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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Four vie for rare open seat on Idaho’s highest court

The top race on the Idaho ballot on May 17 isn’t in either the Republican or Democratic primary – it’s the nonpartisan race for an open seat on the Idaho Supreme Court, a rare contested race that’s drawn four candidates. Everyone who votes in the primary election, regardless of party, can vote in the Supreme Court race.

If none of the four gets a majority in May, the two with the most votes will go to a runoff in the November general election. Here’s a look at the four who are vying to fill the vacancy that will be created when Chief Justice Jim Jones steps down at the end of his current term:

ROBYN BRODY

Robyn Brody’s law office in downtown Rupert is next door to the police station and not far from the courthouse and City Hall. “I get a lot of walk-in traffic,” she said.

It could be someone needing help appealing their unemployment decision, or seeking information on how to get a marriage license. Her law practice includes those cases, as well as water law, an array of business clients, major real estate transactions, and representing a local hospital, several community health centers and two school districts.

“I’ve spent my entire career serving people,” she said, adding, “I speak rural Idaho. The first vehicle I ever drove was my grandfather’s tractor.”

The five-member Idaho Supreme Court currently is all-male, and hasn’t had a female justice in nearly a decade.

“While I’ve never tried to make gender my issue, I think I would bring a unique perspective to the bench that’s missing,” Brody said, “and hopefully act as a catalyst for other women to join the Idaho judiciary.” Currently, she noted, just 18 percent of Idaho’s judges are women.

“Frankly, I think it’s time that a woman be back on the bench,” she said. “I’d also like to see someone from rural Idaho there.”

Brody said the tenor of the court is overly negative.

“There’s one thing I’d like to be able to sit down with them and talk about, and that is the tenor and demeanor of the court,” she said. “I think lawyers are frustrated, not so much with the decisions as the tone.”

It’s not uncommon for lawyers arguing before the Idaho Supreme Court to face sharp questioning, and even to be targeted with direct criticism in opinions, particularly from outspoken Justice Daniel Eismann. In some decisions, justices have openly criticized each other or lower-court judges.

“I think lawyers feel like some of the opinions have been overly personalized,” Brody said.

Brody, 46, has practiced law in Idaho for the past 20 years, and is a past president of the Fifth District Bar Association and 2014 recipient of the Idaho State Bar’s Professionalism Award.

SERGIO GUTIERREZ

When newly appointed Idaho Judge Sergio Gutierrez traveled from Canyon County to Weiser to preside over his first murder trial in 1993, he was surprised by what he found there.

The court interpreter assigned to the Spanish-speaking defendant wasn’t translating accurately. “And of course, I know Spanish,” Gutierrez said – it was his first language. Trying to be tactful, the new judge told court officials, “This interpreter is not going to work – if we’re going to have a trial, I need a real interpreter, someone who’s competent.”

“They said, ‘He’s always done our interpretation,’” Gutierrez recalled.

That prompted the young judge – Idaho’s first Latino judge – to push for a new statewide initiative to set competency standards and require testing for all court interpreters. Now a judge on the state Court of Appeals, Gutierrez was gratified this year to see the state Legislature finally fund a position to coordinate the statewide court interpreter program. But he’s also concerned that it took this long – it’s been 26 years.

“That case clued me in,” he said, that his interest and concern about Idaho’s court system went beyond hearing cases, to the administration of justice overall in the state.

Gutierrez said he’s been able to push for reforms in the court system as a Court of Appeals judge, a member of the state’s second-highest court, but would be able to do even more as one of the five justices on the state’s highest court.

“I’m fortunate to work in what I consider to be a court system that’s much more responsive to its citizens than other states,” Gutierrez said. “But the access issue is one that has always been a focus of mine. It’s a challenge for someone to decide to pursue a claim in court, because the cost of litigation is so high.”

Gutierrez, 61, has served on the Idaho Court of Appeals for nearly 15 years, and before that served six years as a district judge. In 2013, he was the recipient of the Idaho Supreme Court’s Kramer Award for Excellence in Judicial Administration.

CURT McKENZIE

One of the four candidates is taking a different approach to the race, campaigning almost entirely at official Republican Party events and amassing endorsements only from fellow GOP state lawmakers. Sen. Curt McKenzie, R-Nampa, a seven-term state senator, also brings some political baggage to the nonpartisan race.

That includes an embarrassing brush with scandal involving his ex-wife and an imprisoned murderer, and ethical questions about his reimbursements from the Legislature. McKenzie had to repay more than $2,400 to the state in 2011 after news surfaced that he’d been reimbursed for daily mileage between the Capitol and his Nampa home 30 miles away during the 2010 and 2011 legislative sessions – while also collecting $122 per day for maintaining a second residence in Boise during the session. That second residence was the couch in his law office.

McKenzie said he didn’t request the commuting reimbursement, and the Senate administration didn’t notice the duplicate payment. “I didn’t realize it – it just got direct-deposited,” he said.

When the news came out, he promptly repaid the mileage reimbursements. But he continued collecting the second-home payments, which didn’t violate Senate rules; he’s continued collecting them through this year. He now has a larger law office that has a small basement apartment. He stays there every other week, and at his Nampa home every other week, as part of a joint-custody arrangement with his ex-wife for their teenage daughter.

He believes his 14 years in the state Senate, where he chairs the Senate State Affairs Committee; his position as head of the Pacific Northwest Economic Region, a group that works on economic development for northwestern states and Canada; and his service on the boards of two local charities are important experience that would help make him a good judge.

“I’ve had civil, criminal, I’ve worked with large law firms all the way down to a sole practice, done civil rights litigation, criminal practice both representing the state and representing individuals, as well as worked on complex civil litigation,” McKenzie said. “I think that’s an important background to have, as well as a history of public service, not just the Legislature but in the community.”

McKenzie’s split with his ex-wife was more the stuff of tabloid scandal; she left him for a notorious, imprisoned murderer, to whom she is now married.

“I’m not going to comment on anything involving that,” he said. “I think people can look at my record of service in the Legislature and in the community, and make their own decisions.”

McKenzie, 47, graduated magna cum laude both from Northwest Nazarene University and from Georgetown University School of Law, which he attended on a full-tuition scholarship. He chairs the Senate State Affairs Committee, and has a law practice in Boise that focuses on criminal defense.

CLIVE STRONG

Clive Strong has amassed endorsements from an array of prominent Idahoans for his run for the Idaho Supreme Court, including former governors of both parties, business and education leaders and elected officials.

He’s even been endorsed by both sides in a long-running water fight that affects much of the southern part of the state, “despite their differences,” Strong said. He was the state’s lead attorney in the biggest legal case in Idaho history, the Snake River Water Rights Adjudication, and has argued numerous cases before the Idaho Supreme Court and two before the U.S. Supreme Court.

“I am truly humbled by the outpouring of support I have for my candidacy, and I am blessed to have this broad base of support,” Strong said.

The head of the Natural Resources Division for the Idaho Attorney General’s office for the past three decades, Strong has made his name as a non-partisan problem solver, one who can bring all sides together. He’s served under four attorneys general and six governors.

“The one thing I’ve learned about Clive is that he’s a consummate public servant,” Former House Speaker Bruce Newcomb said. “He’s never had a client other than the people of Idaho.”

Strong, 63, holds both bachelor’s and law degrees from the University of Idaho. He was recognized by the American Bar Association in 2014 as its environment, energy and resources government attorney of the year, and was a finalist for an Idaho Supreme Court opening in 2007.