1. Name as it will appear on the ballot
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Middle Initial or Nick Name |
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2. Office sought (include office, jurisdiction, position/district number):
3. Are you the incumbent? Yes No
4. How long have you resided in this district/city?
5. How long have you resided in
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I have been a resident of |
6. Is the office sought partisan or nonpartisan? Partisan Nonpartisan
CAMPAIGN CONTACTS
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Campaign Name: |
Mary Kay Becker for Supreme Court Justice |
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1. Beginning with the most recent position, please list public offices which you have held. Include positions on appointive Boards or Commissions.
2. If you ran for public office but were not elected, please list those races below:
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In this section, we are seeking responses that reflect the four ratings criteria: involvement, effectiveness, character, and knowledge. These are defined as follows:
§ 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.)
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In these contentious times, it’s especially important to have solid, broadly experienced judges. A strong Supreme Court helps to maintain respect for the law among the citizenry by remaining impartial and writing clear and well-reasoned decisions that are faithful to the Constitution and laws. My years of public service, including ten years as an appellate judge and ten years in the legislative branch, show I am well suited for this role.
The Supreme Court works best when it functions cohesively as a court, rather than an assortment of individual personalities. I would use my experience in the give and take of group deliberations, and the skills I have developed as a member of an appellate bench, to strive to make the whole greater than the sum of its parts.
Personally I am excited at the prospect of hearing the most challenging cases, briefed and argued by lawyers who are doing their very best—and then responding by doing my very best to analyze and weigh the arguments.
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2. Describe your most important personal characteristics or traits as they relate to the office you seek.
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Intelligence
Intellectual honesty, including the ability to detach from personal views and apply the law impartially and rationally
Curiosity
Ability to envision what happened in the court below by reading the transcript and record
Skill and experience in legal writing and public speaking
Interest in hearing and discussing the opinions of others before deciding
Punctuality, reliability, and conscientiousness as to details and completion of work
Patience, politeness, and persistence; and when all is said and done, the ability to decide
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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.
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.
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I learned the importance of hard work and treating people with respect while growing up at my parents' resort at Kalaloch on the Olympic coast. My mother put me in a waitress uniform the summer I was 11 and fostered my appreciation of esprit de corps in group endeavors of all kinds.
I spent the summer of 1965 in Mississippi as one of eight student journalists on "Project South", a volunteer project where we conducted in-depth taped interviews of people involved in the civil rights movement. We saw firsthand that the fundamental principles of democracy and constitutional rights are not self-executing, but depend on courageous citizens as well as good lawyers and courts.
I was a VISTA Volunteer in a Pittsburgh housing project for a year after college.
When I returned home to Washington, I settled in Bellingham and became quite active in the movement to preserve Puget Sound from oil pollution. I co-authored a novel, "Superspill", that gave a fictional account of a major oil spill in Rosario Strait. This novel received positive reviews in local publications when first published in 1974. A second edition was published in 1989 when the Exxon Valdez oil spill turned fiction into reality.
As a legislator, in addition to my regular committee assignments I worked with children's advocates to identify, track and promote legislation beneficial to children. I learned a great deal about farming communities as a member of the agriculture committee, and in 1975 was a judge for the Dairy Family of the Year contest!
I was a member of the Whatcom County Natural Heritage Task Force (1990-92), appointed by County Executive Shirley Van Zanten. The Task Force produced a plan for the County to acquire and preserve open space.
2020 Commission on Higher Education, appointed by Gov. Locke. State Task Force on Gender and Justice (1987-89) Whatcom County Volunteer Lawyer Program Board Member (approx. 1989-90) Presenter at various CLE’s on new Juvenile Code, 1978-79 Organizer, CLE on gender discrimination, Whatcom County Bar (approx. 1998) Various CLE presentations as Judge, 1994-present; topics included appellate practice, tort law, legislative history, and personal restraint petitions. Presenter on military tribunals, Bellingham YMCA, 11-30-2001 Presenter, “Law School for Legislators”, Olympia 2003 Moot court and mock trial judge, approx. 10 times, 1994 to present
Civil Legal Needs Study (see question 3).
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The most important duty is to identify and decide those appeals presenting a fundamental and urgent issue of broad public import. Because the court has so many other demands on its time, it is important to develop and adhere to administrative structures and customs that insure ample time for members to discuss cases and trends in the law.
Other important duties of the court include providing leadership to the lower courts; supervising the Administrative Office of the Courts; representing the judicial branch to the legislature and to the public; working with the bar and other interested groups on matters relating to the practice of law. |
EDUCATION BACKGROUND SUMMARY
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.
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Stanford University, B.A., English 1966 with distinction; University of Washington Law School, J.D. with honors 1982 |
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.
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State legislator 1975-82; County Council 1983-85. Civil Equal Justice Task Force 2002-04; led production of groundbreaking study on the civil legal needs of the poor. West. Wash. Univ. Trustee 1989-94; served as chair during presidential search. 2020 Higher Education Commission (1988). Redistricting Commissioner 1991. Commission on Ethics in Government 1993. Gender and Justice Task Force 1987. Alternate member, Judicial Conduct Commission, 2000-2004. |
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.
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.)
3. If you have been a judge, identify any court committees on which you have served or administrative positions you have held, including dates.
4. List the approximate percentage of your time over the last five years you have made appearances in:
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% municipal court |
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% state district court |
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% superior court |
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% federal district court |
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100 |
% appellate court |
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% 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?
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.
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.
Candidate Evaluation Coordinator: Rebecca Cooper