News-Record.com

Now that retired District Court Judge William Daisy has admitted that he "hugged, touched and engaged in physical contact" with two women while still serving on the Guilford County bench, what is the appropriate punishment?

As Eric Collins reported in Saturday's News & Record, a lawyer for the Judicial Standards Commission has brokered an agreement with Daisy that he would never serve as a substitute judge in this state, a common practice among retired judges.

Daisy also agreed to accept a censure from the state Supreme Court. The commission, whose decision in Daisy's case won't be known for as long as a month, could go along with that agreement.Or not.It may accept the suggested reprimands. Or it could go a step further and "remove" Daisy, which would erase his retirement benefits.

Then it still won't be over. The Supreme Court in turn could accept or reject the commission's verdict.

The lack of local outrage about all this continues to confound. Here is a man who abused his position of power more than once to make unwanted advances and say untoward things to women. This was common knowledge, say colleagues and court workers.

But many of us still have a hard time accepting sexual harassment in the workplace as all that big a deal ... even in, of all workplaces, the county courthouse.

(Daisy's two accusers deserve praise for stepping forward. So does Chief District Judge Joseph Turner, for notifying the appropriate state officials of their complaints. Too bad some of his Daisy's colleagues on the bench knew of his indiscretions and did not act.)

Here also is a man who had a previous brush with insensitivity when he sent a series of lewd emails that contained racist, sexist and anti-Semitic jokes -- and sexually explicit cartoons -- to friends and colleagues in 2003.

The material was more objectionable than you might imagine. You've only heard the tamest stuff. I still keep the stack of printed emails in my office files. I just can't share some of the worse examples because they are not publishable, on the Internet or anywhere else.

Some of them were more suited for Hustler or Penthouse.

Daisy apologized then and stepped down as chief District Court judge. He apologized again on Friday, at his Judicial Standards Commission hearing. He says he is receiving counseling now, which he obviously needs. One can only wonder if Daisy might have done if he were hearing his own case. One can only wonder if, as the tough but fair judge many praise him for being, Daisy would have given himself the same breaks he's now seeking.

Fool me once, shame on you, I can hear him saying.