Judge James P. Gray
On Tuesday, August 10th, starting at 7:30 p.m., retired Orange County Superior Court Judge James P. Gray will have a book signing of his 181 page paperback entitled “A Voters Handbook” with a sub title “Effective Solutions to California’s Problems.” This local appearance will be at the Barnes and Noble book store in Fashion Island, Newport Beach.
Without adding his entire bio let me provide a Readers Digest version of his credentials.
Judge Gray received his undergraduate degree at UCLA in 1966 and his law degree from USC in 1971. “From 1972 until 1975, Judge Gray was a staff judge advocate and criminal defense attorney for the U.S. Navy JAG Corps.”
“After working for five years in private practice in Newport Beach in civil litigation” he was “appointed by Gov. Deukmejian in 1983 to the Santa Ana Municipal Court where he was active in trying to combat the problems of drunk driving and other alcohol related offenses.” In 1989 he was elevated to the Orange County Superior Court where he received awards including the 1992 ‘Judge of the Year.” He eventually “retired in 2009 after 25 years on the bench.”
Having met with the Judge at various events I know his passion as it relates to the drug problems in our country. In 1993 he was very proactive in promoting a Resolution at the Hoover Institution looking for a solution to our failed drug policy. As I research that background I see that Dr. Milton Friedman, who would have been 98 years of age on July 31st, and Anaheim’s Katherine Smith, 42nd Congressional District primary candidate for Congress, were part of that distinguished group.
Their Resolution ended as follows:
Therefore be it resolved that our society must recognize drug use and abuse as the medical and social problems that they are, and that they must be treated with medical and social solutions; and
Further be it resolved that an objective commission be immediately empowered by the President and by Congress to recommend revisions of the drug laws of these United States in order to reduce the harm our current policies are causing.”
In the introduction of his paperback Jim promotes changing our state legislature calendar to the approach used by Texas where their legislature is called into session every other year. A good start. I believe the state of Oregon has the same policy.
Without going into details from the book let me simply list the six chapter titles and add a few sound bites.
Institutional principles. “Every time the government substitutes its ‘wisdom’ for ours, it is taking us further away from prosperity.”
Changing the direction of government (facilitate the involvement of political third parties)
Criminal justice system (including drug policy reform) Note: Judge Gray is a strong proponent of revitalizing the hemp industry
Education Judge Gray addresses drop out rates Vs earning potential of students citing Santa Ana USD as an example
Health care (where he blames the government for our health care collapse)
Illegal immigration (where he briefly addresses the challenges that we hear about every day)
To repeat. Judge James P. Gray will be appearing and signing copies of his book at the Barnes and Noble bookstore in Fashion Island, Newport Beach starting at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, August 10th.
Judge Gray will be speaking at our DFA (Democracy For America) meeting – I think in September – I’ll make a big announcement when it comes up. He’ll be speaking in favor of Proposition 19 and marijuana legalization. He will be preaching to the choir, but it’ll be nice to have an actual libertarian there!
Vern,
In addition, Judge Gray will also be a part of an afternoon panel discussion/debate on Prop 19 on Saturday, Sept 11th in Irvine. He will be on a pro-Prop 19 panel with the Rev. Canon Mary Moreno Richardson and the Very Rev. Scott A. Richardson of St. Paul’s Cathedral in San Diego. Both clergypeople are a part of the Interfaith Drug Policy Initiative, a interfaith based coalition that advocates for drug policy reform. We are working on lining up a couple of anti-Prop 19 panelists which should make for a very lively and interesting dialogue. More details to come as I am waiting to hear from the anti-Prop 19 parties.