SECTION I               

 

BASIC CANDIDATE INFORMATION

 

1.      Name as it will appear on the ballot

 

First Name

Middle Initial or Nick Name

Last Name

Theresa

     

Doyle

 

2.   Office sought (include office, jurisdiction, position/district number):

 

King County Superior Court, position 13

 

3.   Are you the incumbent?                  Yes              No

 

 

4.   How long have you resided in this district/city?

 

48 years

 

5.   How long have you resided in King County?

 

48 years

 

6.   Is the office sought partisan or nonpartisan?         Partisan      Nonpartisan         

                                                                                                                       

7.   If partisan, please indicate party:       

 

CAMPAIGN CONTACTS

 

 

Campaign Name:

 

Citizens for Judge Theresa Doyle

 

Address:

 

6312 18th NE

 

City/State/Zip:

 

Seattle, WA 98115

 

Campaign Phone:

 

206-919-4815 or 949-7717

 

 

Campaign Fax:

 

     

 

 

Campaign E-mail:

 

doylekelley@w-link.net

 

 

Campaign Website:

 

     

 

 

POLITICAL BACKGROUND

 

1.   Beginning with the most recent position, please list public offices which you have held.  Include positions on appointive Boards or Commissions.

 

Public Office

Elective or Appointive?

Dates Held

Leadership Role (if any)

Judge, Seattle Municipal Court

 

appointed 1998, elected 1998 and 2002

 

1998-present

 

assistant presiding judge, 2003-04

 

Commissioner, Seattle Planning Commission

 

appointive

 

1986-87

 

     

 

     

 

     

 

     

 

     

 

 

2.   If you ran for public office but were not elected, please list those races below:

 

Office Title

Year of Run

     

 

     

 

     

 

     

 

     

 

     

 


 


SECTION III

 

In this section, we are seeking responses that reflect the four ratings criteria: involvement, effectiveness, character, and knowledge.  These are defined as follows:

 

  • Involvement: What has the candidate done previously in family, neighborhood, community, volunteer work, employment or public life to suggest readiness to accomplish challenging objectives? How do these activities demonstrate readiness for the challenges unique to the office sought?

 

  • Effectiveness: Has the candidate demonstrated promise of being productive in the office sought?  Has the candidate shown the ability to work with other people?

 

  • Character: Do the candidate's personal traits show the ability to take on the responsibilities of campaigning for and holding the public office she or he is seeking? Is the candidate a leader, participant or observer?  Is the candidate trustworthy, reliable and candid?

 

§         Knowledge: Has the candidate demonstrated the willingness and ability to learn and adapt?  Does the candidate understand the duties and challenges of the office sought?  Does the candidate have a firm grasp of the issues important to his or her constituency and their potential effects?

 

 

1.      In a page or less, why are you running for this office?  (Note: the interview committee will be given a copy of this statement before your interview; at the beginning of your interview you will have the opportunity to expand on this statement in any way you wish.)

 

I am seeking election to this open position on King County Superior Court because I want to apply my experience and skills, gained as a judge in Seattle Municipal Court, to a larger court with broader jurisdiction.

 

I am the most qualified candidate because:  a)  I am a seasoned and well-respected trial judge as demonstrated by the most recent King County Bar Poll of attorneys who practice in district and municipal court, in which I was ranked the top judge in the entire county in all categories;  b)  I have six years of judicial experience, in addition to three years of pro tem experience, as well as substantial judicial administrative experience; hence, I would be able to assume the duties of an experienced rather than a novice Superior Court Judge.

 


 

2.      Describe your most important personal characteristics or traits as they relate to the office you seek.

 

Knowledge of the law, intellectual curiosity, courage, compassion, humility, respect for others. 

Knowledge of the law and intellectual ability are central to doing well as a trial judge, because no matter what else, judges are expected to know the law. To do so requires continuing study of the law. Intellectual interest in the law makes this part of the job easy.

Courage is essential because judges are expected to make tough decisions even though that decision may be unpopular and result in the judge drawing a challenger at the next election.  The willingness to make such tough decisions which pose risk to one's career is simply part of the job.  That takes courage.

 

Compassion is essential in order to fashion an appropriate sentence that will deter future criminal behavior, rehabilitate and hence reduce recidivism, and restore the community and/or victim.

 

Humility and respect for others are necessary to create civilized court proceedings wherein the participants feel they have had their "day in court", and this strengthens the legitimacy of the court system.  Judicial humility and respect for others also provides attorneys with a role model for appropriate behavior in court, toward opposing counsel and witnesses.  

 

3.      Please describe in sufficient detail, one to three accomplishments or contributions of which you are most proud.  These examples should illustrate effective skills and capabilities you think apply to the office you are seeking.  These accomplishments may have occurred at any time in your personal, professional, or public life. 

 

As presiding judge of our mental health court, I exercise on a daily basis all the skills necessary for effective judging generally:  courage despite opposition of defense or prosecution; knowledge of the law particularly with respect to statutory and emerging constitutional law governing competency issues; willingness to consider new, creative approaches to dealing successfully with mentally ill offenders and incentives for probation compliance; ability to work collaboratively with defense, prosecution, probation and social service providers without being distracted by turf or ego battles to effect good outcomes for mentally ill offenders and thereby enhancing public safety.

 

As Chair of our Jail Alternatives Committee, I have worked with all stakeholders in the criminal justice system to reduce jail costs, more effectively promote the purposes of sentencing (deterrence, rehabilitation, punishment) by working smarter, identifying the types of offenders for whom jail should be used (DUI recidivists, domestic violence perpetrators who show little inclination toward reform, violent offenders, etc.) and those for whom treatment, work crew, community service or other interventions would be more effective in curbing criminal behavior, and to collectively gather and analyze data whch could impact our shared goals of promoting public safety.


 

4.      Please list or describe your current and past activities in the community in which you have acquired skills that relate to the office you seek.  Include your role in the activity and the year(s) in which you were involved.  Involvement consists of many areas such as family, neighborhood, community, employment, or public life.

 

Of my pre-judge activities, I am most proud of my Board membership in Washington Women Lawyers.  I successfully recruited women of color, lesbians, lawyers at small firms, and government lawyers to the Board who had heretofore not been proportionately represented.  during this time (1995-98) i was liaison for the Board to the Minority Bar Association group, and in that capacity identified issues of common interest to effect progressive change.  All of this left in my wake a cultural history of identifying with other minority groups which has continued.

 

 

  1. Please describe the duties of the office you seek.  Which are the most important duties and why?

 

Trial judge skills, administrative ability given the high caseload and equally demanding administrative duties, courage to make tough decisions notwithstanding that may result in curtailment of one's judicial career, leadership ability with respect to the forgoing, interest in the law and its evolution.


EDUCATION BACKGROUND SUMMARY

FOR PUBLICATION IN CANDIDATE EVALUATION REPORT

 

The Municipal League’s Candidate Evaluation Report is distributed to voters in print and/or on our website.  It includes a summary of the candidate’s education.  Please summarize your education in 120 characters (letters, punctuation, and space all combined).  The League will delete material that exceeds the space limit by beginning with the last entry.  Suggested order is (degree) (subject) (school) (year, if desired). 

 

Note: If this question is left blank the League will not include education information in your candidate profile.

 

     

 

CIVIC INVOLVEMENT SUMMARY

FOR PUBLICATION IN CANDIDATE EVALUATION REPORT

 

The Municipal League’s Candidate Evaluation Report also includes a summary of each candidate’s civic involvement.  Please summarize your civic involvement in the space below.  We will make every attempt to include the information in the Candidate Evaluation Report as submitted.  Due to space restrictions in the Report, your response is limited to 500 characters (letters, punctuation, and spaces all combined).  It is important that you list your involvement beginning with the most important and ending with the least important.  If you exceed the length of response permitted, or if the League should find it necessary to shorten responses for publication purposes,  deletions will be made beginning with the last item listed. 

 

Note: This information will appear verbatim on the League’s Candidate Evaluation Report.  If this question is left blank, the Municipal League will not include information on your civic involvement in the Report.

 

  Check here if you would like the Municipal League to copy the first 500 characters from Question 4 to paste into this section.

 

     

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Supplemental Judicial Candidate Questionnaire

 

1.   Briefly describe the nature of your current practice/position including types of clients and areas, if any, of specialization.  State what percentage involves civil litigation, criminal litigation, and/or nonlitigation.

 

  Nearly 100% criminal law, but I have substantial experience as lawyr practicing civil law at Riddell, Williams, Bullitt & Walkinshaw.  

 

2.   Identify all your experience as a neutral decision maker (e.g. judge, permanent or pro tem, in any jurisdiction, administrative law judge, hearing officer, arbitrator, etc.)

 

See above answers.    

 

3.   If you have been a judge, identify any court committees on which you have served or administrative positions you have held, including dates.

 

Assistant Presiding Judge, 2003-04

Mental Health Court Judge,  2003-present

Member, Washington Pattern Instructions Committee, 2002-present

Appeals Judge, 2000-present

Probation Judge, 2001-present

 


 

4.   List the approximate percentage of your time over the last five years you have made appearances in:

 

    

% municipal court

 

    

% state district court

 

    

% superior court

 

     

% federal district court

 

    

% appellate court

 

    

% administrative tribunals

 

5.   Are you now an officer or director of any business enterprise other than your law practice?  If so, what role do you expect to play if elected?

 

  no  

 

6.   Have you ever been disciplined or determined to be in breach of professional conduct by any court, administrative agency, bar association, disciplinary committee, judicial conduct commission, or other professional group?  Have you ever had a formal complaint filed against you with the WSBA?  If so for either or both questions, give the particulars, including the outcome.

 

 No.  In 1996, I represented a public defender client who had fired all of his previous public defenders, in a post-guilty plea hearing to withdraw his plea.  The lmotion was not  successful, and he filed a Bar complaint, which was summarily dismissed.   


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finished!

If at all possible, send your response to the Municipal League electronically as an attachment, or insert it into an e-mail message (rebecca@munileague.org).  Mail and fax numbers are listed below.  If the League has not contacted you to schedule an interview, please call the League office at your earliest convenience.

 

Don’t forget to send the following to the Municipal League:  a resume, a photo, campaign literature, and, if you are an incumbent, constituent newsletters and other materials.  Please use the check-off list on the cover sheet of this packet to indicate which items you have sent.

 

THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION AND GOOD LUCK IN YOUR CAMPAIGN!

 

THE MUNICIPAL LEAGUE OF KING COUNTY

 

Candidate Evaluation Coordinator:  Rebecca Cooper

 

810 Third Avenue, Suite 224                  Phone: 206-622-8333                Email: rebecca@munileague.org

Seattle, WA 98104-1614                        Fax: 425-671-0506                        Website: www.munileague.org