Pair Trade Bitter Barbs in Judgeship Campaign

The excitement in the Orange County Municipal Court campaigns was supposed to be generated in North Court, the only place where an incumbent judge is facing a challenger in the Nov. 4 election and the site of two of the county’s three Municipal Court races.

But it’s in Central Municipal Court, where two prosecutors are vying for the seat vacated by Bobby Youngblood, that the campaign jabs have barbed-wire edges.

Orange County Deputy Dist. Atty. James M. Brooks’ descriptions of his opponent, Long Beach Deputy Prosecutor Paul S. Robbins, include: “underhanded,” “deliberately misleads the voters,” “dirty campaigner” and “a jerk.”

The phrases Robbins uses against Brooks include: “a dismal record as a prosecutor,” “dirty campaign,” “a liar” and “injected partisan politics into a nonpartisan race.”

Brooks Won First Round

Brooks was a clear winner in the first round with Robbins when he beat him in the June 6 primary, 48% to 38% of the votes cast. But a third candidate, Diane D. Nordby, received 14% of the votes, blocking anyone from winning a majority and forcing the two prosecutors into a November runoff.

Robbins clearly won the next round. Soon after the primary, each took the other to court in a lawsuit over campaign statements filed with the county registrar’s office. Robbins was successful in getting disparaging remarks about himself thrown out of Brooks’ campaign statement. Brooks was also successful in getting damaging remarks about himself thrown out of Robbins’ statement.

But Robbins went to the 4th District Court of Appeal and got the anti-Brooks section put back into his campaign statement. Brooks did not appeal.

The result is that Brooks’ statement makes no reference to Robbins. Robbins’ statement accuses Brooks of misappropriating county property and says Orange County Dist. Atty. Cecil Hicks once threatened to fire him.

Brooks is so angry about it that he is threatening a libel suit against Robbins.

“I can prove everything I’ve said,” Robbins said.

“It’s just not true,” Brooks said. “It never happened. I’ve never seen anything so underhanded in my life.”

In 1980, Brooks’ signature was on a political mailer sent out by a Municipal Court judge who was seeking reelection. The mailer carried a seal with the scales of justice on it.

Robbins’ Claim

Robbins claims the use of that seal constituted “misappropriating county property” because it was a replica of the county seal and Brooks was not authorized to use it.

But Brooks points out that he did not pay for the political mailer. Besides, he said, it was not the county seal or an official seal of any kind.

“Misappropriating county property is a theft,” Brooks said. “Accusing someone of theft is libelous in this state if you can’t back it up.”

Hicks was upset at the time and threatened disciplinary action against Brooks but eventually dropped the matter. The longtime district attorney served as master of ceremonies at a fund-raiser for Brooks this year, which Brooks claims says more about Hicks’ attitude toward him than what happened six years ago.

Robbins counters that Brooks tried to mislead the voters in his proposed campaign statement with the selective use of poll information. Brooks’ original statement said Brooks got an 86% favorable rating in an Orange County Bar Assn. poll and that more than 40% of the lawyers surveyed said his opponent, Robbins, was unqualified to be a judge.

But actually less than 5% of the total number of poll respondents listed Robbins as unqualified. Only 30% of the total respondents listed Brooks as qualified. Most of those polled listed both men as “unknown.” Brooks came up with his figures by using only the percentages of those who responded, and not including the “unknowns.”

Interprets Poll Favorably

Brooks insists the poll shows that he has more respect among Orange County lawyers than Robbins. Robbins says there were too many unknowns for it to mean anything.

Brooks, 49, who has been a prosecutor 13 years, is running for the first time. He has been endorsed by more than 30 Superior Court and Municipal Court judges and more than 20 police associations in Orange County.

Robbins, 45, ran unsuccessfully against incumbent Harbor Municipal Court Judge Robert J. Polis in 1982. Robbins has been a Long Beach prosecutor for 12 years.

Robbins also points to work he has done for two help groups--Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) and the Adam Walsh Center in Orange County, which aids in cases of child molestation and child-stealing.

Robbins, who says he has lived in Orange County since 1973, has endorsements from the California Organization of Police and Sheriffs, the California Republican Assembly and Doris Tate, mother of slain actress Sharon Tate, who is founder of Parents of Murdered Children.

North Court races are less lively.

Incumbent Municipal Judge Betty L. Elias narrowly missed winning reelection outright in the spring. Incumbent judges rarely are unseated in Orange County unless an opponent can come up with a sizable campaign war chest.

Her opponent, James A. Bates, has little campaign money and is relying heavily on door-to-door campaigning.

His main issue during the primary was community opposition to Elias’ ruling that drunk-driving checkpoints are unconstitutional. Since the primary, the 4th District Court of Appeal in Santa Ana has agreed with Elias.

Bates still considers it an important controversy. “I think she misread the whole issue,” he said.

But Elias says the appellate court’s support for her decision should eliminate checkpoints as an effective campaign issue for Bates.

Bates has not run before but he is optimistic about his chances despite the lopsided primary vote--48% for Elias, 32% for Bates and 20% for William H. Randall, forcing the Elias-Bates runoff.

“I really believe I’m going to pick up most of (Randall’s) votes,” Bates said. “Those votes weren’t for him; they were votes against her.”

Santa Ana Law Practice

Bates, 42, practices law in Santa Ana. He says in his campaign statement that the drunk-driving checkpoint is “an extremely minor inconvenience, which most of us will gladly accept in order to promote safety.”

Elias, 59, has been on the bench for 10 years. She has been active in the Arthritis Foundation and the YMCA and has served on the Fullerton Unified School District Advisory Board.

Both Elias and Bates point to her courtroom performance in their campaigns.

Bates claims she is insensitive to people who appear in her courtroom. Elias says voters should come to her courtroom to see for themselves.

The second North Court race, for the seat of Logan Moore, who retired, is relatively low-key.

Roger B. Robbins, 49, a Riverside County deputy prosecutor, is running against North Court Commissioner Richard E. Behn, 45.

Behn has been a commissioner for three years and was in private practice for 13 years before that. Robbins (no relation to Paul Robbins) has been a prosecutor for 10 years.

Robbins refers to his opponent as “Mr. Behn” and Behn refers to Robbins as “Roger.”

“I think it’s fair to say there really aren’t any issues in our race,” Robbins said. “We each want the job; we each think we’re the most qualified.”

Behn agrees with Robbins, who has lived in Orange County for more than 30 years, that the fact that Robbins’ job is in Riverside County is not a legitimate campaign issue.

“I think my experience is stronger than his, but, actually, this is a pretty clean race,” Behn said.

James M. Brooks

Betty L. Elias

Paul S. Robbins

Roger B. Robbins

James A. Bates

Richard E. Behn