For Once, Voters Must Be Courted in Judicial Races

Judicial races in Orange County can be easy to miss.

There hasn’t been a contested judge’s race since 1988. No sitting judge has been unseated in 20 years. Races don’t even appear on the ballot unless there’s a challenger.

That changed this year. There are three contested races among 21 Superior Court seats: two challenges to incumbents and a two-way race between two municipal judges to replace retiring Superior Court Judge Everett W. Dickey. There is one municipal judge race among 18 seats.

Two private attorneys, P. Arnsen “Arnie” Blakely and Richard Hawkins, are challenging Superior Court Judge Gail A. Andler for Office No. 1 and Superior Court Judge John M. Watson for Office No. 9, respectively.

Blakely said he targeted Andler, appointed to the Municipal Court in 1994 and elevated to the Superior Court last year, because of what he calls her minimal trial experience and because she never has tried a civil case in Superior Court.

“She was in eighth grade when I tried my first case,” said Blakely, who worked as a deputy district attorney. “I’ve tried over 100 cases and I’ve been practicing law for 26 years. I’ve been around the block.”

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Andler said she has handled thousands of criminal and civil matters and has proven she can do the job. She has been endorsed by a host of police, deputy sheriff, district attorney and community groups, as well as more than 100 judges. She also helps new judges with the transition to the bench.

“I’ve proven that I can do the job, and it’s well recognized by those who appear in my court and those who protect people from crime,” she said.

Andler has attracted some powerful supporters, including defense attorney Alan Stokke and Judge Ronald E. Owen, who are former partners of Blakely’s. Former Orange County Bar Assn. president Jennifer Keller also is on Andler’s support list, along with attorney Wylie A. Aitken, who praised her fairness, commitment and judicial temperament.

In the second Superior Court race, Hawkins said he chose to run against Watson because of a disagreement with the judge two years ago and because his clients have been intimidated by the judge’s harsh demeanor.

“He intimidates and humiliates nearly everyone in his courtroom--it’s not a pleasant place to be,” said Hawkins, a World War II pilot who has been practicing law for 40 years and is an arbitrator with the American Arbitration Assn. “It’s my duty to help the court system to replace him.”

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He accused Watson of handling civil trials instead of sitting in criminal court because, he said, so many defense attorneys, including public defenders, refused to accept him to hear their cases.

Public Defender Carl Holmes said individual deputies may have filed peremptory challenges to Watson but that the office has no blanket policy against trying cases before any judge.

Watson said he sparred with Hawkins after he ordered the lawyer to pay attorney fees in a case that Hawkins had misfiled in federal court. Watson contended that Hawkins’ client, the trustee of an estate, shouldn’t have had to pay the costs for what he called the case’s mishandling. Hawkins disagreed, saying the money should have come from the trust fund.

Watson conceded that he maintains firm control of his courtroom. His background includes 20 years as a Los Angeles County deputy district attorney. He was appointed to the Municipal Court in 1989 and elevated in 1990 to the Superior Court, where he has served as both a criminal and civil judge.

In the third contested Superior Court seat, municipal judges Caryl Anne Lee and Stephen Sundvold are vying to move up by election to Dickey’s seat hearing criminal cases.

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Sundvold, a civil lawyer for 18 years, has tried two dozen Superior Court jury trials, run the legal department of a major insurance company and has been on the bench 8 1/2 years.

He said he supports judges’ discretion in sentencing for three-strike cases, giving maximum terms for violent or serious offenders but allowing flexibility in cases where, for example, the earlier felonies were nonviolent.

“It’s always interesting that you can get voters to approve any kind of enhanced penalties, but if you do that, you need to be ready to pay for more jails and prisons,” he said.

Lee said one of her strongest assets for the higher court is her experience as a prosecutor in the Orange County district attorney’s office for 5 1/2 years. She currently is sitting as a Superior Court judge, hearing both misdemeanor and felony cases, and in July will take over a pilot project hearing domestic-abuse cases.

She said she is sensitive to such issues as property rights and civil liberties. Lee was the judge who ruled in favor of residents of Huntington Beach who were charged with violating an ordinance by drinking liquor in front yards on July 4. Lee found the law unconstitutional.

“Another strong factor is that a large segment of our county is underrepresented--there are not enough women on the bench,” she said of the estimated 15% of judges or commissioners who are women. “I think that a lot can be said for the fact that women understand a lot of dynamics of families, which is a big part of Superior Court.”

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In the lone contested Municipal Court race, trial attorney Kevin Brian Jones said he has wanted to be a judge since graduating from Western State University in 1988, and chose to run against Kreber because it was one of two offices available.

“I wasn’t looking for anything bad about him,” Jones said. “It’s more about the opportunity of doing something more for the community by being a judge.”

Jones, who has an elaborate campaign page on the Internet, has handled civil and criminal work, and said he believes judges should be more accessible to the public. He has been active in the community as a volunteer police officer, firefighter and youth parolee mentor.

Kreber was appointed to the bench in 1990 and was elected presiding judge of South Court in 1992. He also boasts a long list of supporters, including prominent civil and criminal attorneys.