Judicial Recommendations for Los Angeles County

I am President of Government for the People and the Republican Nominee for State Assembly in the 54th AD.

If you think Judges are a non-partisan office, you would be technically correct. But in reality, as attested to by rulings of the 9th Circuit Court, we have judges trying to write the law from the bench. Many of these judges worked their way up through California Courts.

We are working to get judges elected that will rule fairly based on the Constitution and existing law. We have researched each of the judicial candidates in the June primary. These races are L.A. County wide. I hope you will consider and pass along our recommendations because we have to get the best person elected in each race.

It is important to vote in races that do not have Republicans to prevent the more liberal Democrat from taking office. I did recommend a decline to state that appeared to hold conservative positions over less qualified Republicans. One race was unique and you will have to read the write up at

Having a candidate statement is a big advantage, but is very expensive, $45,000 estimated for this race. Good judges are not necessarily good fundraisers or ones that have made lots of money. That is why you will see only one candidate statement in the voter guide.

This year was especially difficult to obtain information on the Judicial Races. We sent out a short questionnaire to each judicial candidate. (Note: judicial candidates are barred from answering issues based questions). We would like to thank the Metropolitan News-Enterprise www.metnews.com, they are doing a fantastic job of digging into each of the races and providing much needed background information.

Fortunately, I have also made a number of contacts that provided advice and guidance. I thank these people for their tremendous assistance and I respect their desire to remain anonymous.

We were particularly surprised that the L.A. Times recommendations were almost the same as the research that we came up with. Their replacement of some of the editorial staff is obviously working to get factual based decisions in their recommendations.

As the 2006 LA County Bar Association Ratings are not available as yet, I will flesh out the write ups in the next couple of weeks.

State Assembly District 54 Candidate
President of Government for the People
www.VoteMJ.com
www.GovernmentforthePeople.US

The only difference between the metnews link and Jackson's recommendations is Henry over Friedenthal in Office 8. They say Friedenthal is an activist judge based on his website.

Here's there analysis.

Bob Henry was rated "Well Qualified" by the LA County Bar Association in 2004.

Bob Henry was the only one to reply to my question for Office No. 8. We are including his responses below. He does not have a campaign website to refer you to, but he does have a little information at this site.

Responses to Government for the People Questionnaire:

Please describe your qualifications to be a Los Angeles Superior Court Judge. I am a graduate of Harvard Law School, Class of 1973, where I graduated with a B average. I joined the Attorney Generals Office in 1974, starting in the Civil Division. There, I tried the first OSHA citation given. I was mainly responsible for closing diploma mills. I filed suits to collect funds from wealthy individuals collecting state aid. In addition, I filed actions against nursing homes for unsanitary conditions and filed actions to recover monies for medical assistance to medi-cal patients for injuries they received in auto accidents where 3rd parties were responsible.

In 1978, I transferred to the Criminal Division and have handled approximately 800 felony appeals since then. I have tried approximately 5 felony cases including a 5 defendant rape case. My record of winning death penalty cases before the California Supreme Court is 4-0. I have handled approximately 8 death penalty cases at one time or another. From approximately 1991 to 1999, I was Asst. Capital Case Coordinator for the Los Angeles office. I have reviewed approximately 100 capital pleadings done by other prosecutors.

Why do you want to be a Los Angeles Superior Court Judge? At this stage of my career, I liken it to a Bachelors degree awardee wanting to get his Doctorate. I feel that my experience has prepared me to be a judge at this stage of my life and that because of my extensive knowledge, I would make a good judge.

Do you consider the U.S. Constitution a living document? Please elaborate. I am sorry but I am uncomfortable with this concept. Of course, we have to apply the same constitution written in 1787 to current problems. However, a "living document" seems to imply that the Constitution should be interpreted based on the political fashion of the day, or even much worse, the political beliefs of the interpreter. The legislative process provides the means to change the Constitution if the majority so desires. It is not the province of judges.

We completely agree with Bob's assessment of the U.S. Constitution, the legislative process is where changes to the U.S. Constitution should occur.

Opposing Bob Henry are Alan Friedenthal and Deborah Sanchez.

Friedenthal appears to be that not so rare political activist judge type as determined by his endorsements. His website

Sanchez seams to be a solid Deputy City Attorney, but does not have the experience of Bob Henry. Her website.

The Greens sent out questionnaires and requests for biographies/resumes. Some of them responded, as linked from this page.
http://www.losangelesgreens.org/elections.html

There are some interesting responses:

JUDITH MEYER
http://www.losangelesgreens.org/elections/2006_06_primary/20060521_judith_meyer.doc

Q: What do you think has been your most controversial decision to date and why?

A: I think the issue over marriage is the most controversial decision facing our citizens to date, because it affects absolutely everyone!

Q: Which U.S. Supreme Court justice do you admire most (past or present) and why?

A: I admired Justice Sandra Day O’Connor the most, because she was evenhanded and reasonable! She was not extreme, one way or the other. She gave rational opinions that just made sense to me, without being fanatical conservative nor fanatical liberal. She got it!

DAVID STUART
http://www.losangelesgreens.org/elections/2006_06_primary/20060520_david_stuart.doc

Q: What is your position on the death penalty?

A: For good or ill, the death penalty is the law in California and, as a judge, I would be bound to follow it. As a private citizen, however, I have doubts about the effectiveness of the death penalty as a deterrent and the fairness of its application.

Q: Which U.S. Supreme Court justice do you admire most (past or present) and why?

A: Justice Thurgood Marshall wins my vote for the courage of his convictions and for leading the way to a Supreme Court that more fully represents the diversity of our country.

I appreciate your taking the time to post our recommendations.

Our recommendations actually came out before MetNews posted theirs, I had to reach absentee voters and clubs, but I am glad that we agreed on all but one of the races.

I know we had a big effect on the primary, 6 of the people we supported came in first and the other two came in second. The key races to judge our effectiveness were race number 8, since most of the endorsements, including the L.A. Times and MetNews went to the third place candidate and in race 144 Stuart came in first even with all the slate mailers with Barquist on them.

More work needs to be done, because an "Exceptionally Well Qualified" (LA County Bar Association) incumbent was defeated by the "Bagel Lady" (MetNews). Fortunately, the Governor has promised to reappoint Judge Janavs.

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