Canon 2(C), Michigan Code of Judicial Conduct

But Canon 2(C) did not stop 48th District Court Judge Edward Avadenka from using the prestige of his judicial office to advance the business interests of State Bar President Thomas Ryan. 

In January 2001 State Bar President Thomas Ryan also worked under contract for the city of Keego Harbor as its part-time prosecutor.  At that time, the Keego Harbor city council held a public meeting to discuss Mr. Ryan's termination.  See the transcript below and ask yourself, "Should a judge be using the prestige of his judicial office to show such support for a prosecutor that regularly appears before Judge Avadenka's court?"  Does this promote the impartiality of the judiciary?                     

Click here to listen to Judge Avadenka's speech

                          BEFORE THE KEEGO HARBOR CITY COUNCIL
                                              JANUARY 18, 2001 

My name is Edward Avadenka. I’m a judge of the 48th District Court. I do not live in the City of Keego Harbor, although I have the same experience Judge Friedman has. I spent almost every summer in and out of aunts’ houses and friends’ houses on Cass Lake front while I was growing up. I was born and raised in Pontiac. I live a mile and a half away from here in West Bloomfield and I’m here for the same reason Judge Friedman is here and it’s going to be cut short because he said an awful lot of what I have to say.

I read the same article in the, a, Oakland Press this morning and I also was appalled, at least the way it was presented in the paper. I have worked with Tom Ryan as your representative attorney in the 48th District Court for 13 years. There is no one - and I say no one - in the legal profession that can match his ethics, that can match his integrity and could do a better job for the City of Keego Harbor than he does at this time. He represents the city and being in the position of a judge with the city attorney or any attorney that comes in – but particularly township or city attorneys – sometimes they tell you things in the law that you as a judge don’t like. And I’m sure that any city attorney that’s worth his weight, or her weight, sometimes has to encounter a member of a commission or member of a township board and tell them something they don’t like – but it’s legal and that’s his job.

And I urge you – I urge you - that if you are thinking of making this decision on a political or a personal basis, then I echo what Judge Friendman has said – you are not doing your jobs. There could be no finer representative for the City of Keego Harbor – at least in the 48th District Court – in representing you and your council and your citizens than Tom Ryan and I thank you for the time.