A friend recently related a tale about a client who wanted to know whether his belief, that "our judges are more crooked than a corkscrew", was true. Since she knew about how judges are selected in Iowa, she was able to explain it to him and he learned that his initial belief was way off.
In Iowa, we select judges through a merit selection system, not by elections running thousands and millions of dollars in advertising. The specifics of the process are on the website of the Iowa Supreme Court. In brief, each judicial district has a judicial nominating commission [there is one for state-wide judges too] and laypeople serve on each. If a vacancy opens up, applications are made and the Commission reviews them, selects a group that is sent to the Governor to choose from. Once selected and sworn in as a judge, the judge is subject to a retention vote in general elections.
The Court's website also has a detailed description of how judicial independence and accountability is maintained.
The upshot is that in my 30-plus years of practice, I haven't experienced or heard of venality such as one sees in tv, movies or from other states. Not having expensive elections is no doubt a good part of it, not to mention common Iowa values.
