Skagit Valley Herald

Endorsements

Third term for Becker would be well-deserved

Saturday, September 9, 2006 — The state's Court of Appeals is the first stop for litigants and criminal defendants seeking to undo what they see as bad lower-court decisions. Appeals judges must be well-grounded in the law, fair-minded and hold to the highest standards of integrity.

We believe that Mary Kay Becker meets the test on all scores. A veteran of two six-year terms on the appeals bench, Becker is widely respected in the legal community and by her judicial colleagues. Decisions she has written have been well-reasoned and set a high standard for the court.

Becker's Division I, District 3 position covers Skagit, Whatcom, Snohomish, Island and San Juan counties. She has been serving northwest Washington in a variety of capacities for 30 years, ever since being elected to the state Legislature in 1975.

After four terms in the Legislature, Becker served on the Whatcom County Council and then spent eight years in private practice as an attorney in Bellingham. She was elected to the Court of Appeals in 1994, where she has served with distinction.

The King County Bar Association, the state's largest bar group, has rated Becker "Exceptionally Well Qualified," as have other rating organizations. The state bar organization does not rate judicial candidates.

Becker is also endorsed by most of the sitting members of the state Supreme Court and her appeals court colleagues. All four of Skagit County's superior court judges have endorsed her, as have most judges in the other counties served by Division I.

Her challenger in the race that will be decided in the primary is Jeffery B. Teichert, a Bellingham attorney who is among a group of candidates for appeals and supreme court positions being aggressively backed by the Building Industry Association of Washington.

Teichert tars Becker with the standard ultra-right rhetoric about "activist judges." that "legislate from the bench." The charge is spurious. He is also a property rights absolutist who would seriously undermine the state's growth management regulations. He considers himself to be a Constitutional "originalist" who wants fewer regulations for business but more intrusion into the private lives of citizens.

Becker is an easy choice.

VotingforJudges.org, P.O. Box 1460, Silverdale, WA  98383
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