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Several times now, User:YouNotSneaky! has added to the article information about past political contributions by Haywood Gilliam.[1] It's sourced to The Epoch Times, not generally regarded as a Reliable Source, but I will AGF that they got it from one of the public databases about political donations. (The database I checked listed only one donation from Judge Gilliam, to a school.) Here's my problem with this and why I have deleted it twice now: We don't normally include such information in articles about judges or cabinet members. Examples: Brett Kavanaugh has donated to multiple Republican candidates as well as the RNC and GW Bush; not mentioned in his article. Neil Gorsuch has donated to the RNC as well as to GW Bush and John McCain; not mentioned in his article. William Barr donated megabucks to the RNC, in the range of $20,000 in 2015 and again in 2017; not mentioned in his article. These figures are readily searchable at [2]. But that's primary sources and original research/analysis. Unless Reliable Sources give this kind of thing widespread coverage, it does not belong in these articles. Unless it becomes a public issue with widespread coverage, it is irrelevant to their biography and could be taken as an attempt to make them look biased. -- MelanieN (talk) 03:07, 27 May 2019 (UTC)[reply]
I think we should add campaign donations to all judges' articles regardless of political affiliation. Here are his donations to Obama's first presidential campaign: [3] and here are his donations to his re-election campaign and donations to the Democratic National Committee: [4]. Almost $30,000 in total. In 2012, Haywood Gilliam was one of the 0.4% of people who donated more than $200 to a political campaign ([5]). I believe this shows he deeply believed in Barack Obama and his agenda. If a federal judge is among the 0.4% most committed Obama supporters and later stops Trump from building his wall, that is significant. Likewise, if a federal judge donated tens of thousands of dollars to Trump, and later strikes down one of Obama's earlier actions, we should most definitely include those donations in that judge's page. I apologize for posting on the wrong page, your personal page. YouNotSneaky! (talk) 03:18, 27 May 2019 (UTC)[reply]
No problem; thanks for coming here. I can understand your belief that such contributions should always be listed, but the fact is that here at Wikipedia they hardly ever are. I showed you examples above of several very prominent judges and cabinet members whose substantial political contributions are not mentioned in their articles. In fact I have only seen two articles with this kind of information - this one and Edgardo Ramos - and in both cases, it was added in the last few days, referenced to pro-Trump sources, in a clear attempt to make the judge look biased. Here's what Wikipedia's general policy is about what we include in articles: it has to have been previously published, in a Reliable Source such as a newspaper, and it has to have gotten SIGNIFICANT coverage, generally taken to mean multiple sources to establish it as actually newsworthy. The other relevant policy is that when there is a disagreement about what to include, it has to be discussed and consensus reached about whether to include it or not. So let's wait a day or two and see if other people weigh in here on the subject. In the meantime, because it has been challenged, it should be left out of the article. -- MelanieN (talk) 03:36, 27 May 2019 (UTC)[reply]
P.S. regarding Likewise, if a federal judge donated tens of thousands of dollars to Trump, and later strikes down one of Obama's earlier actions, we should most definitely include those donations in that judge's page.: As I noted above, William Barr gave tens of thousands of dollars to the Republican party, and now in his role as Attorney General he is taking many actions that favor Trump, but we don't mention his donations in the article. As we shouldn't, because it hasn't been made a point of by news sources. -- MelanieN (talk) 03:39, 27 May 2019 (UTC)[reply]
