Home › West Virginia › West Virginia Code of Judicial Conduct › Rule 4.4

Court Rules Network • courtrules.net

W. Va. Code Jud. Conduct 4.4

Not legal advice. Verify against official sources before relying on this text in any legal matter.

Rule 4.4 Campaign Committees

Canon 4: A Judge Or Candidate For Judicial Office Shall Not Engage In Political Or Campaign Activity That Is Inconsistent With The Independence, Integrity, Or Impartiality Of The Judiciary

← Previous Rule 4.3: Activities of Candidates for Appointive Judicial Office Next → Rule 4.5: Activities of Judges Who Become Candidates for Nonjudicial Office

Rule Text

A judicial candidate* subject to public election* may establish a campaign committee to manage and conduct a campaign for the candidate, subject to the provisions of this Code. The candidate is responsible for ensuring that his or her campaign committee complies with applicable provisions of this Code and other applicable law.*

Plain-English Summary (for reference only — not a substitute for the rule text above)

This summary is not the rule. The rule text controls.

If you're running for judge in West Virginia and your race is decided by public vote, you're allowed to set up a campaign committee. This committee handles things like managing your campaign and raising support on your behalf.

Even though the committee does the day-to-day work, you're still the one held responsible. If your committee breaks a rule or does something that goes against the Code of Judicial Conduct or other laws, you can't blame the committee and walk away. You have to make sure the people running your campaign follow the rules just as closely as you do.

This matters because judicial candidates have stricter rules than regular political candidates. Judges are supposed to stay fair and unbiased, so their campaigns can't act like typical political operations. Putting the responsibility on the candidate, not just the committee, keeps that standard in place.

Committee Notes

COMMENT

[1] Judicial candidates are prohibited from personally soliciting campaign contributions or personally accepting campaign contributions. See Rule 4.1(A)(5). This Rule recognizes that in many jurisdictions, judicial candidates must raise campaign funds to support their candidacies, and permits candidates, other than candidates for appointive judicial office, to establish campaign committees to solicit and accept reasonable financial contributions or in-kind contributions.

[2] Campaign committees may solicit and accept campaign contributions, manage the expenditure of campaign funds, and generally conduct campaigns. Candidates are responsible for compliance with the requirements of election law and other applicable law, and for the activities of their campaign committees.

[3] At the start of a campaign, the candidate must instruct the campaign committee to solicit or accept only such contributions as are reasonable in amount, appropriate under the circumstances, and in conformity with applicable law.

Clerk's Notes on Rule 4.4

Rule 4.4 is based entirely on Paragraph (A) of the 2007 Model Code. Paragraphs (B)(1) through (3) of the Model Code are not included, because they echo provisions that were previously not adopted and are covered by campaign conduct and reporting requirements that are already part of West Virginia law. The Comment is based upon the Model Rule, with the exception of Comment [3]. Language from the Model Rule relating to contributions from lawyers is too simplistic, because the relatively modest contribution limits on West Virginia apply to everyone, including lawyers.

← Previous Rule 4.3: Activities of Candidates for Appointive Judicial Office Next → Rule 4.5: Activities of Judges Who Become Candidates for Nonjudicial Office

Cross-References

Referenced By (3)

W. Va. Code Jud. Conduct Terminology W. Va. Code Jud. Conduct Rule 4.2 W. Va. Code Jud. Conduct Rule 4.1