Walla Walla Union-Bulletin

Endorsements

By the Editorial Board of the Union-Bulletin

September 27, 2010 — Richard B. Sanders has served 14 years as state Supreme Court Justice. During that time Sanders has been a polarizing and controversial member of the court.

Sanders has staunch libertarian philosophy combined with his penchant for strict, literal interpretation of the text of laws. And he is very proud of it.

His libertarian bent has some positive aspects. It, for example, forces the court's eight other justices to view the law from a different perspective. As we've said in the past, Sanders has clearly made for more intellectually stimulating -- and very interesting -- debates at the Temple of Justice.

Still, we have growing concerns about Sanders' negative impact on the court. His unbending approach -- black or white with no shades of gray -- does not necessarily serve justice. The truth can be ignored and criminals can be released from prison on legal technicalities.

In addition, Sanders does not acknowledge government's role as an advocate for the collective good of the people.

In the primary, we endorsed Bryan Chushcoff, who came in third behind Sanders and Charlie Wiggins, a Tacoma attorney.

Still, we saw Wiggins as a strong candidate to replace Sanders.

Wiggins, whose experience is mostly in private practice, has a sharp legal mind and has demonstrated a passionate commitment to his community. He has a long list of legal accomplishments and is well respected in his profession.

Wiggins' impressive history of public service rivals only his long list of legal accomplishment.

Sanders, too, has a keen mind.

If re-elected, the people would be served by Sanders.

But his unbending approach to the law is not always productive. The people -- and justice -- would be better served with a more moderate justice who would look at the law in context rather than rendering staunch, literal interpretations.

We believe Wiggins would be a fine justice and we recommend he be elected to the state Supreme Court.

Monahan Hood has edge in part-time District Court judge race

While both candidates are solid, we recommend Monahan Hood based on her diverse experiences.

October 11, 2010 — Bridie Monahan Hood and Kris Hedine are solid, respected attorneys in the Valley. Either would do a fine job in the position of part-time Walla Walla County District Court judge.

We give the edge, albeit a slight one, to Monahan Hood.

Her diverse experiences, particularly representing indigent clients in child dependency cases, and her community involvement give her some insights that could be of value in District Court. Her experiences would bring new perspectives and would seem to be a good complement to the experiences of the full-time District Court judge, John Knowlton.

Monahan Hood seems to have a temperament that fits well with District Court.

Hedine is a sound choice. He has years of experience as an attorney in District Court and currently serves a judge pro tem in that court.

Like Monahan Hood, there's no question he can do the job.

Voters simply can't go wrong here.

But in this race we recommend Monahan Hood.

VotingforJudges.org, P.O. Box 1460, Silverdale, WA  98383
Write to [email protected].

As the election approaches, Votingforjudges.org will include ratings and endorsements from numerous organizations. We provide this information so that voters will be better informed about the candidates. We do not rate or endorse any candidates; the ratings and endorsements of organizations included at this site reflect the views of those individual organizations and not necessarily the views of votingforjudges.org or its sponsors.