I am running because I think I would be a good judge. After you read a little about me, hopefully you will, too.
I have been an attorney for 21 years. For the last 18 years, I have lived and worked in Thurston County as an assistant attorney general, representing the State of Washington in cases big and small. That experience helps me be a better lawyer. But it is my life experience that will make me a better judge.
We lawyers are a privileged lot, judges even more so. Sometimes we can forget that. We make the mistake of thinking that we have earned what we have been given. I know better.
Many people come to court at a moment in their lives when things are not going as planned. We go to court when the car crashes, not when we make it home safely. We go when the surgery does not go well, not when we recover quickly. We go for divorces, not weddings, when the bills don’t get paid, not when they do.
My life has not always gone as planned. I have had times in my life when bills went unpaid, I have experienced the pain of a divorce. I understand that as a judge, it will not be my job to judge you, just to untangle the legal dispute that has you in court.
We live in a democracy. Our laws are supposed to be made by the people, through their representatives in the legislature and by voting on initiatives and referenda. A good judge needs the humility to discover what the law is, not declare what the judge thinks the law should be. I understand that I do my best work when I start by remembering that what I think may not be what the law is.
