SECTION I
BASIC CANDIDATE INFORMATION
1. Name as it will appear on the ballot
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First Name |
Middle Initial or Nick Name |
Last Name |
2. Office sought (include office, jurisdiction, position/district number):
3. Are you the incumbent? Yes No
4. How long have you resided in this district/city?
5. How long have you resided in King County?
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over 60 years |
6. Is the office sought partisan or nonpartisan? Partisan Nonpartisan
CAMPAIGN CONTACTS
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Campaign Name: |
Johnson for Supreme Court |
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Address: |
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City/State/Zip: |
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Campaign Phone: |
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Campaign Fax: |
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Campaign E-mail: |
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Campaign Website: |
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POLITICAL BACKGROUND
1. Beginning with the most recent position, please list public offices which you have held. Include positions on appointive Boards or Commissions.
Public Office |
Elective or Appointive? |
Dates Held |
Leadership Role (if any) |
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majority floor leader, committee chairman, deputy leader, ranking member Judiciary Committee, Legislative Ethics Board, Civil League Aid Oversite Committee
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2. If you ran for public office but were not elected, please list those races below:
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Year of Run |
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SECTION III
In this section, we are seeking responses that reflect the four ratings criteria: involvement, effectiveness, character, and knowledge. These are defined as follows:
- Involvement: What has the candidate done previously in family, neighborhood, community, volunteer work, employment or public life to suggest readiness to accomplish challenging objectives? How do these activities demonstrate readiness for the challenges unique to the office sought?
- Effectiveness: Has the candidate demonstrated promise of being productive in the office sought? Has the candidate shown the ability to work with other people?
- Character: Do the candidate's personal traits show the ability to take on the responsibilities of campaigning for and holding the public office she or he is seeking? Is the candidate a leader, participant or observer? Is the candidate trustworthy, reliable and candid?
- Knowledge: Has the candidate demonstrated the willingness and ability to learn and adapt? Does the candidate understand the duties and challenges of the office sought? Does the candidate have a firm grasp of the issues important to his or her constituency and their potential effects?
1. In a page or less, why are you running for this office? (Note: the interview committee will be given a copy of this statement before your interview; at the beginning of your interview you will have the opportunity to expand on this statement in any way you wish.)
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My interest in running for a seat on the Washington Supreme Court has evolved over my past 12 years in public service in the Washington State Senate, including my work on the Judiciary Committee.
I concluded from my observation and work with the court on issues that involved the legislature, especially those that resulted in 5 to 4 opinions, that there was room for improvement on the court and I would like to offer myself to the people of this state as an alternative to the incumbents on the court.
I chose to run this year against Justice Owens because of her legal experience, judicial philosophy and most importantly her decisions on the Supreme Court.
An example of the court decisions that moved me to seek a position on the Supreme Court include the Hangartner case and the "Sinking Ship Case". In the Hangartner Case the Supreme Court in a 5 to 4 decision found that a citizen's rights under the Public Disclosure Act for the production of documents was limited, if not extinguished, by that citizen asking for too many documents, or what the court called an overly broad request. That result, which is totally inconsistent with the language and the spirit of the statute, was "fixed" by the legislature at a subsequent session under the leadership of the Attorney General with some of us in the House and Senate participating.
In the Monorail Authority vs. HMK, also known as the “Sinking Ship Garage Case”, contrary to the language of the constitution the Supreme Court approved the Monorail Authority taking by imminent domain property vastly in excess needed for the public project. The extra property would then be sold or leased for private use. Article 1, Section 16 prohibits the taking of private property for private use.
Both these cases represent a propensity by my opponent to ignore the will of the Legislature and the mandates of the constitution in her decisions.
Finally, I believe that my tenure in the state Senate will be a valuable asset in contributing to my ability to provide effective leadership on the court. There is a long tradition of Justices on the Supreme court who have had experience in other parts of government including: Justice James Dolliver, Former Chief Justice James Andersen, Justice Phil Talmadge, Justice Robert Brachtenbach, Justice Marshall Neill, and others. I believe that much of the encouragement I have had for seeking this seat on the Supreme Court has emanated from those who share that view that broad experience in government can contribute to the effectiveness of work on the Washington Supreme Court.
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2. Describe your most important personal characteristics or traits as they relate to the office you seek.
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There seems to be a general consensus that personal qualities or traits important to serving as a judge at any level include intelligence, demeanor, a sense of fairness, and an approach to analysis of deliberation and industry.
Those traits are best observed by persons other than the candidate, which is probably the reason that references are requested earlier in this questionnaire.
I have had many people tell me that my style or approach to issues in the Senate reflects many of those characteristics noted above. In this race, I am reminded many times how fortunate I was to have the father I had, who was the fairest person I have ever known. And it has always been a source of some confidence that I think I acquired, from the strong connection with my father, the importance of that characteristic, namely, to be fair to everyone at all times and in all situations. |
3. Please describe in sufficient detail, one to three accomplishments or contributions of which you are most proud. These examples should illustrate effective skills and capabilities you think apply to the office you are seeking. These accomplishments may have occurred at any time in your personal, professional, or public life.
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The accomplishment of which I am most proud is really a joint effort with my wife, Lynn. Together, we have raised two children, both of whom are healthy, well-educated and well-adjusted adults. They have now become excellent parents to their children. The two of them and their five children really represent the joy of our life and always will.
In my law practice over the past 40 years, I have been honored to help many people as they struggled with family matters including estate planning, adoption, death of a parent, etc. There was great satisfaction in helping those clients and those connected with them, as there should be in any professional pursuit or practice.
My mother and father were both professional educators and from the experience of growing up in our family, I saw the importance of being helpful one-to-one with people who have problems or need assistance.
During my Senate tenure, I have focused on education as well as law. I had a great interest in providing more education options to families, especially in the case of children who were doing poorly in school and would probably drop out before completing their education. We wanted to offer these "at-risk" studentls an alternative so they could graduate from high school. In fact, through my leadership as Chairman of the Senate Education Committee, we enacted and Governor Locke signed a modest bill providing such options. |
4. Please list or describe your current and past activities in the community in which you have acquired skills that relate to the office you seek. Include your role in the activity and the year(s) in which you were involved. Involvement consists of many areas such as family, neighborhood, community, employment, or public life.
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My community activities in Kent over the past 40 years have been extensive. I was appointed to the Kent School Board in 1972 and elected in 1973 for a four-year term, during which one of the year's I served as president of the board and was involved in statewide school board activites as well.
My civic involvement in Kent includes serving on the Kent Library Board in the 1970s, as well as member of the Kiwanis Club from approximately 1968 to the early '80s, which included serving as president of the club in 1980-81.
I was active in the Kent Chamber of Commerce, serving as Chairman of the Education Committee, which preceded my appointment to the Kent School Board.
I served as a member of the Greenriver College Foundation for a period of years and resigned in late 1994 when I was first elected to the state Senate, after which my wife served as a Foundation board member until recently.
I have served for the last four years on the board of Valley Cities Counseling and Consultation, formerly Valley Cities Mental Health, which is a social services organization focused on mental health and related matters, located in Auburn, Washington.
My wife and I have been members of and active in St. James Episcopal Church in Kent for nearly 40 years, during which time we have been involved in many activities, including my service as senior warden for a year, which is the leading position of lay members of the church. Our son and all five of our grandchildren have baptized at St. James Episcopal Church.
In my public life, my service in the Senate has led to considerable activity, including committees of the Washington State Bar Association and work on behalf of my profession and the administration of justice in the Senate.
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- Please describe the duties of the office you seek. Which are the most important duties and why?
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The obvious responsibility, which a member of the Supreme Court has, is to consider and render decisions on matters before the court, by written opinion or concurrence. The Supreme Court is a level of court that decides which cases will be heard, with some important exceptions and, therefore, that responsibility precedes the actual hearing of the case. The important, but perhaps less noticeable, responsibility of the members of the court include overseeing the administration of justice in the State of Washington and having some supervisory capacity over the lower courts, which include the superior courts, court of appeals, district courts, and municipal courts.
That latter aspect of overseeing the administration of justice in this State is something I have been involved in as a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and, in fact, was honored in the year 2005 by the Washington State Bar Association as the elected official of the year for my work in increasing funding for the courts.
The Supreme Court also has the responsibility of overseeing the discipline of lawyers licensed to practice in the state. |
EDUCATION BACKGROUND SUMMARY
FOR PUBLICATION IN CANDIDATE EVALUATION REPORT
The Municipal League’s Candidate Evaluation Report is distributed to voters in print and/or on our website. It includes a summary of the candidate’s education. Please summarize your education in 120 characters (letters, punctuation, and space all combined). The League will delete material that exceeds the space limit by beginning with the last entry. Suggested order is (degree) (subject) (school) (year, if desired).
Note: If this question is left blank the League will not include education information in your candidate profile.
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BA, Whitman College, Economics, 1961 Law Degree, University of Washington, 1964 |
CIVIC INVOLVEMENT SUMMARY
FOR PUBLICATION IN CANDIDATE EVALUATION REPORT
The Municipal League’s Candidate Evaluation Report also includes a summary of each candidate’s civic involvement. Please summarize your civic involvement in the space below. We will make every attempt to include the information in the Candidate Evaluation Report as submitted. Due to space restrictions in the Report, your response is limited to 500 characters (letters, punctuation, and spaces all combined). It is important that you list your involvement beginning with the most important and ending with the least important. If you exceed the length of response permitted, or if the League should find it necessary to shorten responses for publication purposes, deletions will be made beginning with the last item listed.
Note: This information will appear verbatim on the League’s Candidate Evaluation Report. If this question is left blank, the Municipal League will not include information on your civic involvement in the Report.
Check here if you would like the Municipal League to copy the first 500 characters from Question 4 to paste into this section.
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See answer to question 4. |
Supplemental Judicial Candidate Questionnaire
1. Briefly describe the nature of your current practice/position including types of clients and areas, if any, of specialization. State what percentage involves civil litigation, criminal litigation, and/or nonlitigation.
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I have engaged in the private practice of law since the latter part of 1964. In my early years of practice in Yakima, with the firm then known as Velikanje, Moore & Countryman, and Kent at the firm then known as Curran, Kleweno and Johnson, my practice was fairly broad, including family law, real estate matters, oversight of the firm's escrow company, small business and commercial matters.
The last 20 years or so, my practice has been more limited to real estate, estate planning and trust work, decedent's estates and, since 1998, I have been part of the Seattle firm of Kutscher Hereford Johnson, which is a firm emphasizing practice in those areas.
My practice has involved very little litigation, especially in the latter years, though I have during my career, had one argument in State Supreme Court and one argument in State Court of Appeals |
2. Identify all your experience as a neutral decision maker (e.g. judge, permanent or pro tem, in any jurisdiction, administrative law judge, hearing officer, arbitrator, etc.)
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Some years ago I acted very briefly as a hearing officer for a matter arising out of a dispute in a school district, which form of dispute resolution is provided by statute.
For the last eight years I have served on the Legislative Ethics Board, which is a quasi-judicial board composed of one member from each of the four caucuses in the legislalture and five community members of the nine-person board. The Chairman for the last six years has been retired Washington Supreme Court Chief Justice James Anderson.
That board undertakes and disposes of complaints made either against members of the legislature or staff persons, concerning possible ethics violations under Washington State statutes.
Although most of the matters found to be without substance, those which are go to an investigation and, occaisionally, though not often, to a formal hearing. Most of the matters are disposed of by agreement of the party against whom the complaint is made, after proper consideration of the Legislative Ethics Board. |
3. If you have been a judge, identify any court committees on which you have served or administrative positions you have held, including dates.
4. List the approximate percentage of your time over the last five years you have made appearances in:
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% municipal court |
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% state district court |
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% superior court |
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% federal district court |
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% appellate court |
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% administrative tribunals |
5. Are you now an officer or director of any business enterprise other than your law practice? If so, what role do you expect to play if elected?
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Interest in a limited liability company which owns business buildings in Kent. I intend to hold such ownership interest, unless and until a specific conflict arose which prevented doing so. It's my understanding that some members of the court have such interests which they acquired prior to becoming members of the court and continue to hold. |
6. Have you ever been disciplined or determined to be in breach of professional conduct by any court, administrative agency, bar association, disciplinary committee, judicial conduct commission, or other professional group? Have you ever had a formal complaint filed against you with the WSBA? If so for either or both questions, give the particulars, including the outcome.
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I have never been disciplined or determined to be in breach of professional conduct by any court, administrative agency, bar association, disciplinary committee, judicial conduct commission or other professional group. A minor complaint was filed decades ago which was dismissed promptly as having no merit. |
7. ADDITIONAL REFERENCES:
a) List the names, daytime and home phone numbers of three recent opposing counsel, including at least two cases that went to trial.
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Name of Opposing Counsel |
Daytime Phone |
Home Phone |
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a) If you have served as a neutral decision maker, list the names, daytime and home phone numbers of the last four attorneys who have appeared before you.
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Name of Attorney |
Daytime Phone |
Home Phone |
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Finished!
If at all possible, send your response to the Municipal League electronically as an attachment, or insert it into an e-mail message (cec@munileague.org). Mail and fax numbers are listed below. If the League has not contacted you to schedule an interview, please call the League office at your earliest convenience.
Don’t forget to send the following to the Municipal League: a resume, a photo, campaign literature, and, if you are an incumbent, constituent newsletter and other materials. Please use the check-off list on the cover sheet of this packet to indicate which items you have sent.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION AND GOOD LUCK IN YOUR CAMPAIGN!
THE MUNICIPAL LEAGUE OF KING COUNTY
Candidate Evaluation Coordinator: Jennifer DiGiacomo
Seattle, WA 98104-1614 Fax: 425-671-0506 Website: www.munileague.org