2 Vacancies Have Court Personnel Scrambling : Judges: As they wait for governor to make the appointments, officials have resorted to pleading with private attorneys to help out.

Two vacancies on the Ventura County Superior Court have judicial officials in a mad scramble to find enough judges to handle the court’s business each day, the supervising judge said this week.

“We’re always running around trying to get somebody to cover those vacancies,” said Melinda A. Johnson, the Superior Court presiding judge. “It gets a little crazy. Every day is controlled chaos, even more than usual.”

As they wait for Gov. Pete Wilson to make the two judicial appointments, local court officials have resorted to pleading with private attorneys from across the county to fill in on the bench.

Without these attorneys, court officials say they would have to close down some civil courtrooms. The so-called judge pro-tems are picked from a list that contains the names of dozens of private lawyers who have volunteered their services.

Meanwhile, the governor’s office said it is working as fast as possible sifting through applicants for the two vacancies, which resulted from one judge retiring and another being promoted to an appeals court.

“We have been working on judicial appointments,” said Evelyn Miller, spokeswoman for Wilson. “The governor has been taking time to do what he can.”

Miller said the appointment of Assistant Dist. Atty. Colleen Toy White to fill one vacant term is near. But she said it will take considerably longer to fill a second term that opened in the county last month. At least half a dozen current municipal judges and a string of private attorneys have applied for that post, according to Johnson.

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But until someone is appointed, Johnson said she will continue to call private attorneys to provide the Superior Court with a helping hand.

Diane L. Rowley of Thousand Oaks, who presided over family law cases one day this week, said she sees her volunteer service as a way to keep the judicial system from stalling.

“Ultimately, the people who are trying to get through the system can do that because the courts don’t have to go dark when we are missing a judge or two, or a judge goes on vacation,” said Rowley, a certified family law specialist.

“I don’t know anybody who can do it too often,” she added. “It’s volunteer, and when an attorney spends a day there, it pretty much means they can’t bill that day. It’s a no-income, no-production day.”

Ventura County judicial officials have long complained of the 15-judge Superior Court bench being too small. And the state Judicial Council recently determined the county should have at least three more Superior Court judges.

For now, expanding the bench is the last thing on local court officials’ agenda. They just want to get back up to normal staffing.

“Part of my job is looking around every day and seeing what workload isn’t being covered and finding someone to cover it,” Johnson said. The first priority, she said, is covering criminal cases because those are under stricter deadlines.

“Criminal never suffers in the sense that other civil cases would have to shut down to make sure the criminal cases get done,” Johnson said.

The first vacancy opened in February when Superior Court Judge Edwin M. Osborne announced his retirement after serving two decades. Four months later, White won election to Osborne’s vacant seat.

But White’s term does not start until January. She thought Wilson would waste little time appointing her because they share a law-and-order philosophy. Like Wilson, White is a Republican.

Nearly four months later, however, White has not been appointed to finish out Osborne’s term before her own term commences.

In an interview, White said she expects to be appointed no later than the first week in November. She will become a family law judge.

“I understand that they really need some help with two vacancies,” said White, who has been attending classes on family law at the state judicial college. “I’ve had attorneys walk up to me at social functions and ask, ‘When are you going to be there?’ They are feeling the pinch.”

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The second local judicial post opened in August, when Wilson appointed Judge Richard D. Aldrich to the state appeals court. In line for Aldrich’s former seat are a number of local attorneys and at least half a dozen current Municipal Court judges.

Many of the candidates--such as Municipal Judges Herbert Curtis III, John R. Smiley and Arturo Gutierrez--have been in the running for the Superior Court on past occasions. Other Municipal judges who have applied include Vincent O’Neill Jr., Steven E. Hintz and Barry B. Klopfer.

“It’s just an awful lot to do,” Miller said of the governor’s appointment process. “When it comes down to the final decision, he (Wilson) will sit and read every one of the applications. He’s very thorough. He does his homework.”