L.A. COUNTY JUDGES MAY FACE DISTRICT ELECTIONS.Byline: Harrison Sheppard Sacramento Bureau SACRAMENTO - Superior Court judges in Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. County would be elected by district instead of at-large under a bill designed to make judges more accountable to voters. If approved by the Legislature, which just began a monthlong recess, the constitutional amendment proposed by state Sen. George Runner George C. Runner, Jr. (born March 25 1952 in Scotia, New York) is a Republican California State Senator, who represents the 17th Senate District, which includes portions of Los Angeles County, San Bernardino County and Ventura County. would have to be submitted to voters statewide, probably on the November 2006 ballot. The proposed amendment would apply to any county in California that has at least 5 million people - a description that currently fits only Los Angeles, but could later apply to Orange and San Diego San Diego (săn dēā`gō), city (1990 pop. 1,110,549), seat of San Diego co., S Calif., on San Diego Bay; inc. 1850. San Diego includes the unincorporated communities of La Jolla and Spring Valley. Coronado is across the bay. counties. The measure would divide Los Angeles County into 12 judicial districts of about 800,000 residents in each and no more than 36 judges per district. The districts would be drawn by a committee of three special masters appointed by the state Supreme Court. Runner, R-Lancaster, said the massive size of Los Angeles County and the low-profile nature of judicial races make it difficult for voters to get information about the more than 400 judges who run for office every six years. Making them run on a district basis would make it easier for voters to learn about individual candidates, he said. ``People call me and say, 'Do you know any of these judges?''' Runner said about a question he often hears during campaign season. ``That's probably the most common frustration I hear from voters - that they have no idea who these judges are that they're about to vote for.'' The presiding judge presiding judge n. 1) in both state and federal appeals court, the judge who chairs the panel of three or more judges during hearings and supervises the business of the court. of Los Angeles County opposes the idea. Allan Parachini, a spokesman for Presiding Judge William MacLaughlin, said the proposal would in some respects undo To restore the last editing operation that has taken place. For example, if a segment of text has been deleted or changed, performing an undo will restore the original text. Programs may have several levels of undo, including being able to reconstruct the original data for all edits the unification (programming) unification - The generalisation of pattern matching that is the logic programming equivalent of instantiation in logic. When two terms are to be unified, they are compared. of the Municipal Court and Superior Court systems, achieved with difficulty. ``The process of unification has been statewide and at times painful, but turns out to be a good direction for the court system in California to head in,'' Parachini said. ``Stripping one county, albeit the largest one in the state, out of that system to us does not seem at first blush Adv. 1. at first blush - as a first impression; "at first blush the offer seemed attractive" when first seen to make any sense.'' Harrison Sheppard, (916)446-6723 harrison.sheppard(at)dailynews.com |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion