Judges Ask Panel to Investigate Absence of Defeated Colleague

Judges have asked the state Commission on Judicial Performance to investigate one of their colleagues who has been at work only a few hours since losing a June election while continuing to collect a $74,432 annual salary.

Municipal Judge Raymond Byrne, whose term ends at midnight Sunday, has refused to comment about his absence.

“As a public official in a democracy, he should have fulfilled his term in office,” said Mark Tansil, who defeated Byrne at the polls. “You don’t just walk off the job.”

Sonoma County officials say it has cost $16,000 to pay other judges to pick up the slack caused by Byrne’s absence.

Byrne’s wife has said her 56-year-old husband is ill, but has not explained further.

Stephanie Joy, a public defender for five years, said she thinks Byrne’s absence can be traced to a heavy workload and the bitter election campaign.

“I know he has been sick,” she said. “We talked around Christmas time. He was under a lot of pressure during the election. . . . The campaign, the fighting off the attacks, combined with his heavy case load--it just wore him down. . . .”

During the weekend of Dec. 20, someone stripped Byrne’s office of an estimated $10,000 in furnishings he added at his own expense after he was elected in 1980. The furnishings included a carpet, an oak desk, a leather couch, a sink and a refrigerator. The room had been a bare jury assembly room when Byrne took it over.