Jersey judge moonlighting as comic gets my vote

Given how hard it is for some families these days to make ends meet, it’s little wonder there’s a lot of moonlighting going on.

If it’s not off-duty cops and firefighters hiring themselves out as security workers, it’s actors and teachers doing double-duty as bartenders ... or university researchers and former Olympic runners turning tricks.

On the one hand, you have federal Liberal leadership candidate Justin Trudeau raking in big bucks as a professional speech-maker. On the other, there’s a part-time judge moonlighting as a stand-up comic. Or is it the other way around?

Yes, as you may have read this week, New Jersey municipal judge Vince Sicari is fighting a state ethics committee ruling that would, well, bench him — or at least bar him from being a paid entertainer.

The state attorney general’s office says Sicari’s off-colour routines detract from the dignity of his judicial office. But Sicari’s lawyer argues he has always kept the two hats separate, never using the stage to mock the legal system or the bench to crack jokes.

I’m rooting for the 43-year-old Sicari, because I strongly believe people should extend themselves. Indeed, I’ve often thought that moonlighting as a male stripper might be a good antidote to the bump and grind of life as a newspaper columnist — though there’s been little interest from employers.

Besides, what’s wrong with B.C. judges using their own time and effort to work on developing their sense of humour, rather than simply handing out laughable sentences?

I do, however, think lines have to be drawn. And I think “Pretty Boy” Trudeau crossed them when, as well as making $158,000 plus benefits as an MP, he vacuumed up tens of thousands of extra dollars delivering speeches to various groups.

I agree with the Canadian Taxpayers Federation that MPs have a duty to represent their constituents, not line their own pockets.

As the federation’s B.C. director Jordan Bateman told me Tuesday, we pay Ottawa politicians to be fully engaged on our behalf: “We’re paying them for their full-time attention.”

But then, I also think those who paid Trudeau, including the Ontario Public Service Employees Union, are fools for parting with their cash. If anything, it should be the other way around.

Moonlighting is a complex issue. Many people need the money that earning a second income brings. But those who don’t may well be hurting those who do, especially if they come out of retirement.

Also, moonlighters may find themselves in all kinds of conflicts-ofinterest. As Simon Fraser University criminology director Rob Gordon pointed out, you don’t want a police officer running a bordello — or one who’s too exhausted to do his job.

That’s why there should be rules about these things. I mean, imagine what would happen if one of the 2011 Stanley Cup rioters had come before a judge like Sicari in Vancouver and started firing off one-liners.

Would the judge have warmed to his humour and given him a typically soft B.C. sentence? Or would he have had him locked up forever just because he hated his jokes?