Candidates apply for Governor’s Appointment of Superior Court Judge

Several San Juan County attorneys have announced their intention to file for the Superior Court Judgeship left vacant by John Linde’s untimely death last month.

Late last month, Governor Christine Gregoire’s office announced the “Judicial Vacancy in San Juan County Superior Court” resulting from the death of Judge Linde. The notice announced that “interested and qualified members” of the Washington Sate Bar were sought to serve as the Superior Court Judge.

Donald E. Eaton, local attorney and current San Juan County Superior Court Commissioner, announced on Jan. 4 that he is applying to the Office of the Governor for appointment as San Juan County Superior Court Judge.

Eaton has maintained a general law practice in Friday Harbor for over 30 years, has served as Superior Court Commissioner since 1984, and has been the Town Attorney for Friday Harbor since1981.

He is a graduate of the University of Vermont and received his law degree from Boston College Law School in 1967, where he was a Presidential Scholar for 3 years. After receiving his law degree, Eaton served 3 years in the United States Army as a commissioned officer, including duty as a helicopter pilot in Vietnam in 1969.

He then returned to his hometown, Woodstock, Vermont, where he practiced law for several years, but eventually moved to Friday Harbor with his wife, Shyrl. They have 3 adult children, one of whom was born on the Island, and 3 grandchildren.  Eaton expects to continue serving the County as Superior Court Commissioner until the vacancy has been filled by the Governor.

Randy Gaylord is currently San Juan County’s elected Prosecuting Attorney/Coroner. He is a University of Utah Law School graduate, after earning at B.S. in Environmental Studies at Colgate University.

He has 23 years’ experience in private practice and as a public lawyer, 14 years as prosecuting attorney/coroner. Gaylord also has served for one year as judicial law clerk at the Supreme Court of Utah, as a Judge Pro Tem, Hearing Examiner Pro Tem, and Adjunct Professor.

Gaylord has been married for 27 years to Marny, a public school teacher on Orcas. They have two children who now attend college.

During Gaylord’s career, he started the victim services program and served on the jet ski case (outlawing jet skis in county waters); the “mom on the family phone” case; and many land use and child support cases.

Gaylord ran against Linde in the 2008 Superior Court Judicial Election. At that time, his campaign literature said, “For the past 14 years, Randy Gaylord has followed the law, explained legal and public policy issues in a no-nonsense fashion, and made decisions that stand the test of time. Examples of Randy’s leadership include: winning the case outlawing jet skis, going to the U.S. Supreme Court in support of tanker regulations, land use cases, killer whale protection, implementing charter reform, establishing services for crime victims, and teaching ethics to other lawyers.

“Randy will modernize our courtroom technology and explore how to bring the courts to Orcas and Lopez. Randy received the highest rating of ‘exceptionally well qualified’ from Washington Women Lawyers and three other bar associations. ”

John Wickham has been in private practice since 1996, and has been a full-time resident of San Juan Island, with his wife, Patti, since 2003.  His primary area of practice is Family Law.  Beyond attorney duties, he also serves as a mediator and as Guardian ad Litem in court for children and for adults in various matters, including guardianship, family law, and civil suits.

John has served as Judge, pro-tem, in San Juan District Court, as well as Superior Court Commissioner for Family and Juvenile Court in Thurston County in 2003 and 2004 in relief of the regular Commissioners. He completed the General Program at the Judicial College (Washington State) in 2004.

Wickham is a graduate of the University of Washington, as well as the University of Washington School of Law.  He served as President of the San Juan County Bar Association in 2005.

Before entering into the law, Wickham was employed by the U.S. Postal Service for sixteen years. He has two adult children and five grandchildren.

A Family Law practitioner who has lived in San Juan County since 2003, Wickham has served as a Substitute Superior Court Commissioner in Thurston County.

He says that half, or more than half, of Superior Court cases are in response to juvenile cases. Those are the cases that have the least amount of lawyers representing them and are the most reliant on the judge for disposal of their cases, says Wickham. “It is important to have a strong background in family and juvenile law,” to serve effectively as Superior Court Judge, he says.

The Governor’s application for judicial appointment, the Uniform Judicial Evaluation Questionnaire, is also accepted by several minority bar associations for evaluation purposes.

Candidates will fill out the Uniform Judicial Questionnaire and obtain letters of endorsement to complete their application by Jan. 21^st. The “Minority Bars” representing minorities such as Asians, Women, Gay-Lesbian, have until Feb. 15 to turn in their evaluations.

For the present Alan Hancock, who resides in Coupeville, Washington has been serving as interim Superior Court Judge, and has said that he is not interested in the position on a permanent basis.

Judge Hancock served as a superior court judge for Island/San Juan County Superior Court from January of 1989 to 2008. In 2007, the Washington State Legislature separated the judicial districts of Island/San Juan County, creating the San Juan County judicial district, effective in 2008.

The Governor will appoint the  interim judge, who will then face election in the General Election in November, 2010.