Countywide

San Diego County Superior Court Judge Patricia Benke became Gov. George Deukmejian’s first female appellate court appointee Wednesday when her nomination to the 4th District Court of Appeal was confirmed.

The Commission on Judicial Appointments voted, 3-0, for the nomination after a hearing in which Benke was endorsed by four other judges, including Daniel Kremer, a former colleague in the attorney general’s office who is now presiding justice of the San Diego-based appeal court.

Members of the commission were California Chief Justice Malcolm Lucas, Atty. Gen. John Van de Kamp and Presiding Justice John Trotter of the appeal court’s Santa Ana division.

Benke, 38, succeeds Justice Gerald Lewis, who retired.

A Republican who has worked in Pete Wilson’s campaigns for San Diego mayor and U.S. Senate, she spent nine years in the attorney general’s office before being appointed by Deukmejian to the San Diego Municipal Court in 1983 and to the Superior Court in 1985.

In December, she was the only woman among six candidates announced by Deukmejian for the three Supreme Court vacancies created by the defeat of Chief Justice Rose Elizabeth Bird and Justices Cruz Reynoso and Joseph Grodin in the November election. Deukmejian eventually appointed David Eagleson, John Arguelles and Marcus Kaufman.

The five men on Deukmejian’s list were all appellate judges with far more judicial experience, and Benke, who had sought only an appeal court appointment from the governor, was not widely regarded as a leading contender for the high court.

But her status as Deukmejian’s first female appellate appointee could make her a leading candidate for a Supreme Court vacancy eventually. Bird was the only woman ever appointed to the court, and women’s groups criticized Deukmejian for not naming another woman.