Pullout

KING COUNTY SUPERIOR COURT

POSITION NO. 2:
Vote for Holly Holman

Our sage advisers (a dozen veteran area attorneys of all political leanings) didn't know either Holman or opponent Cheryl Carey, so we had to dig further. The Death Squad had to go with fair-minded Holman, a Superior Court commissioner, mostly because Carey's resume scares us. As a state assistant attorney general, she defended the state Department of Corrections, a monolithic bureaucracy that spends most of its time protecting its own ass.

POSITION NO. 7:
Vote for Judge Julie Spector

See Stranger Cheat Sheet

POSITION NO. 11:
Vote for Robert S. Bryan

See Stranger Cheat Sheet

POSITION NO. 15:
Vote for Judge Mary Yu

Opponent Michael Morgan attacks incumbent Yu (a recent Governor Locke appointee) for her lack of experience, but we can't find anyone willing to join him in the attack. Besides, she impressed the Stranger Death Squad at a recent judicial forum when she recited an impressive history of social activism.

POSITION NO. 17:
Vote for Judge Donald D. Haley

See Stranger Cheat Sheet

POSITION NO. 21:
Vote for Greg Canova

We normally hate to endorse pro-death-penalty types like Canova, but everyone we've talked to says he's a straight shooter, an open-minded guy, and a brilliant legal mind. The Stranger Death Squad won't hunt you down if you vote for opponent Joe Lynch, though.

POSITION NO. 25:
Vote for Judge Jim Doerty

Doerty's a pretty decent judge--some say he's superb. He's being challenged by Kent attorney Linda Thompson, a homophobe who told colleagues she wants to beat Doerty solely because he's gay.

POSITION NO. 26:
Vote for Laura Gene Middaugh

A vote for Laura Gene Middaugh (who's been deemed "Adequately qualified" by the King County Bar Association) is really a vote against Judge Jeanette Burrage, who's incompetent. The King County Bar Association disparaged Burrage as "Not qualified," but that isn't the eighth of it. Our sage legal advisers all say the same thing: She's a capricious fool who possesses the legal mind of a deer tick. Moreover, she's a right-wing kook on property-rights issues.

POSITION NO. 30:
Vote for Paris Kimberly Kallas

See Stranger Cheat Sheet

POSITION NO. 51:
Vote for John Erlick

As one veteran attorney put it, "I'll hold my nose, vote Erlick, and hope for the best." The Stranger Death Squad will, too, though we're already wary of Erlick, his corporate background, his ridiculous hair (is it real?), and his campaign billboards (is that Erlick? Is he real?).