SECTION I               

BASIC CANDIDATE INFORMATION

1. Name as it will appear on the ballot

First Name	Middle Initial or Nick Name	Last Name
James		White

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

State Supreme Court Justice

3.   Are you the incumbent?                  Yes              No

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

47 years

5.   How long have you resided in King County?

I do not currently reside in King County

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

7.   If partisan, please indicate party: 

CAMPAIGN CONTACTS

Campaign Name:	Committee to Elect Judge James White
Address:	2200 6^th Avenue Suite 1250
City/State/Zip:	Seattle, WA 98121
Campaign Phone:	206-441-1980
Campaign Fax:	425-697-5064
Campaign E-mail:	SupremeCourt2004@aol.com
Campaign Website:	ElectJudgeWhite.org

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)
Edmonds Municipal Court Judge	Appointed	12/01/00 -Present	Presiding Judge - Manage 6 full time employees
Edmonds City Council	Elected	01/01/96 -01/02/01	Committee Chairman Public Safety; Committee Chairman Community Services and Development

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

Office Title	Year of Run
District court Judge	1995

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 have a more diverse legal background than 4 of the nine sitting Justices.  I believe I can bring perspective to the Court that is lacking.  I believe that I have an excellent analytical mind.  I enjoy arguing the fine points of the law.  I particularly enjoy appellate cases.  I have practiced in 9 different counties in Washington.  I have been a prosecutor, defense attorney and Judge.  I have litigated very complex criminal and civil matters. I have been a hard worker all my life.  I worked full time throughout my college years, including law school.  I have been married 25years.  I was fortunate to truly find my soul mate. We have raised (are still raising) three sons who are good student, respectful of others and servants in the core of their being.  I think high character is an important attribute to be sought in a Supreme Court Justice.  I feel my life reflects this good character.  I would put my best effort and all my life experience and knowledge into this position.  As you can imagine, it would be a pay cut for me as it would be for any lawyer who has a 20+ year practice.  I am still very excited about the new challenge and opportunity this position presents to make good rational law in Washington that will stand for decades to come.  I feel I owe this to my family and all of my friend who choose to live here.  Frankly, I do not think we are getting that from our current court, in some cases, and I would like to help change that.

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

I have a bit of an obsession with wanting to find all the answers to all the questions.  My grand father taught me that if a job is not worth doing right, it is not worth doing.  I have accepted this teaching as a part of my own life philosophy.  I strive for excellence and completing any job I start.  Tenacity and thoroughness are two of my basic characteristics.  I also believe I have compassion and generally seek to help the underdog.  while compassion should always be a part of the character I bring to this job, I will struggle with my desire to help the underdog.  Appellate law is an academic pursuit.  In my years as a judge, I know that the passion I bring to a litigation case where I am advocating for one side must be re channeled into a desire to learn and understand the various position advanced  always avoiding predetermining any issue.  Too many time I have been surprised in the second half of the case.  I think I have been able to do this well in my years on the bench thus far.

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. 

By far my greatest accomplishment thus far has been raising three wonderful sons.  These boys are honest kind and diligent.  I know I see this from a bias perspective but they are nevertheless the accomplishment of which I am most proud.

A case of which I am most proud was Auburn Mechanical, Inc. v. Boeing, Snohomish county Cause #92-2-05877-2L, I was contacted by and attorney at the end of December and asked to try his case for him which was scheduled to go to trial in the first of April.  The attorney had waited to the last minute to contact me and I had to spend virtually the three months before trial poring over construction documents regarding a dispute over construction of the new 777 fuel dock at the Everett Boeing plant.  I had never been involved in a construction case before so I had to learn, a whole new meaning to words that I thought I had previously understood.  The word had a different meaning in the construction context.  I was the sole trial attorney with one assistant to keep the document together, in this two month trial in Snohomish County.  A little more than one thousand exhibits, some two hundred pages long, were entered into evidence, more than any previous case in Snohomish County history.  The judge struck the jury on the first day.  We prevailed in the case and were awarded a substantial sum.  The client wanted more so we appealed the jury being stricken and prevailed.  A new trial was scheduled but the matter was settled prior to the new trial.  Boeing (Ryan Swanson and Cleveland) submitted an attorney fees bill which exceeded $400,000.  My bill was just over $45,000.  This was truly David vs. Goliath.

My most meaningful cases have been pro bono representation of women in abusive marriages.  I have represented dozens in my career and most, if not all, have been pro bono.  These women finally gain enough strength to leave their situations and generally flee with nothing but the clothes on their backs.  One such woman was Duong.  She was subjected to the most foul abuse, sexual, physical and mental.  She spoke very little English and had three sons with whom she fled.  She was a refugee from Viet Nam who was brought  the US by her husband of 20 years.  He had been in the US for 14 years when she arrived with her children.  When she arrived she found Her husband had a new wife in America.  She and her sons were virtually slaves controlled by this man for a year after their arrival.  Ultimately, we were able to argue successfully that the marriage was 20 years in duration even though he had left Viet Nam about 5 years after the marriage was consummated.  This resulted in the court awarding long term maintenance for the wife as well as child support through the college years for the children.  This family still sends me a card every Christmas and every once in a while Duong will call just to ask how my family is doing.  By far this was one of my most gratifying cases.

A case which I feel is demostrative of my charater as described above is Gilliam v. State, 89 Wn.App. 569, 950 P.2d 20 (1998) This was a case filed in 1986 and finally resolved in 1997 (11 years).  It became an important case on the issue that DSHS/CPS does not have absolute immunity in investigation of CPS matters.  The CPS case worker created false evidence and actually lied in open court all of which was eventually proven despite the State’s best efforts to cover-up the evidence.  The case was tried for two weeks only to be taken from the jury and dismissed on a absurd basis by a former rather infamous judge.  After the dismissal jurors actually sought me out and urged me to appeal the decision.  One sobbed in my office as she expressed how unfair this had all been.  We did appeal (pro bono) and the dismissal was reversed.  The AG involved had a break down and the case was assigned to another AG after the appeal (AG Gregoir had just been elected).  The new AG agreed to mediation and the case was settled within 6 months of the reversal.

Lastly, In re the Dependency of MIS, MS, NS, & MRS was a case taken pro bono in which the children of Sarah and Aziz were taken by CPS.  Another child, Mohammed, had died at the home as a result of blunt trauma to his abdomen.  During this 3 week dependency hearing (one of the longest in King County history) were searched the country for an expert pathologist to support the parents theory of the injury.  We were able to gain the cooperation of Kalil Jaraki, an ME from Detroit who had recently concluded the police had killed Malice Green (big national story) during a routine traffic stop.  The police had claimed he died from self inflicted injuries.  Dr. Jaraki flew to Washington and testified, all at his own expense.  During the Dependency proceedings, the father was charged with murder 2 also.  That case was dismissed after the primary evidence was excluded during pre trial hearings.  However, at the subsequent dependency hearing, the evidence that  had been excluded at the criminal hearing was admitted at the dependency hearing.  The standard of proof being lower, dependency was found.  The evidentiary rulings were later reversed on appeal.  The case was entirely pro bono.  The significant impact was that we established an interdisciplinary panel of experts in Muslim culture who ended up testifying throughout the country on various matters, all pro bono.  This case also led to the establishment in King County of “cultural panels” to oversee CPS custody and visitation of  families with strong cultural beliefs such as these devout Muslims, where placement in a typical foster home is grossly against their cultural and religious beliefs.

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.

﷡I have worked for Volunteer Attorneys for Persons with AIDS since the program began.  This involve representing clients with landlord tenant issues, health insurance issues, Wills and probate matters, family law issues and many more.  In the early days, there were many aspect of discrimination involving persons with AIDS.  I watched many of these clients waste away and ultimately die during the time I was representing them.

I have always throughout my practice had at least two pro bono files open, usually more.

I was one of the original attorneys on the Joint Legal Task Force for Central American Refugees and I continued to be involved with the Immigration Rights Project, the successor organization.  We represent immigrants  cannot afford to otherwise get legal assistance.  In the earl years I pursued one case through the 9^th Circuit court of Appeals. 

 I taught in the Street Law Program from the entire time it was funded by the WSBA.  This program matched an attorney with a high school teacher.  The attorney would  go into the classroom on an agreed upon schedule to teach about law.  I taught every Friday for an hour and a half first at Ballard high School for 4 school years, then at Redmond High for two years (my office was in Seattle) and then at Woodway High School in Edmonds for two years.  I continued to teach the Street Law program after the Bar discontinued the program due to funding.  I am currently trying to put together a class with Edmonds-Woodway high school in Edmonds for next year.

I was on the Board of Directors for the Washington State Commission on Law Related Education.  This was a non-profit corporation started by myself and others, including judges and lawyers, which attempted to match judges and lawyers with schools to promote law related education similar to the Street Law program.

I have served as a Mentor attorney to young lawyers through the Seattle/King County and State Bar Associations mentoring programs.

I have been a speaker on the Northwest Women's Law Center Speaker's Committee presenting on issues of domestic abuse and family law.

I have presented workshops on various legal issues to many different civic organizations including but not limited to Rotary, Washington Retired Teachers Association, Senior Citizens Centers.  For a year I presented two times a month to SPEEA, 80 – 100 people at each session, on the subject of estate planning.  I did not charge for these presentations and did not solicit clients at them.

I have provided pro bono services for women in crisis at the Pathways for Women shelter in Snohomish County and I am called frequently by local churches to provide pro bono services for families in need who could not otherwise afford legal services.  This has ranged from defending collection actions to fighting vehicle impounds to disputes between neighbors (trees being cut because they hung over the fence leading to a law suit; adverse possession claims because the rockery was over the property lien, etc.)  Trivial as these matters seem, if they are not defended, the plaintiff can win an unjust judgment which just makes a hard life harder for these clients.

My professional involvement has also included:

Washington  State Bar Association Law Examiners Committee  (The committee writes and grades the Bar Examination)

Washington State Bar Association Court Rules Committee

Washington State Trial Lawyers Association Court Rules Committee

Washington State Trial Lawyers Association Public Affairs Committee

Washington State Trial Lawyers Association Legislative Affairs Committee

CLE Instructor in Seattle and Spokane

Instructor in accredited paralegal certification courses through the University of Puget Sound

National League of Cities Public Safety and Crime Prevention Policy Committee

Snohomish County Law and Justice Council

Edmonds City Council

Snohomish County Cultural Arts, Stadium and Convention District Governing Board

Snohomish County Tomorrow Board (established GMA and ESPA reg. D long range policy)

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

The duties of this position include reviewing legal briefing on issues of State Constitutional importance, considering oral argument, researching the law, discussing the issues with fellow Justices, persuading or being persuaded to a position and ultimately joining in a majority decision or writing a concurring or dissenting opinion.  Beyond the obvious, from my own experience as an administrator, I understand that I will creating policy for the Washington State court system.  This will include court rules and policy decisions, general leadership, funding issues, court consolidation issues, and access to justice issues.  I know two of the immediate areas of concern upon my taking the bench will be dealing with the Court Funding Task Force recommendations and the ongoing fight to create access to justice for indigent civil litigants.  I would also hope to continue the practice of the court in which it hears argument in various forums throughout the State.  I personally also intend to try to expand court/law related education in the elementary schools, middle schools and high schools. 

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.

Juris Doctorate University of Puget Sound School of Law 1983

BA English Literature University of Washington 1980

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.

Washington State Bar Association Law Examiners: Appointed to write and grade the Bar Exam

National League of Cities Public Safety & Crime Prevention Policy Committee

Snohomish County Law & Justice Council

Federal Justice Act Panel

Washington State Bar Association Court Rules Committee

Immigration Rights Task Force

Northwest Women's Law Center Speaker

Washington State Commission on Law Related Education

Edmonds City Council

Cultural Arts, Stadium & Convention District Governing Board

Mentor attorney to Seattle, Lake Washington & Edmonds School Districts

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.

      My practice includes a high degree of litigation.  I am in court almost every day of the week.  I have represented clients in several highly publicized criminal matters including the Safouane dependency/murder case in King County; the Nguyen case which involved the home invasion, robbery, theft and kidnaping of a Des Moines police officer and his family; the Espinoza drug funds seizure case in Everett which resulted in the City repaying in excess of $300,000.00 of seized funds.  In domestic cases I have represented many professionals, including lawyers, doctors, police officers and elected officials.  My most significant case was against the State in a matter which established that DSHS is not immune from suit for wrongfully taking children from their parents in a CPS investigation (Gilliam v. DSHS)  Victims of sexual abuse are a large portion of my PI clientele.

      In addition to my criminal and PI practice, I have been regularly contracted by other attorneys to try their cases for them.  As an example, Auburn Mechanical, Inc. v. Boeing, was a dispute over construction of the new 777 fuel dock, resulting in a two month trial in Snohomish County.  A little more than one thousand exhibits were entered into evidence.

      I have appeared in 9 different counties and dozens of different courts in Washington. 

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.)

In 2000 I was appointed as the Municipal Court Judge for the City of Edmonds which is the second largest city in Snohomish County.  I still serve in that position.  Prior to that I was one of two appointed judges for Lake Forest Park Municipal Court. For over 13 years I served as Judge Pro Tem in various courts including Snohomish County Superior Court, Snohomish County District Courts, Seattle District Court, Seattle Municipal Court and Lake Forest Park Municipal Court.  I served as a Drug Seizure Hearing Examiner from 1986-1989 for the City of Lynnwood..  I also serve regularly as an arbitrator in King County Superior Court.  During my years on the Edmonds City Council I served often as a quasi judicial officer in appeals of primarily land use decisions.

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

District and Municipal Court Judges Association Education Committee

District and Municipal Court Judges Association Court Rules Committee

2001 to Present   

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

2	% municipal court

6	% state district court

60	% superior court

20	% federal district court

10	% appellate court

2	% 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.

1.  No

2.   Ten or more years ago a complaint was filed by a disgruntled client who did not feel that I handled her civil case in the manner she would have liked.  The complaint was summarily dismissed by the WSBA.

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