Did sitting appellate judges get their supper for free?

Conservatives want judges to sing for their supper and submit to contested elections — but will that pimp out the bench? | Jeff Woods | Nashville Scene:

Calling it a threat to their independence and integrity, judges on the state's highest courts are descending into the muddy political trenches of the legislature to try to put down a conservative populist uprising.

The judges are apoplectic over the possibility of a change in state law that they say would put justice up for sale in Tennessee. It would end their comfy, hard-to-lose yes/no elections and force them to hit the hustings like common politicians to shake down fat cats, cut backroom deals, kiss babies, talk tough in TV ads and promise the moon to voters in competitive campaigns.

But having already been placed on the bench by a coalition of powerful special interests and powerful politicians, did sitting appellate judges get their supper for free?