SECTION I               

 

BASIC CANDIDATE INFORMATION

 

1.      Name as it will appear on the ballot

 

First Name

Middle Initial or Nick Name

Last Name

Richard

B

Sanders

 

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

 

Washington Supreme Court, position 6

 

3.   Are you the incumbent?                  Yes              No

 

 

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

 

life

 

5.   How long have you resided in King County?

 

50 years

 

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

                                                                                                                       

7.   If partisan, please indicate party:       

 

CAMPAIGN CONTACTS

 

 

Campaign Name:

 

Re-elect Sanders Supreme Court

 

Address:

 

PO Box 11757

 

City/State/Zip:

 

Olympia, WA 98508-1757

 

Campaign Phone:

 

360 570-8669

 

 

Campaign Fax:

 

360 754-7891

 

 

Campaign E-mail:

 

JusticeSanders@seanet.com

 

 

Campaign Website:

 

www.friendsofjustice.com

 

 

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)

Supreme Court

 

elected

 

Dec. '95 to date

 

     

 

     

 

     

 

     

 

     

 

     

 

     

 

     

 

     

 

 

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.)

 

My life is the legal profession, and this is a great job. I am able to at least attempt to protect the legal rights of those who come to court and articulate the principles of the law through published opinions and writings. It is a great privilege and honor to serve my fellow citizens in this way.

 

These are times of terror. At no time have our civil liberties been in such danger. We need strong and principled men and women in the judiciary to protect our civil liberties. It is our only hope for tomorrow. That is who we  Americans are. That is also what a judge is supposed to do, and I’ve been doing it every day. Every way.

 


 

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

 

I am concerned that our legal rights be protected, I have convictions regarding the rule of law and a free society, and I am not afraid to stand up for what I believe to be the truth, even if I stand alone.

 

I am very experienced in the legal profession, having an active trial and appellate practice for 26 years before I came to the court. During that time I litigated hundreds of trials of all kinds and approximately 100 appeals. This is more private experience than almost anyone on the court.

 

Since coming to the court I have published popular and scholarily articles and taught as an adjunct professor at the UW law school. My judicial career, all my opinions, and most of my writing and many speeches are listed on justicesanders.com

 

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. 

 

I am most proud of my work as a Justice of the Washington Supreme Court.

 

Before I came to the court I practiced law for 26 years and represented all kinds of clients, workers, small businessmen, people injured through no fault of their own, people having family problems, people who were mistreated by their own government.  We won some, and lost some. I appealed more than 100 cases. But all I could do was advocate my client’s rights to a court, I couldn’t protect them. But now that I’m on the court I have a role in actually protecting those rights.

 

I direct your attention to my over 300 pubished opinons. My favorites are State v. Valentine, 132 Wn.2d 1 (1997) and State v. Rivers, 129 Wn.2d 697 (1996). The text is on my web site, justicesanders.com.

 

I also wrote a column in the University of Washington Daily when I was a student (63-69), The Devil's Advocate, which gave me great satisfaction. 


 

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 am a member of my church, St. John Vianney Catholic Church here on Vashon.  I was an Eagle Scout and active in scouting my younger years. I participated in the community through my private law practice and attend many public events as a speaker and otherwise since joining the court.

 

 

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

 

To protect the legal rights of those who come to court. The Washington constitution says it is the purpose of government to "protect and maintain individual rights," and that is my job description.

 

We in this state have a precious heritage of freedom. … Our state Declaration of Rights makes the federal Bill of Rights look like a weak sister. We have more freedom to speak, worship, be secure in our privacy, own and use property and keep and bear arms than under the federal constitution. As long as our constitution has these guarantees I will stand by them—not just some of those guarantees, some of the time, but all of them, all of the time, for everyone.


 

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.

 

BA, UW 1966; Juris Doctor, UW Law School 1969

 

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.

 

My most important civic involvement has been through my profession as a lawyer, both in private practice for 26 years and 9 years on the Supreme Court.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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.

 

  N/A   I am a sitting member of the Washington Supreme Court and have been for 9 years.

 

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.)

 

 Supreme Court, 1995 to date ; I was an hearing examiner for the state in 1970 for one year  

 

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

 

 Rules, library, budget   

 


 

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

 

100    

% 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. I had one complaint filed against me with the WSBA which went to hearing for holding client funds in my IOLTA trust account rather than setting up a special interest bearing trust account . After hearing the complaint was 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