Judge Lim announces re-election bid for ’22
Tallapoosa Circuit Chief Judge Meng Lim, who continues to be under an inquiry by a state commission for judicial misconduct, announced last week that he will seek re-election to the position in 2022.
Lim, who has served as a superior court judge in the Tallapoosa Judicial Circuit since January 2015, officially announced his intention to run for re-election in a press release that mentions his history as a Cambodian refugee and the valedictorian of his senior class at Bremen High School.
He began practicing law in 1998, and is the first elected Asian American superior court judge in the state of Georgia. He was reelected to a second term in 2018. The Tallapoosa Circuit includes Polk and Haralson counties.
Meanwhile, the inquiry into formal charges of willful misconduct and conduct detrimental to the administration of justice made by the state Judicial Qualifications Commission against Lim continues to go through the proper procedures.
The charges, filed on July 22 with the Georgia Supreme Court, accuse Lim of 16 separate violations of the state Code of Judicial Conduct stemming from accusations related to Lim allegedly having a romantic relationship with a former Polk County Court Clerk’s Office employee and using his influence and personal relationship with a participant in the Tallapoosa Circuit Drug Court program to get him preferred treatment in 2016.
According to the filing with the state Supreme Court, an investigation by the JQC began last year after the Georgia Bureau of Investigation investigated a report of a domestic violence situation involving Lim’s family in Haralson County.
Lim was arrested on July 2, 2020, and charged with misdemeanor battery under the Family Violence Act, but a Haralson County grand jury failed to indict him on the charges.
The JQC filing states that information discovered during the GBI investigation into the domestic violence allegations led to further investigation of Lim by the commission’s investigative panel.
Lim’s attorney, Dennis T. Cathey, filed a response to the accusations to the JQC on Sept. 22 asking that all formal charges be
dismissed. The response referenced the amount of time that had passed since the drug court incidents and Lim’s attempts since then to correct his errors.
It also insisted that Lim’s private life should not be under scrutiny in regards to his relationship with the former clerk’s office employee, and that he was formally separated from his wife during that time.
Motions are expected to be filed in the inquiry by Dec. 6, while a date for the final hearing of the JQC will be set for early next year.