Law,
host
of

The
Jabot
podcast
,
and
co-host
of

Thinking
Like
A
Lawyer
.
AtL
tipsters
are
the
best,
so
please
connect
with
her.
Feel
free
to
email

her

with
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questions,
or
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and
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