- Damon Shadid / Seattle Municipal Court
- Challenger Damon Shadid, left, and Seattle Municipal Court Judge Fred Bonner.
Whoa, Damon Shadid is innnnnnnnntense. This guy is ready for whatever the municipal court can throw at him (including that ceramic mug Judge Chow hand-blocked awhile back), and our guess is we’ll be interviewing him about a run for higher office someday soon. He has Hillary Clinton–style message discipline, a lawyerly thirst for argument, and a solid passion for initiatives that push toward greater social justice in the court system. His opponent, Judge Fred Bonner, was first elected to the court in 1989 and has also been a strong proponent of social justice programs. But he’s been hit with the municipal-court equivalent of a scandal lately (apparently violating the rules of a city-subsidized carpool parking spot that saved the Corvette-driving judge $12,000 over the last 10 years, and also declining to attend municipal court judge meetings because he doesn’t like his colleagues much). Given this, you’d expect Judge Bonner to be all over his reelection campaign, but he admitted to the SECB that he probably should have been paying more attention to this race much sooner, and that he’d probably gotten a little too relaxed over 24 years in this position. We don’t think Shadid is capable of relaxing, and we don’t think elected judges should ever get too comfortable with the people’s trust. Vote Shadid.
For The Stranger‘s full endorsements for the November election, continue reading »
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