It seems to me that a statement such as that made in open court is clear bias and raises grounds for appeal. Now, how you get that information to the appellate court may be tough. So, the clerk said there is no official records kept... she could have interpreted that as a transcript. Not every court does, by my local court will record the procedings. If necessary, the recording will be transcribed. This could be the case. Or, you could simply introduce your recording. I doubt you would get in any real trouble for it... and the court ruling that it is inadmissable would offer the appearance of impropriety so the court would likely shy away from that decision.

very interesting....