Lawyers strongly support judge who approved lesbian divorce

A northwest Iowa judge whom a group of residents want to throw out over his ruling granting a divorce to lesbians is strongly supported by Iowa lawyers, a new survey shows. District judge Jeffrey Neary of Merrill won 93% approval for a six-year term in the Iowa State Bar Association's election year poll of its members--one of the higher approval percentages of the 74 Iowa judges up for retention in the general election. "He's a quality judge, and the vote verified that," said Nick Critelli, the state bar president and a Des Moines lawyer. "You may not like how he rules, but the fact is, he calls it as it should be." In November, Neary approved the dissolution of a Vermont civil union for two Sioux City lesbians. He said he signed the papers without noting their gender. When he discovered they were women, he declined to withdraw the order. He said the dissolution was proper under a legal concept that requires states to recognize laws of other states. Neary said the order did not recognize same-sex marriage, which is banned in Iowa, but settled a dispute between two parties over property distribution. Neary followed the order with an amended ruling that said he ended only their Vermont civil union, not a marriage. The judge's rulings are being challenged by a group of conservative lawmakers. The Iowa supreme court will decide the case. Neary, who presides in the 3B judicial district centered in Sioux City, won heavy support from lawyers across the state, survey results show. Kevin Alons, 35, of Salix, spokesman for the Judicial Accountability Group that organized in August to unseat Neary, said he isn't impressed by the numbers. He said Neary might have opened the way to gay marriage, which Alons and members of his group oppose. "Historically, lawyers publicly show support for all judges," Alons said. "It's not a good employment move to challenge the person who is going to make that ruling you live and breathe for." Alons, a self-employed computer software developer and son of Republican state representative Dwayne Alons of Hull, said his group has raised money and plotted a strategy to campaign against Neary. "People say he's a nice guy. As far as I'm concerned, that has nothing to do with it. It's his professional actions that are in question here," he said. "We may do some mailings. We're trying to figure out what's going to be most effective." Among the lower ratings from lawyers was a 77% approval for Iowa supreme court chief justice Louis Lavorato. Critelli said the lawyers might have been lukewarm to Lavorato's work as an administrator rather than as a jurist. He noted that the court planned to shut all court offices for 10 days during the fiscal year to trim costs. "Any time you deal with the retention of supreme court justices, it's usually not a comment on the quality of their work but on the administrative policies of the court," he said. Of the 5,600 bar members eligible to vote, 1,600 participated in the survey. All judges passed the retention test. A few slipped below 80% approval. Four judges earned 100% support of the lawyers.