Monday, October 13, 2014

Opposition Group Turns to Stealth & Sexism to Oppose Shared Parenting in North Dakota

All too often, instead of being the keepers of the law, state bar associations flagrantly violate the law instead. They get away with this because they are controlled by powerful judges and affluent left-wing attorneys. Most often, people are too terrified to take on the rich and well connected, fearing they could be easily decimated by (ab)using the legal system.

The debate about Measure 6, on the ballot this fall in North Dakota, is a recent example. Measure 6 would establish approximately 50/50 shared parenting as the default when parents with children split up, unless a court finds that one parent is unfit. Although 110 world experts have endorsed shared parenting, the deceptively named “Keeping Kids First” - which should be more accurately named “Keeping Kids With One Parent” - appears to be the only group opposing Measure 6. However, this group is nothing more than a cleverly named front for the primary opposition - feminists, divorce attorneys, the state bar association and the ACLU. Notably, not a single divorce attorney is identified as such on the website of the organization where the members are listed. However, all but three of the 12 members are divorce attorneys. Divorce attorneys stand to lose a lot of money if child custody becomes less acrimonious, and shared parenting would accomplish just that.

The original email address for the organization was keepingkidsfirst@sband.org. That is from the domain name of the North Dakota State Bar Association. Tellingly, after the shell organization was called out on misuse of bar association assets, the email address was changed – evidence of guilt. The executive director of the bar association is also listed as one of its members, more evidence of the cozy relationship.

The last time a state bar association misused its resources - using bar dues from attorneys forced to contribute in order to practice law - it was taken over by the state supreme court, which reduced its fees drastically. The Nebraska State Bar was penalized for lobbying against shared parenting, since the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that mandatory associations cannot use the dues of their members to lobby for or against legislation. North Dakota is a mandatory bar association. Attorney Robert Franklin wrote on the National Parents Organization website about its opposition, “how it was possible for an organization of lawyers to not know the laws directly applicable to the doings of that organization?” Good question, and one the N.D. Secretary of State should be asking Keeping Kids First.

Read the rest of the article at Townhall

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