— from Lawrence Delay, Mark Kaiman, Colleen Kenimond, Jeffrey A. Lustick, and Jonathan Rand —
In response to the recent letter regarding the results of a poll conducted by the San Juan County Bar Association:
The bar poll results for the San Juan County Bar Association are not reliable indicators of a candidate’s qualifications by reason that the pool of participants is so small. In fact, for that reason it has been a matter of debate in past elections whether they should even be conducted.
Further, by reason of the fact that six of the participants were from the same office – the prosecutor’s office – it is easy to skew results if that group of participants votes as a block. Similarly, it is easy to skew results if one law firm in Friday Harbor of four attorneys also votes as a block.
Finally, Ms. Jewett was not a candidate in the subject bar poll. It is mere speculation how she would fare under the scrutiny of her peers in the local bar association. To conclude that she would have done better, as the two letter writers have suggested, is far from likely.
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The negative poll by the SJC Bar about Mr. Brandli should not be discounted one iota. Lawyers are notoriously individual thinkers. The attorneys in this poll each voted individually. Why should their separate opinions be of less value than those of sole practitioners? This poll was not skewed by a “block” of attorneys: it simply shows that the majority of attorneys in the poll did not deem him to be qualified for a judicial position.