Oregon Judge of the Circuit Court District 20 Position 6
There are 173 Circuit Court Judges in Oregon, grouped into 27 judicial districts. The Circuit Courts are the state trial courts of general jurisdiction. In most counties they have jurisdiction in juvenile cases, though only for termination of parental rights cases in Gilliam, Morrow, Sherman, and Wheeler counties, where the County Court is responsible for other juvenile cases. The Circuit Courts also exercise jurisdiction in probate, adoptions, guardianship, and conservatorship cases in all counties except Gilliam, Grant, Harney, Malheur, Sherman, and Wheeler. Candidates must be U.S. citizens, registered voters, and residents of Oregon for at least 3 years before filing for candidacy; for at least 1 year they must have resided or had a principal residence in the judicial district or an adjacent one; and they must be members of the Oregon state bar at time of election. They may not be older than 75 years.Term: 6 years. This position is nonpartisan. Salary: $163, 476.
What qualities and experience best qualify you to serve as a judge?
What considerations would you bring to bear on sentencing decisions?
What reforms, if any, would you support for the administration of the Circuit Court?
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Your Experience/Qualifications
Current: Attorney, Metropolitan Public Defender. Previous: Managing Attorney, Mental Health Rights Project, Disability Rights Oregon; Grant Analyst, IMPACTS Grant Program, Oregon Criminal Justice Commission; Policy Advisor, Oregon House Majority Office; Legislative Analyst, Oregon Judicial Department; Deputy District Attorney, Lincoln County District Attorney's Office
County
Washington
Term
6 Years
Term Expires
2030
The most important qualities for a judge to possess are good judgment and a good temperament. It takes good judgment to make the right decisions for both the parties and the community; it takes a good temperament to protect the integrity of your decisions and of the court itself by approaching the job with humility and treating everyone with fairness and respect. I have spent my career writing, implementing, and enforcing the law, a breadth of experience that gives me the insight into how systems work (and don't work). And my time as an advocate for the most marginalized members of our communities has given me the compassion and patience needed to maintain an appropriately judicial temperament in any situation.
Ultimately, a judge must make decisions that follow the law while prioritizing the safety and well-being of the community within that framework. Hasty sentencing decisions that fail to account for the underlying conditions causing someone to engage in criminal activity do nothing but kick the can down the road to someone else, whether that be a month, a year, or a decade. The only way to truly make the community safe is to look at the individual circumstances of each defendant and work to make sentencing decisions that will address issues like mental health, addiction, and houselessness, to prevent the person from being simply released back onto the streets with no hope of change. It is hard work, but it is worth doing and I will do it.
I think that the honor and integrity of the court must be above reproach. I would support reforms that make the judicial accountability and discipline process more transparent, and make it clearer what behavior from judges is or is not acceptable. I also think that a weakness of our current system is a failure of the justice system to communicate and collaborate with the behavioral health system, leading to people with mental health and addiction being released to the streets with no support rather than connected with services. With my background in mental health advocacy, I will work to make the justice system function better in partnership with the behavioral health system to get people the help they need and prevent them from reoffending
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