JUDGES RACE ALONE CHALLENGES RARE IN AREA ELECTIONS.

Byline: David Greenberg Staff Writer

VENTURA - Election day for the six Superior Court judges up this year came and went without a contest, a trend repeated over the past decade with only one incumbent judge having faced a challenge for the seat.

Legal experts say the safe standing comes from a range of factors - from public satisfaction with the county's 27-member bench to the cost of running a campaign - and the fact that few lawyers want to face a judge they might have criticized on the campaign trail.

``More than anything else, campaigns are costly and I'm not at all sure voters spend a whole lot of time understanding judicial races,'' said Steven Henderson, executive director of the Ventura County Bar Association. ``When you have a governor's race and a congressional race, constituents are spending their time understanding those races. Frankly, voters in Ventura County don't know who their judges are. (Voters) are not in the courts.''

'Not good form'

This spring, Superior Court Judges Henry Walsh, Colleen White, Glen Reiser, Art Gutierrez, John Smiley and Brian Back faced no opposition and were automatically re-elected at the March primary.

``It's not good form,'' said Bruce Bradley, assistant registrar of voters. ``If you're running against a judge, you have to be a lawyer. What are you going to say when you stand before him (in court)? That's why we (almost) only have races when there's no incumbent.''

However, Presiding Judge Charles Campbell Jr. stressed that the conflict between judges and the lawyers who might challenge them would not exist, because jurists would be expected to remove themselves from a case involving attorneys who campaigned for their seats.

Furthermore, he said, judicial campaigns should not become bitter because, unlike politicians, lawyers and judges are expected to abide by the California Judges Association conduct code, which prohibits mudslinging.

``I would just automatically disqualify myself because there could be a perception that a reasonable person would believe that I might not be impartial,'' said Campbell, the only judge in the 1990s to face a challenge to his seat. ``So if you don't like a judge, you could run against him or her and then never have to appear before them again.''

When then-prosecutor White and defense attorney James Farley were in a race for a Superior Court seat in 1994, Campbell, who had endorsed White, was given a case with Farley representing the defendant. Campbell said he asked Farley whether he wanted another judge and Farley declined.

Open seats

To run for Superior Court - which was consolidated with the Municipal Court in June 1999 - candidates must be lawyers for at least five years, belong to the State Bar Association of California and reside in the county.

Most judges obtain their seats initially by gubernatorial appointment and then run for re-election every six years.

A race for an open seat ensues when the governor's staff - particularly during the transition stage of a new administration - does not make appointments before the election.

With as many as six seats on the bench up for grabs every even-number year, there were only five contested races during the 1990s - and all but one entailed campaigns for a vacated seat.

Prosecutor Kevin McGee defeated Deputy Public Defender Gary Windom for a Superior Court seat in November 1998 after they each garnered more votes than family law attorney Cathleen Drury in the primary that June.

Prosecutors Donald Coleman and White became Superior Court judges in the 1996 and 1994 primaries by defeating Drury and Farley, respectively.

In the 1992 primaries, Municipal Court Judges Ken Riley and John Hunter squared off for a Superior Court seat, with Riley emerging as victor, while prosecutor Edward Brodie defeated Windom and civil defense attorney Larry De Sha for a seat on the Municipal Court.

That same year, family law attorney Lee Hess become the only candidate in the 1990s to challenge an incumbent judge, but Campbell defeated him by a 5-to-1 margin.

``Prosecutors have a major advantage because everybody in this county is concerned about crime,'' Drury said. ``That's the platform they run on. The concept is: I am a prosecutor, I put bad guys away, if you want to continue to put bad guys away, vote for me. It's hard to get past that because everybody wants to put bad guys away.''

Money matters

Garnering enough name recognition to win a judgeship is also a costly venture, say legal watchers, as a successful campaign could cost more than $100,000.

McGee, for instance, raised $107,938 in 1998, records show, while Drury said she raised approximately $25,000.

Legal watchers added that the lack of challenges could also stem from private attorneys' unwillingness to absorb a reduction in salary to the $122,628 a year that the county's 25 judges earn.

Added Ventura County Bar Association President-elect Ron Harrington, ``With a couple of rare exceptions, (lawyers) are pretty pleased with the bench they have now,'' Harrington said. ``All in all, we have a very fine bench.''