A state judicial panel reprimands a Sonoma judge who spoke out against a high school name change

Sonoma County Superior Court in Santa Rosa, California

Oct. 30, 2024 6:26 PM PT

Judge James G. Bertoli, who retires in January, was publicly admonished by a judicial conduct commission for improper political activity and social media conduct
The issue was a proposed high school consolidation, which led to local tempers flaring, including the judge’s

A Sonoma County Superior Court judge was issued a public admonishment Wednesday after he engaged in improper political activity and social media conduct connected to a proposed high school name change, a judicial conduct commission said.

A lawyer for the judge said the judge was simply exercising his 1st Amendment rights on a matter of public interest, not politics.

After a local school board approved a controversial consolidation of Analy High School in Sebastopol and its longtime rival, El Molino High School in Forestville, in 2021, local tempers flared, including for Judge James G. Bertoli, a 1978 Analy alumnus, the Commission on Judicial Performance said.

The Analy Alumni Assn., of which Bertoli served on the board of directors, opposed the change and led rallies, fundraising and recall campaigns for school board members.

Bertoli even played with his band, Court ‘n’ Disaster, at a fundraiser event opposing the consolidation — a band that he promoted with his judicial title and was separately admonished for in 2021. An admonishment is the least severe disciplinary action the Commission on Judicial Performance can issue.

The judge also met with a lawyer to discuss possible legal remedies to block the school’s name change, the commission said, creating a legal case that could have ended up in the Sonoma superior court system.

“The protest rallies involved a highly divisive issue, in which Judge Bertoli’s participation could reasonably undermine the public’s confidence in the judiciary,” the commission wrote.

At a rally opposing the name change in 2021, Bertoli was quoted saying the school board had no “flipping idea what it’s going to cost” to rebrand the existing Analy campus, the Press Democrat reported. The article and the judge’s quote were referenced by the judicial panel in the admonishment as improper. Although he never publicly called for school board members to be recalled, his hand in organizing the rallies was problematic, the commission ruled.

“As a rally organizer and speaker, Judge Bertoli’s participation in the group gave the appearance that he endorsed the group’s stated goals and activities, including the recall of all five school board members,” the commission said.

The commission rejected the defense that Bertoli wasn’t participating in political activity, stating that opinions on governmental affairs, like decisions of elected officials on a school board, could be considered political. After the name change was tossed out, the commission noted, Bertoli publicly described the victory as a democratic function of government: “Those in the minority of the result, as members of a democracy, need to learn to accept the results as the vote dictates. It is how we, the people, operate,” he wrote.

Bertoli’s speech was also not protected by the 1st Amendment, the commission said, because the Judicial Code of Conduct requires judges to accept additional restrictions on their speech that might be cumbersome to others in the pursuit of fairness.

James A. Murphy, Bertoli’s lawyer, told The Times he believes the commission overlooked Bertoli’s long-term ties to the school — his parents were both educators, and he worked at the school as a volunteer coach and announcer for football and baseball games, Murphy said. The judge’s concern was not just for the name change, Murphy said, but for the children who would have to deal with overcrowding due to the consolidation.

“The relationship between Analy [High School] and the Bertolis remains significant,” he said.

The name change and consolidation, which Bertoli opposed, Murphy argued, was an issue of public interest, not political. Murphy said the ruling was akin to punishing Bertoli for political opinions and actions committed by his next-door neighbor.

Murphy suggested the ruling, which is public, could have a significant chilling effect on other judges looking to express their 1st Amendment rights, making it unclear what constitutes a political issue versus what is a matter of public interest, independent of politics.

The commission also denounced several of Bertoli’s public Facebook posts, some of which included Peanuts and Hagar the Horrible comic strips. “Judge Bertoli made derogatory remarks about public officials, engaged in rhetoric that inflamed the passions of the community, and made profane remarks,” the commission wrote. Commenters frequently referred to him as “judge” and one thanked him for his “legal brain,” leading the commission to believe he lent the prestige of his office as a judge to his cause, which is also against the ethical code.

In one post, Bertoli shared a Hagar the Horrible comic in which Hagar comes home from battle injured, and his wife comes home equally battered — but from a school board meeting. “The West Sonoma County Union High School District board members and Superintendent Toni Beal coming home late last night,” Bertoli wrote in the caption. In another post, he characterized a school board member’s statement as “myopic, unanalytical and self-aggrandizing.”

In yet another instance, he posted a photo of himself announcing an Analy High School football game, and in response to a comment wrote, “I told them where they could put their microphone until they restore the Analy name.” He used other instances of profanity and derogatory language, the commission wrote, and spoke derisively of those who disagreed with him.

Bertoli is set to retire from the bench on Jan. 5.