Local Elections : ‘Judge’ Was the Winning Word on Ballots

Regardless of ratings by the Los Angeles County Bar Assn., newspaper endorsements or expensive slate mailings, only one trdnd ran true through the county judicial contests Tuesday: Every candidate whose occupational designation on the ballot mentioned “judge” won his or her election.

Indeed the only judge to be defeated, the Superior Court’s Roberta Ralph, who lost to attorney Harvey A. Schneider, had made the mistake of listing herself merely as ‘incumbent’ rather than “Judge of the Superior Court” as the other Superior Court judges had done.

“Today, I was told a lot of the voters don’t have the faintest idea what “incumbent” means,” Ralph remarked ruefully in her chambers Wednesday.

Judicial elections are most frequently low-profile contests, and getting good ratings from the Bar, appearing on slates, and getting endorsements from newspapers or labor unions often seem to the candidates to provide the public attention needed to prevail.

Can’t Guarantee Success

But Tuesday’s results showed that none of these can guarantee success.

For instance, all three judges rated “not qualified” by the Los Angeles County Bar Assn. won handily over more highly rated opponents.

Superior Court Judge Henry Patrick Nelson, accused by the Bar of lacking judicial temperament, captured 76% of the vote to defeat attorney Joe Ingber, rated “qualified.”

With 61% of the vote, Los Angeles Municipal Judge Michael Nash, also said to lack judicial temperament, defeated attorney Enda Thomas Brennan, rated “qualified.”

And Southeast Municipal Judge Russell F. Schooling, accused both of bias and lack of judicial temperament by the Bar, won 58% of the vote to defeat attorney Carlos de la Fuente, rated “well qualified.”

Different factors seemed to have prevailed in each contest. The most serious accusations of malfeasance were leveled against Schooling, the only judge of the three not to publicly respond to criticism of him.

Although the Bar would not give a detailed explanation of its rating, he was accused by some attorneys who had appeared in his court of exhibiting blatant prejudice against Latinos, openly insulting those who had hyphenated last names by accusing them of using aliases.

But de la Fuente decided not to discuss Schooling’s conduct in his campaign. He noted that while 81% of the population in his judicial district, which encompasses Huntington Park, South Gate, Vernon, Maywood, Bell, Bell Gardens and Cudahy, is Latino, only 31% of the registered voters are Latino. He also said he had some scruples about “bad taste” in raising such issues.

In the race, the vote appeared to have split largely along ethnic lines and Schooling won.

With Nelson and Nash, they mounted spirited defenses, accusing the Bar Assn. of playing along with attorneys who were annoyed with them for meting out tough justice to criminals and practicing strict control of attorneys. Nelson said he was “stern” with attorneys, and Nash said he had no apologies for running a tough courtroom in crime-plagued Hollywood.

Both Nelson and Nash retained the consulting services of Joseph Cerrell, whose firm prevailed in all 14 races it handled but one, where its candidate won a position in a November runoff.

A 3 to 1 Victory

“How does Henry Nelson get a 3 to 1 (victory) with a “not qualified?” asked Cerrell Wednesday.

“Thank God for The Times,” he answered, referring to the endorsement Nelson got from the newspaper. “Yet The Times wasn’t with Judge (Sherrill) Luke, and he won. If you don’t have the Bar, then you try to get The Times, and if not them, then you get on as many (mail) slates as possible. You get the most of these assets you can.”

For their part, Bar Assn. officials said they would reevaluate their means of both explaining their ratings and publicizing them.

“The results show that it’s very, very hard to defeat an incumbent judge,” said Margaret Morrow, who will become the new County Bar president July 1. The outgoing president, Larry Feldman, said: “The slates mean a lot, more than anything. And publicity, more publicity would have meant a lot to us.”

In other results:

- Much-assailed Municipal judges in Glendale (Barbara Burke), Beverly Hills (Judith O. Stein) and Malibu (Larry Mira) all won handily. In these communities, particularly in Beverly Hills, the judicial contests were better known to the public, and there appeared to be a reaction against sometimes petty criticisms of the judges.

- Attempts by organized labor to repay Superior Court Judge Burton Bach by defeat for upholding a $5.8-million verdict against a union for violent picketing failed, with Bach winning a comparatively tight 54% victory over Deputy Dist. Atty. Lawrence Mason.

- The 16-candidate struggle for an open Santa Catalina Island Justice Court seat ended in two candidates from the mainland, Judicial Referee Peter J. Mirich and Deputy City Atty. Joe Piro, winning spots in a November runoff. These two candidates had more official or judicial-sounding occupational titles than anyone else in the contest.