Opinion: Orange County’s fix-it judge -- and his pastor

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It’s bad enough that an Orange County judge was fixing tickets for friends and family -- he’s been ordered to resign -- but perhaps the most interesting part of the whole story is that one of the beneficiaries of his misdeeds was his pastor.

According to a state panel, Richard W. Stanford Jr. diverted at least nine traffic cases to his court in order to help people he knew avoid fines. Stanford fully deserves to lose his job, and authorities also should be looking into filing charges. But now that everyone at his church will know about this, it’s also hard not to wonder whether they will view their spiritual leader as someone who can lead them away from temptation -- or model taking responsibility for one’s actions.

But then, the flock could decide this is the perfect chance to show that it knows how to forgive.

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--Karin Klein