Posts Tagged ‘election’

An interesting judicial race is taking shape in Stevens County.  Judge Gina Tveit is defending the position of District Court Judge, to which she was appointed last year by the county commissioners.  (Her campaign site is here.) Challenging the incumbent is Spokane criminal defense lawyer Ronnie Rae who bought a home in the Loon Lake area in 2006. Driving through the county, you can see Gina Tveit signs up, but I didn’t see any for Ronnie Rae yet.  Ronnie Rae has been practicing law for 6 years and is just 32 years old (I have blogged about young candidates in the past here).  The only precedent I could find in Eastern Washington for a judicial candidate so young was 33-year-old John O. Cooney, who beat Mark Laiminger to become a Spokane District Court Judge.  But Cooney had name recognition – has dad was also named John Cooney and he was a judge too.

It seems like in judicial elections the race frequently comes down to name.  In 1990 the Chief Justice Keith Callow of Washington State, a widely respected judge who drew little controversy, was thrown off the bench by voters who chose instead a 39-year-old Charles Johnson who had never been an elected judge and who did not campaign.   Political analysts concluded that voters did not know either candidate and so they picked the one with a familiar-sounding name.  Then in 1998, some knucklehead named “Jim Foley” ran for Supreme Court and boasted of having the advantage of a name voters might mistake for Tom Foley, a former congressman and speaker of the House.  Foley beat an incumbent justice in the primary, but lost to Faith Ireland.  Ireland herself changed her name to “Ireland” from Enyeart a few years prior because it would be “easier” for people.

Let’s wait and see what happens with this judicial race in Stevens County.  Tveit is pretty popular in Stevens County, it seems like Rae will have one heck of a hill to climb.

For more on other judicial races see here.

I know it is an off year for elections, but there are still good election battles going on.  Let’s start with the Grant County prosecutor race.  It all started when Grant County Prosecuting Attorney John Knodell decided that he wanted to run for judge last Fall.  He ran for Ken Jorgensen’s seat.  When Knodell was elected judge, he resigned from his job as prosecutor in the middle of his term.  The commissioners then appointed Angus Lee for the position, who I blogged about in an earlier post.   Angus Lee is a charismatic, 30-something Iraq war vet who was working in District Court prosecuting such cases as DUI and assaults.

Angus Lee

He was interviewed by the Grant County Commissioners, and must have charmed them because he was selected over several more experienced deputy prosecutors.  Angus Lee faces a electoral challenge from Albert Lin, an amiable ’97 Syracuse Law grad with lots of felony trials under his belt.

Albert Lin

Things got interesting when retired judge Ken Jorgensen weighed in on the political race in a letter to the editor.  Jorgensen attacked Angus Lee as inexperienced, asking “Would you hire an attorney who had no courtroom experience to represent you in an important trial?  Grant County interim prosecuting attorney Angus Lee has only been in the county for little over two years. He was admitted to the Bar in July 2005 and hired by Grant County in 2006. He has never tried a felony case in Superior Court. He has not even tried a case in Superior Court since he was appointed.”  It is true that Angus Lee is a pretty recent law school grad, but his education was delayed while he served in Iraq.

The voters seem to be turning a deaf ear toward Jorgensen, because Angus Lee was ahead in the primary.   Now that he is retired, I will say that Jorgensen seemed to get a little ornery as time has gone on.   The last time I had a case in front of him in Grant County, he became annoyed at me when I requested color copies of crime scene photographs, as opposed to black-and-white photocopies.  Ooooookay.  As to Angus Lee and Albert Lin, I have worked a little with both, and both would seem to do a good job.  The election contest has lit up the blogs down there, see for example Grant County PowerNet.

Meanwhile, up in Omak, Washington, we are witnessing an election battle for city council between Chris Thew and Nattalie Cariker.  Thew is a former reporter from the Omak Chronicle, and I enjoyed his news stories there.  He really seemed to try to cover all perspectives.  Reporters would seem to have good qualifications for running for city council.  They often sit through meetings, and are probably well versed on the Open Public Meetings Act, and Public Record Act.   Nattalie Cariker also knows a little something about the law, having worked as a police officer for the city of Brewster, and having studied criminal justice at WSU.  A big function of any city government is working with the police department.

Up in the city of Republic, retired-attorney Alexander Wirt faces a city council election challenge from Larry Heming.

An issue before the Republic City Council is the over-population of tame deer. Feeding the deer is illegal; allowing them to come forward and sniff an apple is not.

Alex Wirt ran for Ferry County Prosecuting Attorney against me in ’98, and against other opponents in ’02 and ’06, but he never won.   He gave up his bar license when he retired, so he does not appear to pose an election threat against the current Ferry County Prosecuting Attorney Mike Sandona.  Mike Sandona faces re-election next year.  See earlier post.

In Spokane, lawyer Bryan Whitaker is taking on Tracy Staab for judge.

Bryan Whitaker

Bryan Whitaker is an attorney in private practice who also works as a pro tem judge.  He has highlighted the fact that he is actually a resident of the city of Spokane, while the incumbant Tracy Staab lives outside the city limits.  There is no requirement in the city code that a judge live in the city, but as a matter of Spokane pride this issue seems to have captured people’s attention.  The Spokesman-Review ran an editorial endorsing Tracy Staab and opining that the residency of the candidates should be a non-issue.  However, in an otherwise slow election year the Spokesman’s reporters continue to cover the debate on this issue.

Tracy Staab

The issue has dragged in other city officials who have been quick to get involved, including Bob Apple, who characterized Staab as a “carpetbagger” in an email.  Jim Camden wrote an opinion piece correcting his use of the term.   Tracy Staab has highlighted the fact that she received a higher rating from the Spokane County Bar Association, and has a broader array of support from sitting judges.

The job Staab and Whitaker are running for is the position of Municipal Court Judge.  The only criminal court cases that a Municipal Court Judge hears are misdemeanors and gross misdemeanors such as DUI, simple assaults, petty theft, and possession of small amounts of marijuana.  Both candidates have broad experience in their background including work as a prosecutor and as a criminal defense lawyer.

What are my predictions for the ’09 election year?  That would put the winners as Angus Lee, Chris Thew, Larry Heming, and Tracy Staab.  Time will tell.

As always, I welcome everyone to post comments, but please limit input to constructive, thoughtful comments.

I had high hopes for Greg Ridgley, the 18-year-old Spokane city council candidate.   He was young, nervy, and full of new ideas for the Lilac City.  And lets face it, he would have provided lots of things to blog about.   I wrote about him last month here.  At 11:05 a.m. an individual named “bonzai” posted a comment on that article predicting: “Today is judgment day for young Mr. Ridgley. I bet he gets only 3 or 4% of the vote in today’s primary.”

Well, right you were, the results were released at 8:00 p.m. by the Secretary of State, and Mr. Ridgley only received 3.34% of the vote.  Mr. bonzai made a good prediction.  The results of the election are here.

The 3.34% that Ridgley received was way lower than lawyer Steven Eugster received at 16%, and he ran for election after having been suspended from the state bar.   Eugster was known for suing the city of Spokane.    Ridgley, did however, soundly beat (by a 3-2) margin David Elton, a candidate for city council who recently was arrested for threatening to kill the council president, according to news stories.  Maybe that was the problem – the protest vote was split this year.  If you are really fed up with city government, do you vote for:  1) an attorney that sues the city,  2) a man who allegedly threatens to kill city officials, or 3) do you vote for an 18-year-old out of protest?

Maybe the protest chic of voting in an 18-year-old has worn off.  18-year-olds can and do win election races, according to news stories.   But I started to worry about Greg Ridgley’s chances when he never really developed a strong internet campaign.  It seems if you are young, you at least have to use the medium that favors your demographic.  Also, when I would travel to Spokane for court, I really didn’t see his campaign signs up.  He made a lot of campaign appearances, and I am sure he really got a lot of public speaking experience.  He seems to be taking the election loss in stride.  His latest posting on Facebook is “Greg went all in and lost in Texas Hold ‘Em Poker.”

Indeed you did Mr. Ridgley.  We hope to see you again.

Last week, I wrote about the young among us with electoral ambitions.  (article).  Now, I write about the older folks.  The Washington State Constitution prohibits attorneys from serving as judges once they turn 75 years old.

You are NOT taking my gavel

The State Constitution provides: A judge of the supreme court or the superior court shall retire from judicial office at the end of the calendar year in which he attains the age of seventy-five years. The legislature may, from time to time, fix a lesser age for mandatory retirement, not earlier than the end of the calendar year in which any such judge attains the age of seventy years, as the legislature deems proper.

Is that fair?

In June, I was in Chelan for some training, and State Supreme Court Justice Gerry Alexander was one of the speakers.  He mentioned to us that he would be unable to serve much longer because he would turn 75 before his term expired.  He did not seem too happy about that fact, but he did not solicit the help of the attorneys in trying to amend the Constitution.   Nevertheless, I have seen opinion pieces popping up suggesting that the law be changed to allow judges to serve longer.   There is a blog I read called  Supreme Court of Washington Blog, that brought to my attention an editorial in the Vancouver Columbian that strongly criticizes this mandatory retirement age for judges.  The Columbian points out that this rule was created in 1952, and that people are living longer.  I agree that this age limit of 75 should be changed.  Seeing Justice Alexander give his presentation in June, he certainly seemed like he was on top of his game.  When I represented Ferry County in front of the Supreme Court on a Growth Management Act case, he certainly seemed like a very thoughtful justice.   However, the Columbian editorial took the position that there should be no upper limit to judicial retirement age at all.  I am not sure I agree with that.  On one hand it makes sense to let the voters make up their own minds.  But on the other hand, it is a historical fact that sometimes judge in our society have not always known when to hang up their black robe.   In his book, The Psychology of the Supreme Court, Lawrence Wrightsman, writes:  Some Justices become physically disabled or even senile, but refuse to retire.  Justice William O. Douglas had a stroke on the last day of 1974 that left him partially paralyzed.  His speech was impaired, and one arm and one leg did not function.  he missed much of the 1974-75 term, returned in the Fall of 1975, and was not at full strength.  In fact, he was often confused and would refer to people by the wrong names, or not be able to respond at all.

But it is not just stubbornness that sometimes leads judges to hang on past their prime.  Wrightsman explains that several justices refused to retire until they could be assured that someone with similar views would replace them.

The Columbian takes the position that the answer to judicial retirement is simple – it should be left to the voters and that there should be no mandatory retirement age at all.  That would worry me.   Is it really dignified to have the possible senility of judges to be discussed in the public realm?  What attorney in his or her right mind would want to level that sort of accusation against a judge?  Is it left to the fellow justices on the court?   When William Douglas grew incapacitated while still on the bench, all the other judges agreed to simply continue to the following year any cases in which he was the deciding vote.  But none of those judges at the time publicly criticized the judge, or suggested his impeachment.  So is it left to the newspapers to ferret out judges that are too old for the job?  Does the Columbian really want to discuss the senility of justices in their election-year editorials?

What does everyone else think?  Should the upper limit be increased to 78 or 80?  Maybe the law should be changed so that any judge elected before age 75 could at least serve out the rest of his or her term.  What advantages are there to having a judge that is over 75?

I know, I know, the election is over a year away, but a year goes fast in politics.  And it is never to early to talk about who you might want to see on the ballot next year. Below are four possible names to consider.  The list consists of gentlemen who have run for Sheriff in the past or have been “nominated” by people making comments in my blog.  See May 24th’s Poll for Ferry County Sheriff.  Keep in mind that none of these men have announced any candidacies, but we can give them encouragement right now.  As for me, I am undecided for now as to who I think would be best.

Feel free to comment on why you think each person would be good for the job too.  (Comments that are positive about the person you are encouraging to run will be more likely to be posted then negative comments about who you do not want to run.)

On June 8th, I will be posting a poll to gauge what the public might be looking for in a Sheriff candidate next year in Ferry County.   Who do you think might be a good candidate?   As of now, I am going to post Pete Warner, Tom Williams, and Bret Roberts.   I don’t know what plans they might have on whether or not to run, but those are the three individuals in the area that have run for Sheriff in the past and are still employed in law enforcement.   Does anyone have any other suggestions for anybody else who should run, or should be included in this poll?   Have your suggestions in by the 5th.

It is not too often that you hear about public officials getting a 60 or 70 percent raise in a given year; but that is exactly what happened to many of Washington’s prosecutors last year.   The biggest beneficiaries were the elected prosecuting attorneys in Washington’s most rural counties. Many of the small town prosecutors toiled away for years making 45 or 50 thousand. Until July of 2008. In that hot summer month it wasn’t the heat that was making the small-town prosecutors of Washington swoon. It was the heady feeling of new found economic largess. That July in Garfield County, for example, the elected prosecuting attorney went from making 52 thousand per year to a 100,000. In a rural county closer to my home, the elected prosecutor went from 62 thousand to 106 thousand per year. The rationale of the pay raise was explained by the executive director of the Washington Association of Prosecuting Attorneys. As covered by a blog of the News Tribune, McBride explained that small counties often have trouble finding people to run for prosecutor because it pays so little. And when they do find someone, they stay only one 4-year term and then go back to private practice so they can make more money. Well, McBride was right.  Prosecutors are now hoping to stay in office alright, but their new found glee was short-lived as they quickly realized they would have a target on their back in the next election of 2010.

Is it just me, or am I the only traveling lawyer who has gotten sick of all the speculation as to who is running for prosecutor in such counties as Ferry, Garfield, Okanogan, Stevens, Columbia, Asotin etc.?  It seems like small town defense lawyers, divorce lawyers, etc are already trying to recast themselves as potential candidates for prosecutor.  I am a former prosecuting attorney myself, and maybe that is why a defense lawyer recently approached me for advice on how they can work his image for a 2010 candidacy. Defense lawyers who have for years opposed the death penalty and have publicly supported the legalization of drugs are now working to garner a conservative, law-and-order vote.   Will these defense lawyers still have the same zing to their cross examinations of law enforcement officers?

It seems like incumbent prosecutors are also feeling the pressure from potential new arrivals escaping the economic downturn.  It is no secret that there have been considerable lay-offs at the larger public defense agencies in this state, as well as larger firms laying off newly hired associates. Some of these attorneys are filtering down to smaller counties. Transplants are discovering the liberal residency requirement for candidates in this state. Under State law, a candidate must only live in the county in question for 30 days before he declares his candidacy. Many of these small towns are quite a bit off the beaten path, and don’t see too many new lawyers in town. When I am on the road for court, or even here in town, I am regularly asked if I am planning to run for prosecutor.   How do you tell people “no” and have them accept that?  When I say “no, I am not running for prosecutor” it seems like people always study my face for a minute to see if I am being coy.   There are already three- and four-way races discussed.   The year 2010 should be interesting for those of us sitting on the sidelines.  What do you think?  How much will these pay raises change the 2010 prosecutorial election races?

(Steve Graham was elected Prosecuting Attorney for Ferry County in 1998 when he was 28. He did not run again.)