Panel ignored in judge selection

Spokane County commissioners went against the recommendations of their own appointed panel Wednesday afternoon to select Harvey Dunham to fill a $118,458-a-year judicial vacancy on the Spokane County District Court bench.

Commissioners Phil Harris and Mark Richard picked Dunham, a Spokane lawyer, over the objections of Commissioner Todd Mielke, who said they should have chosen from the five finalists picked by the panel.

“The recognition was we were creating a panel for the purpose of information, but we were clear we weren’t going to be bound by their short list,” said Richard, who added that he shares Dunham’s conservative values. “I know Harvey, and have worked shoulder to shoulder with Harvey, and know his views on the Constitution as a fixed document.”

Harris, a friend of Dunham’s, said that political appointments are just that, political decisions.

“I’m not giving up my right to political appointment,” he said, adding that Dunham’s court experience makes him highly qualified.

Dunham also has been a supporter of Republican Party politics, with state records showing he contributed $65 to the Spokane County Republican Central Committee in 2002 and has contributed to Republican legislative candidates. All three county commissioners are Republicans.

Dunham, as noted by the panel in a summary of all 13 candidates’ qualifications, has seven years of experience as a judge pro tem in District Court. He passed the bar exams in Arizona, Texas and Washington on his first try and was most recently in private practice in Spokane.

Dunham graduated with a bachelor’s degree in political science from Washington State University and earned his law degree from Texas Tech University. He’s a retired U.S. Army Reserve lieutenant colonel.

The commissioners made their decision after a 25-minute closed-door session to privately discuss the candidates’ qualifications.

“It became evident that no one of the five was going to be considered,” Mielke said of the session.

The panel’s top five candidates were Randy Brandt, Michael Nelson, Virginia Rockwood, Robert Seines and David Stevens.

None of the panel members could be reached late Wednesday afternoon to answer questions about the Dunham’s appointment.

The commissioners had already generated some controversy in the local legal community by not soliciting a Spokane County Bar Association poll, which has been done with previous judicial vacancies.

Instead, the commissioners created a seven-member judicial review panel, consisting of the presiding judges in District and Superior Court – Judge Mike Padden and Judge Linda Tompkins respectively – the current and past presidents of the bar association and a lawyer or judge appointed by each of the three commissioners.

“We have a group of people who reviewed the backgrounds of the candidates for us. I feel a personal obligation to use their information as a guidebook to our decision,” Mielke said.

The two-year vacancy Dunham is filling was created when Judge Harold Clarke was elected last fall to serve on Superior Court.

Dunham contributed $100 to Clarke’s Superior Court campaign.

For his part, Dunham refused to comment on the fact that the panel didn’t pick him as one of its top five candidates, but he said he was gratified to be chosen by Harris and Richard.

“I look forward to serving the citizens of Spokane County,” he said.