Deborah Bell Paseur

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Alabama Supreme Court
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Deborah Bell Paseur was a challenger in the 2008 Supreme Court election to replace the retiring Harold See's seat on the Alabama Supreme Court. Paseur narrowly lost to Greg Shaw.

Paseur attended the University of Alabama and graduated with a degree in Social Work, and earned her J.D. from the University of Alabama School Of Law. She later earned a Master's Degree in Criminal Justice.^[1]

Paseur was the first woman judge in Lauderdale County history.

2008 election results

The race between Paseur and Shaw was very close, and with all the precincts being certified on November 25, 2008, Shaw has defeated Paseur with a 12,892 vote advantage. The final count was 1,021,371 for Shaw and 1,008,379 for Paseur.^[2]

While waiting out for certification for the election, the Paseur campaign was hoping for an automatic recount during the certification process.^[3][4]

Despite Alabama's laws mandate an automatic recount if the election results are close to less than one percentage point, it was certified on November 25, 2009 that a recount would not happen as the apparent margin of victory is over one percent^[5].

Associations and awards

Paseur is a founding member of the Big Brothers/Big Sisters chapter and the Safeplace domestic violence shelter program in her community. She founded the Shoals Alternative Network, Inc. to create community awareness of the effects of drug addiction. She also helped start a Drug Court to save lives and save the taxpayers from financing jail time for addicts destined to repeat their crimes. When she was a juvenile judge, Deborah established a truancy program to bring parents and children into the court before it was too late for a child to graduate. She knows how critical the early years of development are in establishing good habits. She is also a supporter of the Girls State program and the Children First Foundation from its inception.

Paseur is a member of the Shoals Area Chamber of Commerce and served on the Board of Directors. She is a member of Class XI of Leadership Alabama. She is currently president-elect of the Florence Rotary Club. She was elected Young Careerist of the Year of the Business and Professional Women's Club, received the Outstanding Young Woman Award of the Alabama State Jaycees, In addition, she has served on the Retired Senior Volunteer Advisory Board for more than twenty years and is currently president-elect of the Florence Rotary Club. Perhaps her strongest devotion has been serving Alabama's veterans. With a father, brother, and husband who served in our military, Deborah has been and still remains a member of the American Legion Auxiliary, holding every local and district office over the last twenty-five years. With her passionate commitment to good citizenship, Americanism and patriotism, and to passing those values on to our young people, Deborah recruited junior high and high school students to collect donations for veterans for more than twenty years.

Deborah maintains her ties to the men and women who serve in the police department, having served on the Citizens' Advisory Board of the Florence, Alabama police department. As a Member of the Children's Code Committee of the Alabama Law Institute, she helped complete a top-to-bottom revision of the laws governing the adoption of children.^[6]

Religious affiliation

Paseur said she does not impose her religious beliefs on offenders, but her faith constantly guides her in her duties. She is a member of St. Joseph Catholic Church in Florence and is active in the Emmaus Walk program. "Every human life is sacred and valuable. Every person is one of God's children," she said. "No one should strip them of their dignity. I've had people say I saved their lives," she said. "That's a humbling experience, that God has used me for that. ... I believe in miracles. Once in awhile we have one."^[7]

Political affiliation

Democrat.

2008 campaign

Contributions

Alabama state law does not require unopposed primary candidates to file financial statements. However, Shaw's expenditures totaled $79,000 through the end of May, while Paseur's campaign reported spending $163,000. More than 90 percent of Shaw's campaign contributions so far, about $116,000, have come from PACs funded by pro-business interests, campaign disclosure forms show. Paseur has received $21,000 in PAC money through May, less than 8 percent of her total contributions. About one-third of that money was from labor unions. Overall, Shaw reported about $126,000 in contributions through May, the latest reporting deadline. Paseur had raised $280,000 by then. Paseur's chief fundraiser is Ben Gaines, who filled this role for current Justice Sue Bell Cobb's successful 2006 campaign. If elected, Paseur would join Bell (no relation) as the second woman on the bench.

Alabama ranks first in the nation for special-interest funding for judicial races--approximately $54 million has been spent since 1993. Texas is second, at $30 million over the same period.^[8]

Endorsements

• Professional Firefighters of Alabama^[9]
• 15 Alabama sheriffs/Lauderdale County Sheriff Ronnie Willis^[10]

Video Clips

Amazing Grace ad

Qualifying Footage and Campaign Announcement

Campaign Stump

Paseur on appointed justices

Paseur has advocated for judicial appointments in Alabama as a way to keep politics out of the judiciary. She has said, "Begging for votes and soliciting money is demeaning to the institution of the judiciary. I want to ... get politics out of it as much as possible." Her comments were made the Birmingham chapter of the Federalist Society. In an oft-recycled phrase of fellow appointment-advocates, Paseur said that an elected (and financially dependent) judiciary gives the perception that, "justice is for sale." Paseur, a retired Lauderdale County District Judge, said that if elected, she would also push for more oral arguments, as well as more decisions explaining rulings and a quicker turn around time for appeals. She identifies all three as shortcomings fellow lawyers have expressed.^[11]

Position on drug sentencing

As a candidate for the state Court of Criminal Appeals in 2006, Paseur suggested that the state is losing the war on drugs, and stiffer penalties are not the answer. Judge Paseur, a district judge in Lauderdale County, helped run the drug court there. The court uses innovative approaches to try to help defendants get off drugs without sitting in jail, she said. "The goal is to help these people get good recoveries and become good citizens," Paseur said in a recent editorial board meeting at THE DAILY. "People not trained in the drug-court philosophy don't understand it." Not only are prisons full, Paseur said, they are not always the best answer. "We don't do enough treatment in prisons," Paseur said. "We don't have enough transition programs. You can't expect people to do a lot better without those." She said community corrections programs are the best solution for many nonviolent offenders. Sending people away from the community to prison often means they come back to the community as hardened criminals. "Trial judges have to carefully decide who goes to the limited prison cells we have," Paseur said. "We need to ask, 'Does this particular offender need to be in jail?' People should be given the least restrictive punishment that will work." That said, the punishment must meet the goals of the criminal justice system: rehabilitation, punishment, retribution and restitution. "Those goals are not met," Paseur said, "if a judge is too lenient. ... Our No. 1 job is protection of society."

2006 campaign

In 2006, Paseur ran unsuccessfully for a seat on the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals against Republican Samuel Henry Welch. Welch won 600,287 votes versus 552,703 votes for Paseur.^[12]

External links

• Judge Paseur's Election Page
• Dem. hopeful criticizes money, politics in Alabama SC
• Contribution laws should be more clear on disclosure
• Appointed judges would better serve Alabama

References