Outlier Magazine

A WILLFUL Double Standard!

157 West Street, Pittsboro, NC

416 SMITH AV CHAPEL HILL NC 27516

An extensive investigation into Judge Baddour found, inter alia, some financial red flags! As of 2006, North Carolina Superior Court judges were paid $115,289. The state, like the federal government, offers attractive benefits to judges, but even so, it is worth asking whether judicial salaries in North Carolina are too low to attract the best possible talent and to be a deterent to ethical misbehavior. A bit of context provides food for thought. The average North Carolina worker earns $38,230 per year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Most of the attorneys that appear before him make just over $113,000, but first-year associates at the largest law firms (ie: Yates, McLamb & Weyher) now make $160,000 per year. Baddour purchased his home in Pittsboro for around $152,000 in May of 2003. The market value of the home now is around $208,000. Currently he owes $ 2,069.21 in taxes on his home and nothing currently on his 2007 Honda Pilot. His home in Chapel Hill, however is worth around $486,000 for which he is delinquent in his tax payment of $7,662.96. His tax status is listed as UNPAID since September 1, 2011. I get very concerned when public officals with this kind of power are strapped for cash! Last month Baddour sentenced a man that he had adjudicated as indigent, to 45 days in jail (stayed) for not being able to pay a $1,270 judgment. Although indigent and disabled, Baddour found the man had nevertheless "willifully failed to pay." Currently, Judge Baddour has failed to pay $9,732.17 in taxes that are due and overdue! Insofar as he makes a pretty good living by North Carolina standards, his failure to pay his taxes on time can only be viewed as WILLFUL. One orange jump suit in an extra small please!