I would appreciate it if you could email me the chart listing the endorsements of the different groups and organizations for the propositions and the judges that your friend has compiled. Thank you so much for this information.

Sincerely,

Kathleen

Thanks for your comments. I certainly agree that the bench should not be reserved solely — or even predominately — for former DAs.

I also have a soft spot in my heart for white guys over 50 (in my case, well over 50).

– Dick

I, like others responding here, am a candidate for the Superior Court Office 72. Being a 50+ white male perhaps I should not be running in this race. However, in my 21 years of practicing law I have assisted many people of all nationalities and income level (mostly of the lower income level).

I question why it is that it is perceived by society that only former DA’s make good judges. Our court’s are made up of many different divisions, criminal, Civil, family law, etc. Consider this, would Joe Torre put an outfielder to pitch for the Dodgers. Not likely. In the same vein, we need judges with experience in all areas of the law to fill judicial positions.

In my practice I work with clients who have been disenfranchised from our civil court system. I help them to not only understand the system, but to obtain justice when they have been abused. It is for this reason that I bring “A civil approach to the bench”. For more about me please visit http://www.friendsofstevesimons.org

Steven A. Simons

Your response to my article is greatly appreciated. Maintaining the “LA Progressive” website and accompanying newsletter has opened my eyes to the need for more direct communication with electeds, including those on the bench. By posting your comments directly onto the website, you’ve increased the odds that hundreds more will be educated.

Thank you,

Sharon

I, like many others who have posted here, am also a candidate in this June’s upcoming election. I would just like to add a website that has, in my opinion, the best set of links for all the candidates. The Los Angeles County Bar Association http://www.lacba.org
has a link for information on the judicial candidates. Once you access that link there are links to the LA Times and the League of Women Voters sites. It has the most information on ALL of the candidates.

Thank you.
Michael O’Gara

First of all, I am also impressed by the homework you reported regarding the demographics of the defendants in the criminal justice system. In addition, having served on the Judicial Nominees Evaluation Commission (‘JNE’) for the California State Bar, I am all too familiar with the public outcry regarding the lack of diversity on the bench. I would only like to add that due to reporting laws enacted last year, statistics on the demographics of the Judges are now available, and current as of 3/1/08.
Please see: http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/reference/4_38sb56.htm

As Assembly Member Mike Davis reported, it is interesting to note that statewide, Judges are 71.9% male. In LA County, male Judges comprise 68.1% of the bench. As of the 2000 Census, despite the fact that women made up 50.5% of the population of L.A. County, they make up only 31% of its Judges.

With regard to race, according to the report, of the 427 Judges that make up the Los Angeles Superior Court, 38 are Latino (11%). Of these, 8 are Latina (1%.) As of the last census, LA County was somewhere around 47% Latino.

The report also indicates that the Court consists of 31 African American Judges (13%), and of these, 15 are women.

Second, I apologize for the ‘stump’ speeches regarding our Judicial candidacies. Although I did not attend the Northeast Democratic Club meeting (my overactive spam filter placed the invite in my trash), I know from experience that two minutes is hardly enough time to sum up your entire legal career! The West L.A. club did put on a great forum. However, we were told afterward that they did not have enough members for a quorum and that no endorsements would be made. Later, we received an e-mail stating that the executive committee adopted the central committee’s recommendation. Therefore, while the forum was informative, I don’t expect that the endorsements will differ much from those already posted above.

Third, thank you for drawing attention the issues highlighted by your article. In addition to choosing qualified candidates with actual courtroom and jury trial experience (since that is largely what they will be handling), equal access to justice considerations are also important in deciding who should Judge.

Thanks for all of the great links.

Sharon

I’m so sorry. I accidently put an extra “r” in Serena Murrillo’s web address. The correct spelling should be http://www.murilloforjudge.com. Would you mind making the correction so that your readers could view her site.

Thank you,

Michael

I’m one of the candidates running for judge in the June 3rd election. Thank you so much for providing this informative website. I think it was great for Evelyn Jerome, a political consultant, to provide links to her client’s websites. However I believe it would be more helpful if your readers had links to the other candidate websites as well. All of the below candidates would make outstanding judges. All have been endorsed by the LA Times, with the exception of Tom Rubinson, who was mentioned in your article and Lance Winters who was rated as Exceptionally Well Qualified by the LA County Bar. All have dedicated their careers to serving the public as criminal prosecutors. It’s important to note that two thirds of the courts in Los Angeles County exclusively handle criminal cases. Therefore it’s important to have judges that have experience in handling serious and violent criminal matters, which impact the day to day safety of our families. The reality is that all new judges will be sent to criminal assignments. Do we really want judges with no serious criminal experience handling our most violent criminals and predators? That’s a choice that you as voters need to make. Obviously, these are important issues that impact all of our lives. All I ask is that you make that an informed choice by looking at all the candidate websites.

http://www.murilloforjudge.com – Seat 69
http://www.merrittforjudge.com – Seat 72
http://www.tomrubinson4judge.com – Seat 82
http://www.ogara4judge.com – Seat 94
http://www.wintersforjudge.com – Seat 95
http://www.mosesforjudg.com – Seat 119
http://www.blanchard4judge.com – Seat 123
http://www.jesicforjudge.com – Seat 154

Sharon

Great idea to put the candidate websites in the reply. I should have thought to add them to the article. I love that technology is making communication a little easier.

Sharon

For some candidates, you can get more information at least on their backgrounds, what they have done before this campaign, and their other endorsements, on their own campaign websites. Here are a few websites of candidates who are endorsed by the Democratic Party:

http://www.Silberman2008.com (Harvey Silberman, seat #69)
http://www.CynthiaLoo.com (Cynthia Loo, seat #82)
http://www.LoriJones4Judge.com (Lori-Ann Jones, seat #84)
http://www.Nieto4Judge.com (Patricia Nieto, seat #95)
http://www.BiancoforJudge.com (James Bianco, seat #125)
http://www.RockyLCrabb4Judge.com (Rocky Crabb, seat #154)

These six candidates are all existing bench officers, which means they all currently run their own courtrooms.

As a disclaimer, I am working with Silberman, Loo and Jones. These six are all supporting each other.

Thanks for doing your homework and trying to find out as much as you can about these races!!!

Evelyn

BALLOT INFORMATION FROM CBBB

In the upcoming June 3 Primary Election, incumbent Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Ralph M. Dau at Office No.4 is running for re-election against attorney Sydnee Singer. Both candidates have been rated as qualified by the Los Angeles County Bar Association, and both have statements printed in the Official Sample Ballot. The following information may help you decide how to vote.

In 2007, a citizen’s group went to court in an attempt to stop a lawsuit settlement between the city of Los Angeles and several large billboard companies.

Among other things, this settlement allowed almost 900 conventional billboards to be converted to digital ones and grandfathered in an untold number of illegal billboards. Judge Dau ruled against the citizen’s group, on the grounds that it could not show that its members were harmed in any way by terms of the lawsuit settlement, which in reality not only will have far-reaching effects on the city’s visual landscape, but was hammered out behind closed doors without any public notice or debate.

Ted Wu, President
Coalition to Ban Billboard Blight, Inc.
2700 Military Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90064
310. 474-1711
cbbbla@verizon.net

Please check it out for info about OTHER election matters besides those elusive judges. For best results, type in your address and zip code for a complete list of what’s on your ballot, with additional resource material on many of the candidates and issues.

Any candidate running in the June 3 election can post a virtually unlimited amount of positive campaign material on our site for FREE. Click on the ‘feedback’ button on any Smart Voter page and send an e-mail containing your phone number. You’ll get a call with instructions on how to post.

Thank you for providing this valuable information. We need all the help we can get when it comes to the judicial elections. The judicial campaigns seem to be cloaked in mystery.

Sharon

Please go to http://www.westlademclub.org for our list of endorsed candidates. We also note that Bill Johnson, running against James Bianco, has been deemed Unqualified and suggest voting for Bianco.

Thank you,
Cara Robin
Vice President, West LA Democratic Club

A friend at my church has compiled a chart listing endorsements of several different groups and organizations for the propositions and the judges. It was available this morning. E-mail me if you’d like a copy.

Best wishes,
Monica Hubbard