Our view: District Court picks

Spokane County District Court is the only court many residents ever come in contact with. In addition to handling such serious matters as domestic violence and drunken driving offenses, District Court also handles routine traffic tickets.

Some citizens judge the entire justice system on their District Court experiences, making it additionally important that the judges adhere to professional standards and behavior. Traditionally, incumbents in judicial elections at all levels have usually run unopposed, but this election season four of eight District Court incumbents in Spokane County face challengers. (The ninth incumbent on the court, Mike Padden, decided to retire.) Competition is always healthy, but the sudden plethora of candidates could be indicative of deeper problems on this bench.

The campaigns have exposed tensions simmering in the court for years, including political polarization (even though the judges run in nonpartisan races), personality conflicts, an ambiguous vacation policy, workload inequities and the inability of the judges to solve these internal problems together. This election has the potential to change these dysfunctional court dynamics.

Position 3: This race pits two solid candidates vying to replace Padden. Mark Laiminger, 48, is a senior deputy prosecutor for the Spokane County Attorney’s Office. John O. Cooney, 33, is from a well-known family of lawyers and politicians. He works in the law office of his father, former District Court Judge John C. Cooney. He is the grandson of late state Sen. John L. Cooney.

Laiminger has been a prosecutor for 19 years, helping to create the Drug Court. Cooney passed the bar six years ago. Experience would seem to heavily favor Laiminger, but Cooney has taken many more criminal cases to trial and is more familiar with civil law.

Both candidates want to bring more efficiency to the court. Cooney has made an issue of closing the divide among the District Court judges and wants to increase public access by taking another look at night court and increasing day reporting. Laiminger notes the challenges the criminal justice system faces with substance abuse. Both support a special court to deal with the mentally ill.

Turning to endorsements, Cooney has gathered an impressive array, including eight of the 12 sitting Superior Court judges and many retired judges. Laiminger points to the endorsements of the deputy prosecutors union and retired Superior Court Judge Harold D. “Pete” Clarke.

Cooney was rated higher in the Spokane County Bar Association poll, getting better marks than Laiminger in three out of the four categories – legal ability, judicial temperament, integrity and relevant legal experience. Cooney has impressed judges with his preparation and professional demeanor in court. He may be young, but he shows great promise and the kind of leadership potential that Spokane County’s District Court needs. Voters should let him start exercising it now.

Position 4: Incumbent Patti Connolly Walker was elected four years ago, despite coming in last in a Bar Association poll ranking the candidates. She fared much better in this year’s poll, but her opponent, Mary Logan, also did well. Logan is campaigning on the need for change in the court, especially in showing more respect for low-income and indigent defendants. She knows this population well, because she has been a city public defender for nine years. She believes reviving a night court would make it easier for day laborers to keep their court appointments.

Logan garnered two key endorsements that speak to her change-agent potential. The union that covers some of the courthouse employees endorsed her, as did Superior Court Judge Harold Clarke III. He understands the dynamics in District Court, because he served on it for six years with almost all the current judges.

Connolly Walker, 43, diminishes the seriousness of the court’s internal problems by blaming District Court candidates for bringing up the problems, despite the fact lawyers and judges throughout the community have been expressing similar concerns for a long time.

Logan, 46, has promised to provide a fresh voice and perspective on the District Court bench. Voters would be wise to give her a chance to deliver.

Position 5: Of the eight candidates running in four contested District Court races in Spokane County, Judge Gregory J. Tripp is the only one ranked “exceptionally well qualified” by a special judicial evaluation panel assembled by the Spokane County Bar Association.

And in the poll of bar members, he had the highest or second-highest rating in all four categories.

Tripp’s rival, assistant public defender Jeffrey Leslie, was rated “qualified” by the evaluation panel, and his scores from bar members were below Tripp’s in every instance – and no higher than sixth among all eight candidates on the ballot.

Bar polls are not infallible, but the consistent disparity between Tripp, 57, and Leslie, 37, is backed up by a compelling list of endorsements from legal professionals in the county and across the state, including retired Supreme Court Justice Richard Guy and 11 sitting Spokane County Superior Court judges.

Clearly, in his nearly 10 years on the District Court bench, Tripp has made a favorable impression on his peers. And that may be especially needed for one of the reasons Leslie has stressed in his campaign: “The judges are not getting along very well.”

Indeed, reports of strife on the bench have been a recurrent theme in several of the campaigns, which underscores the need for a respected figure to bring divided parties together. Tripp, in fact, is said to be one judge able to transcend the gap.

For his part, Leslie seems competent, but his 12 years of practice in one office don’t match the breadth of legal experience Tripp brought with him to the bench in 1997. And, of course, Leslie can’t match Tripp’s decade on the job. The steps Leslie recommends for cost-saving alternatives to confinement are efforts Tripp and his colleagues have already launched. With his experience and the justice system’s confidence in him, Tripp has earned re-election.

Position 6: Going into the September primary, the Position 6 race was the most crowded with appointed Judge Harvey Dunham facing four challengers. Two of them, Mike Nelson and Chris Carlile, struck The Spokesman-Review editorial board as the most qualified.

Now it’s down to Nelson, 55, a private attorney, and Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Debra Hayes, 50. Nelson still has the broad background as a former city prosecutor and undercover police officer, plus 23 years of legal practice in the state.

The only thing that’s changed since the primary is that Dunham, Carlile and David Stevens, the fifth candidate in the original field, have all endorsed Nelson.

As do we.