OpEd: Your Participation in Judicial Retention Elections Matters

I am a retired Alaska judge, having been appointed by Governor Jay Hammond to the district court in 1981, and by Governor Wally Hickel to the superior court in 1991. I had been a Public Defender and had been in private practice for a very short period of time.

I was a 30-year-old woman. I knew neither governor and had not contributed to their campaigns. I eventually introduced myself to them after my appointments.

Obviously, I was naïve – or the times were different- or something else was in operation. I submit to you that I was the beneficiary of Alaska’s constitutional system of judicial selection based on merit, not patronage, and retention votes by the public based on performance, not politics.

I retired after more than 20 years of service, having served as the Presiding Judge of the Third Judicial District for six years. The Third Judicial District covers all of southcentral Alaska from the border with Canada to the east, and to the west to the end of the Aleutian Chain, an area equivalent to “roughly twice the size of Texas”, or "more than three Californias” according to my internet research. I never measured it.

The judges in my district flew to St. Paul, Unalaska, Cordova, Dillingham, and drove to Valdez and Glennallen, and many small communities in between to serve communities that had no resident judges at the time.

They worked diligently every day to do their best to administer justice according to the rule of law. After my appointment, Alaskans voted periodically to retain me for over 20 years. Of course, most did not know me, but many of those who voted to keep me in office relied on the recommendations of the Judicial Council who evaluated my performance based on the following criteria: legal ability, impartiality and fairness, integrity, judicial temperament, diligence and administrative skill.

The Council surveyed all the attorneys in the state, all the jurors who showed up in my courtroom, court employees, law enforcement, probation and parole, and social workers to reach their recommendations every time I was up for retention. And in every retention election I learned how I could improve based on the comments and scores from the participants. It made me a better judge.

Perhaps paradoxically, the longer I served, the more I realized how much I had to learn.

Most of my judicial career was focused on criminal and family court matters. Some cases were high-profile cases, involving serious crimes. Most cases received little to no public notice. But all the decisions in every case were important to the litigants and required careful attention to the facts and the law.

Sometimes it was very difficult to know the right answer. And in many cases, there were no good answers. But I still had to decide the matter.

It takes time and practice to do the job of a judge. It is a hard and important job. It takes patience and courage and faith that your fellow citizens will see you are trying to do the right thing for the right reason and will support you in that journey.

In November, there will be twenty-one judges on the ballot. They are standing for retention based on objective performance criteria. Most of you will not know them, just as the voters who voted to retain me over the years did not know me.

Just like me, they were evaluated and their evaluations are extensively listed in the voter pamphlet you have received. You can also go read about them on the Judicial Council website: ajc.state.ak.us. Please read the evaluations and resist the impulse to vote “no” because you don’t know the judge, or you are unhappy with that judge’s single decision or the decision of some other judge.

The judges on the ballot were deeply vetted before their appointment to the bench and those who are recommended for retention have earned your trust that they will try to apply the law without fear or favor.

Judges recommended for retention should be retained with a “yes” vote.

Public participation in judicial retention elections helps to ensure the value of Alaska’s constitutional system of merit selection and retention.

Your participation in judicial retention elections is essential to reach the goal of the Framers of Alaska’s Constitution - that our courts remain fair and impartial. Please finish your ballot and vote.