Archived Version: November 2, 2010
An information resource for Washington voters
Yakima Herald-Republic
Endorsements
District Court-- We rule for Sanderson,
Engel and Everett
Tuesday, October 12, 2010 — Yakima County voters in November will decide candidates for three judgeships on the Yakima County District Court: two open seats plus an incumbent facing a challenger.
Position 2 finds Yakima attorneys Brian Sanderson and Glen Warren seeking the seat now held by the retiring Rod Fitch. Position 3 Judge Don Engel has a challenger in Yakima County deputy prosecutor Steve Keller. In Position 4, Grandview attorney and Wapato Municipal Judge Mike Everett is squaring off against Wilkinson Corp. general counsel Doug Federspiel for the seat now held by Ralph Thompson, who was appointed in 2008. Position 1 Judge Kevin Roy is unopposed.
District Court judges hear both criminal and civil cases. Among the most serious of those criminal cases are drunken driving, hit-and-run and domestic violence; others include assault, harassment, resisting arrest, driving with a suspended license and reckless driving. District courts also have jurisdiction over infractions like speeding, disorderly conduct, driving with an expired license and littering.
Candidates who offered the most applicable experience in District Court-type cases fared best in interviews with the Yakima Herald-Republic editorial board. The board offers the following endorsements:
Position 2: Brian Sanderson
Sanderson's six years as a Selah Municipal Court judge and 10 years as judge pro tem in Superior and District courts give him the edge over Glen Warren. He has attended the Washington State Judicial College, which trains new judges. As a lawyer, Sanderson has specialized in defending employers in workers' compensation cases but also has done criminal defense work.
Warren argues his 32 years of legal experience make him best qualified. He has handled public defender contracts with Yakima and Union Gap municipal courts and has done public defense work in District Court. He also has served as a Superior Court-appointed arbitrator for the past 10 years and was recently sworn in as a judge pro tem in Superior Court. Warren, 59, argues that his "life experience" and longer legal tenure entitle him to the job over the younger Sanderson, 43: "My opponent has spent a lot of time practicing to be a judge," Warren told the editorial board. "You can't replace 32 years of experience."
But we find Sanderson's experience to be more applicable. He argues that it was the respect of Superior Court judges that led to his handling complex cases while judge pro-tem: "It's not just merely a list. They pick a judge who can do the job," Sanderson says.
Both acknowledge financial constraints facing courts these days. Warren is a strong advocate of a DUI court, similar to a drug court, in which prosecution is deferred if a defendant agrees to rehabilitation. County officials are studying such a court. Sanderson cites what he calls the "Selah approach" on fines, waiving a minimum assessment for indigent defendants in favor of getting them to pay something. He also wants to look at payment plans for fines.
The Yakima County Bar Association polls its members on how judicial candidates rank in seven areas: judicial temperament, judicial experience, legal experience, legal analytical ability, communication ability, knowledge of community and ability to be impartial.
In ranking areas in which the judges rated highly qualified, the bar association overwhelmingly ranked Sanderson higher across the board, and we agree.
Position 3: Donald Engel
Engel, who was appointed in 2004 and was unopposed for a full term in 2006, this year draws a challenger in Steve Keller.
Keller, who has worked 28 years as a county deputy prosecutor, bases his campaign on complaints from two Washington State Patrol troopers that Engel was slow to issue search warrants for blood to be drawn from a driver in two drunken-driving cases. Engel defends his actions, arguing the request for the warrants came after a two-hour threshold, a standard upheld by the state Supreme Court. Engel said he never heard anyone from the State Patrol make an issue of the warrants. We don't see the warrants issue as changing the game or as a need to change the judge.
The two agree on most other issues. Both want to give DUI courts a hard look, both advocate use of technology to cut filing costs, both agree District Court is a bare-bones financial operation.
The county bar association consistently gives Engel the most "highly qualified" ratings in all categories, and we go along with that.
Position 4: Mike Everett
Attorneys with very different backgrounds, experiences and styles are competing for the Thompson seat. And while the individuals are different, our call is close.
Everett comes across as the folksy small-town lawyer that he is, with six years as a part-time Wapato Municipal Court judge. He estimates he has argued 10,000 cases as a criminal attorney in Municipal and District courts and has argued two cases before the Washington state Supreme Court. He has served 10 years on the Grandview City Council and in the early 1980s ran for state Senate as a Democrat.
Doug Federspiel offers the intellectualism and insights of an experienced trial lawyer, which he is with Yakima's Wilkinson Corp. Before that he worked for Velikanje Moore & Shore, and he has tried cases in District Court. He has some experience as a judge pro tem in Superior Court and juvenile court, and has tried cases all over the United States in a variety of levels all the way up to federal courts.
Either one would serve well as District Court judge, but we like Mike Everett's experience and observations in dealing with the sorts of cases that come before a District Court judge, along with his recognition that Yakama Nation officials need to be included in confronting the drunken-driving problem in this county. Federspiel rates higher overall in a county bar poll that gives Everett the edge in a couple of areas. We recognize and respect that, but based on our interview, we rule in favor of Mike Everett for Position 4.
* Members of the Yakima Herald-Republic editorial board are James E. Stickel, Bob Crider, Frank Purdy and Karen Troianello.
Monday, October 18, 2010 — In the August primary, we wrote it was time for a new face and outlook on the Washington state Supreme Court as we endorsed former Court of Appeals Judge Charlie Wiggins over incumbent Justice Richard Sanders.
What held in August holds for November.
Wiggins would bring solid experience to the bench. In addition to serving on the state Court of Appeals, he has been a pro tem Superior Court judge in King and Jefferson counties. He also once headed the disciplinary board of the state bar association.
In an joint appearance with Sanders before the Yakima Herald-Republic editorial board last summer, Wiggins took issue with Sanders over ethical concerns, arguing Sanders has too often failed to maintain impartiality. One example involved Sanders visiting a commitment center holding violent sexual predators, one of whom was named in a pending case before the court. For this action, a special panel of the Supreme Court admonished Sanders. The justice later disqualified himself in the case.
Wiggins reserved his most blistering criticism of Sanders over disciplinary action against attorneys. The action involved an attorney who was convicted of first-degree child molestation of the 11-year-old son of a single mother who had been the attorney's former client. While eight justices strongly recommended disbarment of the attorney, Sanders dissented, arguing that when it comes to actions involving a former client, the Supreme Court should have followed the recommended sanctions of discipline by the American Bar Association: suspension, not disbarment. Sanders determined that the boy was not technically a client of the judge.
We fail to follow this logic, or lack thereof. Sanders' dissent totally ignored the issue of trust between an attorney and the families whom he represents -- along with the heinous crime the attorney committed.
Sanders is an ardent proponent of individual rights, especially those of the accused. But we argued in August he has become so passionate about protecting these rights that he has lost sight of his role as an arbiter of justice and finds himself, as in the case of the attorney convicted of child molestation, advocating a tortured line of argument.
Sanders is an ardent proponent of access to public records, a stand that brings a hearty cheer from our quarter. But in too many ways he is out of the mainstream.
Justice Sanders prides himself as the great dissenter on the Supreme Court. In fact, on his website, Sanders claims 367 dissenting opinions out of a total of 566 cases since he joined the court in 1995.
We dissent on Sanders' dissents and support Charles Wiggins for state Supreme Court.
* Members of the Yakima Herald-Republic editorial board are James E. Stickel, Bob Crider, Frank Purdy and Karen Troianello.
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