Kudos to Judge Mariane Spearman for not becoming a jaded asshole despite serving eight years on the King County superior court—and 13 years in county district courts and Kirkland municipal courts before that. Spearman’s earned her stripes overseeing cases ranging from child custody hearings to big murder trials. Last year, she won environmentalists’ hearts by allowing their case against the Port of Seattle for hosting Shell Oil’s Arctic drilling fleet to proceed.
Her opponent is Thomas Cline, an infuriatingly long-winded lawyer whom the King County Bar Association rated as “not qualified.” Cline, it appears, got into the race because he’s bitter about Spearman ordering him to pay $2,200 in legal fees in a past case. (Dude. Get over it.)
