Anyone remember the Saturday Night Live horror film parody with John Belushi as “The Thing That Wouldn’t Leave”? Belushi played a guest who wouldn’t take any of his hosts’ many hints that they wanted him to go home. Now, Charlotte has its own TTWL. It’s called Bill Belk. That’s right, just when you thought Belk, aka Judge Richie Rich, was gone from public view since he was removed from his job as a district court judge, he’s back again.
Former Judge Rich, um, Belk is now asking the N.C. Supreme Court to throw out the ruling by the state’s Judicial Standards Commission, and, oh, by the way, he now wants us all to know that he has cancer. You can read more about Belk’s latest round of showboating here, but underneath the legalese jargon, the essence of the story is that Belk wants his judge gig back because he doesn’t have health insurance. It’s an unexpected revelation, as one of the reasons Belk was dumped was his refusal to resign from the board of Sonic Automotive, which he said provided him with health insurance. In any case, Belk’s appeal to the Supreme Court doesn’t contain any new information related to the original case, particularly since he now admits he was guilty of one of the charges against him, yelling and cursing at Chief District Judge Lisa Bell.
This article appears in Dec 29, 2009 – Jan 4, 2010.
I dont get why Belk was forced to resign.
Workplace spats are no reason to force someone to resign.
Being on the board of a corporation should not disqualify anyone either. Just don’t decide cases involving that corporation, sounds easy to me.
Sounds silly to me.
John Grooms shame on you for being suckered like a dum-dum, or worse,
a chump.
This Richie-Rich business is callow and thin. Who cares if Bill is rich. Don’t be a fool, man! Bill Belk had the guts and, thank God, the money to get in there and shake it up. You clearly, still don’t have the vaguest idea what the heck is going on–but we won’t hold it against you. Even the “disgruntled litigants” and “victims” and “bad parents” who lost in court don’t totally get it either–the reason being that the perps are operating in a highly funded, and government protected labyrinth of influence involving the NC Bar Association, the Mecklenburg Bar Association, Continuing Legal Education, and surprise, surprise,…complex litigation track pilot program.
Pull out your magnifying glass Sherlock and please, give us some investigative journalism we can sink our teeth into and spare us the popular but lame-O chant that it’s all the spoiled rich kid’s fault. Smell the frickin coffee.
I love it!
he’s back again
This Richie-Rich business is callow and thin. Who cares if Bill is rich. Don’t be a fool, man! Bill Belk had the guts and, thank God, the money to get in there and shake it up.