JUDGE RACE INFLUENCING COURTROOM MOTIONS.

Byline: Don Holland Daily News Staff Writer

The supposedly nonpartisan election for Ventura Superior Court bench has taken a decidedly partisan turn, with factions of prosecutors and public defenders backing their respective candidates in a fight that has spilled over into the courtroom.

Battle lines were drawn in May when 14 Ventura County judges - a dozen of them former prosecutors - endorsed Kevin McGee, the No. 2 man in the District Attorney's Office, in the primary race for Superior Court judge. McGee's top opponent, Deputy Public Defender Gary Windom, took the endorsement of his opponent as a personal slight - a suggestion that his skills and integrity were second-rate.

Windom's colleagues in the Public Defender's Office have rallied to his cause. They have filed motions seeking to disqualify judges who endorsed McGee from hearing four DUI and drug cases involving public defenders. Their claim is that the jurists are biased against deputy public defenders and their clients.

Santa Barbara County Judge Thomas P. Anderle is expected to rule soon whether to send the cases back to the judges in question or to refer the cases to other jurists.

Carmen Ramirez, president of the Ventura County Bar Association, said the organization is alarmed at the direction the race is taking in the months before the Nov. 3 election. The result has been an unseemly showing that she said diminishes the public's respect for the judicial system.

``The bar is very concerned about the rhetoric that is being traded,'' said Ramirez, who practices civil law. ``And we want to promote civility in the legal profession. . . . We're concerned that individual attorneys have felt free to condemn whole groups of attorneys who represent the most unpopular folks.

``If we don't respect each other's rights and engage in civil discourse, we help undermine the fundamental underpinnings of our democracy,'' she said.

Beyond the rancor lies the question whether a judge's endorsement of a judicial candidate - which is allowed under the state's code of judicial ethics - translates to bias in the courtroom.

Some believe the disqualification motions are fueled by politics, not legal necessity. Windom, who would seemingly have the strongest argument for a case of judicial bias, has not sought to dismiss any of the judges who endorsed his opponent. And the first disqualification attempt came on June 15, after the endorsements were made and the primary election held.

Deputy public defenders deny any political motive and say the disqualification motions are filed on a case-by-case basis and are solely in the interest of their clients.

In a recent radio interview, Chief Public Defender Kenneth Clayman suggested the judges could help resolve the allegations of bias if they would simply state that both McGee and Windom are respectable lawyers and fine candidates.

``I think a statement like that, which would be very honorable, and I hope reflective of their true opinions, would do a lot to cure the problem,'' Clayman said.

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2 Photos

PHOTO (1--Color) Kevin McGee

Endorsed by 14 judges

(2--Color) Gary Windom

Has defenders' support