Will County Judge Joseph C. Polito in Illinois has become the latest case of disciplinary action for watching pornography on a work computer. Polito’s use of the courthouse computer was detected on a regular check of the computer system and, to his credit, Polito admitted the misuse. The question has now become the appropriate punishment for two counts under the Illinois judicial code.
There is no indication that child porn was involved and Polito has admitted that “I used pornography as a crutch to deal with my feelings of inadequacy.” He added that “[f]or 60 years this was an inner conflict–I was ashamed, I didn’t feel good about it and tried to stop. The only way I knew to address it was in a confession with a priest.”
Polito admits the first charge of bringing his “judicial office into disrepute” but denies that he failed to conduct himself in a way that “promotes public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary.” The latter denial appears based on his view that this was not public and did not affect his decisions.
Polito is seeking professional help for a compulsive sexual disorder and attends a Sexuality Anonymous support group twice a week.
Putting aside that denial, he did admit to the use and has been subject to what he legitimately describes as “a shameful and humbling experience.” Given that, should a reprimand be enough?
This is a violation that routinely occurs in offices around the country, including government offices. There is discussion of termination for Polito but I find that a bit harsh given his admission and treatment. If he is otherwise a judge in good standing and this is just a case of viewing porn online, I would think that a reprimand and conditions like monitoring would be sufficient. What do you think?
Source: NBC
“After the inception of a judicial ethics inquiry, some of the porn sites the judge visited were revealed by a Chicago-area newspaper (and based on his pervy predilections, it seems the good jurist is a chubby chaser). ” Above the Law
Blouise, Women get soft porn in prose, absolutely. However, few woman get the attraction men have to the visual component of porn. And, while a man would not get reading about lesbian love, they sure as hell love to watch it. And Blouise..men usually only watch it for a short time..clean themeslves up, and go back to work. It’s a male version of a cat nap, only you can’t have a smoke afterward unless you go into the parking lot. And again, I get that you find it boring. It’s simply a male/female thing. Finally, this is Illinois, a Chicago suburb, this is really small potatoes of an infraction for that area.
You give him credit for admitting to watching porn, but his excuse is so disappointing. A nice healthy admission that he watched it simply because he enjoyed it would be so much better to remove our hurtful, hypocritical and puritanical cloak of morality.
What is his record as a judge? Decisions on significant cases?
Question: what would happen to any other court employee? I bet that person would be fired. If so, the judge should be.
Second, a judge is expected to have some “judgement”. This guy obviously does not. He needs to go.
http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/16700132-418/will-county-judge-acknowledges-porn-addiction-since-childhood.html He is in his late sixties, and says he has not used porn for a year.
I can almost buy his confession. Having known a couple of alcoholics I know one of the driving forces in their life is “When can I have another drink?”. If he is sincere then he has the same problem and needs help. But, given the world in which we live, how can anyone know if he is sincere>
nick,
I don’t care about the porn … I do care about stupidity on the Bench … why in the world didn’t the dude buy his own laptop?
As to women not getting porn … chuckle … you haven’t read too many, ahem, “Romance Novels” have you? Women get porn.
In my opinion, what I’ve seen and read gets boring real fast …
B louise, For the most part women don’t get porn. And, I get that.
” … The only way I knew to address it was in a confession with a priest.” (Judge Polito)
That tells me all I need to know.
Remove him from the Bench not for watching porn but for being dumb enough to do it on his work computer.
AY, But don’t you play God on tv?
Cornholebob, LOL!
It’s just amazing that official acts such as these need redressing in public. I think a private censure would be appropriate, if…. There were only 2 instances… Something tells me that there was more… But whom am I to judge what an adult does that does not directly affect me? I am not god nor am I trying to play a lesser one….
In France they would give him a bigger tv screen for the computer.
There is nothing wrong with most pornography and indeed it has been a human preoccupation since the dawn of time. There are plenty of other reasons to remove judges, or fire employees, that represent far more egregious uses of their time on the job.
rafflaw, You’re assuming a fact not in evidence. That being “most companies would fire employees” for this. It may be true but I tend to think most companies would give you one violation. Plus..this is Illinois govt., as you know you can do MUCH worse than this and not get fired. This isn’t an Irish/Italian thing is it raff? Remember, my mom was Irish. This is good natured raff, I swear it.
Just take away his pornograph.
I was once helping a couple move things from their basement out of concern that flooding might occur (near the Mississippi river a fwe years ago). The husband, Dave, is an older man and wonderful piano player/teacher with an sense of humor that is very, very dry.
Another helper made a comment about how it might be funny to accidentally get into embarassing media digging around in the basement. Dave simply said to him, “I don’t have any pornography because I don’t own a pornograph.”
I think that the Judge should resign his position or be termnated. Most companies would fire employees who are using company computers to search for porn. He can watch as much porn as he would like with his own computer on his own time. I hope his therapy succeeds, but he should get the same treatment as any other “employee” would get.
There’s no way to know if he’s sincere about his psychological problems and feelings of inadequacy. It could be simply a very good PR move. It’s more likely he just likes porn. However, the fessin’ up is laudable and I don’t believe termination is warranted. And no..it’s not because he’s a dago!!