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IN BRIEF: Stein seat 3; Yellin seat 40; Martin seat 49.
See UPDATE in orange at the bottom for the OC Bar Association ratings.
Protest vote for Andew Stein; earnest vote for Larry Yellin
JUDGES — OFFICES 3, 40, 49
We have four races this year: one with three candidates and three with two. One of those three is likely to generate more sparks than the three others combined; we’ll address this in Part 5.
Because one of us is a lawyer who may appear before these jurists, we’re a little skittish about making recommendations on things like our perceptions of their honesty, judicial philosophy, etc. Instead, we use some rules of thumb:
- Points off for an endorsement by OC District Attorney Tony Rackauckas.
- Optional points off for endorsements by other Deputy District Attorneys
- Points off for involvement in scandals
- Points off for documented true judicial whack-a-doodle-ism
- In some cases, occupation
- OC Bar Association Ratings — which have not yet been posted (but watch this space!)
We are posting their web sites (links are on their names) where we can find them.
Office #3
The candidates are Megan Wagner, Wayne Philips. and Andrew Stein.
Wagner: Endorsed by an absolute horde of sitting judges, DDAs, police associations, and Republican politicians, Sandra Hutchins, and … Tony Rackauckas. Married to Assemblyman Don Wagner, which is not a positive, but she does not bear responsibility for his negatives. She is a prosecutor in the DA’s Major Fraud unit, which is nice.
Philips: Lists hundreds of endorsements by what appear to be regular everyday people with no involvement with the law. Has extensive military experience, including as a military lawyer. He also ran against Judge Joanne Motoike last time, which we did not find endearing. (He got crushed.) If he were elected, he would likely be a pretty idiosyncratic judge.
Stein: Endorsed by a dozen or so judges, none of whose names seem to be from around here. Extensive litigation background in criminal defense and civil rights. Says that “he is the man that cops love to hate, but call when they need help! ” He’s a member of the California Public Defenders Association. We don’t know much about him and we hope that he’s a good guy.
Conclusion: There is such a thing as being too well-connected — and Megan Wagner is. She is as close to being an establishment Republican candidate as you can get without having an “R” after your name — but there’s no obvious reason to think that she won’t do as good of a job as the many fair and competent Republican judges on the county’s bench. She is clearly going to win — and will probably win in June. So the question is: do you want to cast a protest vote — and, if so, is it for someone who is on the civil rights and anti-police abuse side or on whatever side Wayne Philips represents. Plenty of lawyers in OC don’t like how Rackauckas has been leaning heavily into judicial races to stock the courts with people who owe him. He’ll probably continue doing so, but every vote against his hand-picked candidates is a warning to Todd Spitzer or whoever else succeeds him (hopefully in 2018) that we don’t want the DA to be packing the court with his (or her picks.) OJB Recommendation: Join the losing team — and cast a protest vote for Andrew Stein.
Office #40
The candidates are Larry Yellin and Thuy Pham. This was the seat for which Shawn Nelson had filed before deciding not to follow through. (He reportedly plans to run in 2018.)
Yellin: Has outgoing Judge Steven Perk’s endorsement and testimonial to his having high ethics, which is not to be ignored. Many endorsements (though not Megan Wagner-level “many”) from judges, prosecutors, and police associations, though he does not list one from OCDA Rackauckas, which is comforting. He is a spokesman for the OC’s public attorney union (which represents prosecutors and defenders), so perhaps that bad reason is why.
Pham: Endorsements from about a dozen judges and court commissioners, all or most of whom appear to be from Los Angeles. Stresses experience as both prosecutor and defense attorney, which is also nice. Like Stein, there’s no real sign that having him on the court would be scary.
Conclusion: Either seems fine. Judge Perk is a straight shooter, though, and his endorsement for his own successor inclines us towards Yellin. Yellin seems very likely winner — and if he wins by much less than Wagner that will suggest something unpleasant about OC’s judicial elections. No need for a protest vote here. OJB Recommendation: Yellin, and we hope that Pham will run again.
Office #49
The candidates are Mike Murray and Thomas Martin.
Murray: Has a huge fire hose spray of endorsements, much like Wagner’s: the usual prosecutors, police, and Republican officeholders. Hopes for him rose when Rackauckas’s name was not immediately apparent in the list — but then were dashed because he was listed down towards the end. (Well, hiding him is some progress, at least.) Seems highly qualified and not a especially worrisome prospect for the bench — but may come stamped with the prosecutor’s perspective.
Martin: Seems to have a good deal of legal experience — but not much in the way of endorsements besides a couple of good sitting judges.
Conclusion: Looks like another rout. Does it demand a protest vote? I don’t think so — but the taint of the Rackauckas endorsement remains. OJB Recommendation: Skip this one until candidates learn not to take an endorsement from just anyone. Seriously, Murray would have had our endorsement if he’d had just given Rackauckas a stiff-arm.
And now, some late-breaking news (hat-tip to Voice of OC)
UPDATE 5/17 WITH OC BAR ASSOCIATION RATINGS! (Our choices are in orange)
3: Wagner — Well-Qualified; Phillips — Qualified; Stein — Qualified.
40: Yellin — Exceptionally Well-Qualified; Pham — Qualified.
48: Schatzle — Well-Qualified; Steiner — NOT Qualified(!)
49: Martin — Qualified; Murray — Qualified
Comments: These ratings justify our difficult choice to supporting ousting a sitting judge, not something to be taken lightly. But what strikes us most is not the NOT QUALIFIED rating for Steiner, but the discrepancy among the four subordinates of OCDA Tony Rackauckas.
Yellin gets an “Exceptionally Well-Qualified” rating; we are pleased and relieved. Schatzle gets a “Well-Qualified” rating; she probably earned it, but it also underlines the Bar Association’s rejection of Steiner. Wagner is also “Well-Qualified,” and while we oppose her, it’s not based on a lack of qualifications.
Murray, however, gets only a “Qualified” rating — equal to his largely unknown opponent Martin, who almost entirely lacks the local endorsements of Murray. Not even “Well-Qualified”? This leads us to suspect that the OCBA is trying to tell us something about Murray in relation to the others. It may be that it has to do with the topic of this article, which lands a light glancing blow on Yellin but raises a blaring alarm siren on Murray. We’re going to investigate — but if we had to vote right now, at least one of us would support Martin over Murray.
The Democratic Party of Orange County and the OCLabor Fed enforced Yellin and Stein
“OCLabor Fed ENFORCED Yellin and Stein”
That is one funny typo.
um, it’s a typo, right?
Good. We’ll go 1 for 2.
Note that these recommendations have been tentatively updated in light of the OCBA ratings: until further notice, go with MARTIN in Seat 49.
Thank you Greg, going with your recommendations on all the judicial races. Much appreciation for the recap of issues and interests here.
Thanks, John. The judicial races are the least happy part of doing this task because of my profession. But I’m glad that you and others find them useful!
Andrew M Stein is a defense attorney, who is running for a judge seat in OC Superior Court -office #3. Here is some of his defense handiwork, from 2010…Courage, the dog found starved and eating rocks, hours away from dying in the Bellflower area. Stein defended the dirtbag that did this and, after getting the case delayed for months, got her sentence reduced from a felony to a misdemeanor. Btw, the dirtbag paid very little in restitution and continues to work in OC today. The attorney website is http://steinforjudge.com/about/…..dirtbag works at 281 Motorsports, at last check
1248 E Orangethorpe Avenue; Fullerton, CA 92831
where the owner is a registered sex offender
Stein told one of the volunteers from the group who rescued Courage, during the trial that she better not post anything negative about his dirtbag client or he’d sue her.
Attorneys call that “zealous advocacy.” It’s part of what we’re paid for: to make the arguments that our clients would make if they had the knowledge.
I don’t think that it tells us much about what he’d do as a judge. I doubt that he’s a dog-hater.
wish there was someway to show you pictures of what he thought was not appropriate for felony charges…this man, whether a dog lover or not, gave her a way out for what she did to the poor dog. A full grown German shepherd should weigh at the least 55 lbs, he was 35 when found, couldnt stand and cried all the way to the hospital. Ethics man, ethics.
Zealous advocacy is part of legal ethics. That’s the main reason I’m picky about clients and don’t work for a firm or the government. Also, I have no idea what you may be leaving out of this story (and you might not either.)
I do realize, though, that you just doxed someone. Vern, I’m inclined to take down the material with identifying info there towards the end. The very last paragraph, though, is fair game at this point.
Megan Wagner is the wife of Don Wagner who’s a huge grandstander, no action typical politician you don’t hear from until its election time. I expect she’s like that too, has anyone ever heard of her? and look at those endorsements.