Candidates sought to fill 2nd District judge vacancy

The Second Judicial District Nominating Commission has an­nounced that it is seeking candi­dates to fill the vacancy on the bench left by the recent death of Jackson County District Court Judge Micheal A. Ireland, it was reported.

Judge candidates have until noon Wednesday, Oct. 14 to submit nomination forms and letters of support to the nominating commis­sion, according to the Kansas Of­fice of Judicial Administration (OJA). Candidates will meet with the nominating commission for in­terviews on Thursday, Oct. 22 in the Jackson County Courthouse.

Kansas Supreme Court Justice Marla Luckert, departmental justice responsible for the Second Judicial District, which includes Jackson, Jefferson, Pottawatomie and Wa­baunsee counties, said nominees can apply or be recommended for the judgeship. Recommendations must come on a nomination form and include the nominee’s signa­ture, Luckert said.

“Selecting judges is an open process to find the most qualified candidates in the district, so if a community member knows some­one ideally suited for the job, he or she should encourage that person to apply, or volunteer to recommend him or her,” Luckert said.

Kansas law requires that a judge be a resident of Jackson County at the time of taking the oath and maintain residency in Jackson County while holding office, have actively practiced law as a judge, attorney or full-time teacher at an accredited law school for at least five years and be admitted to prac­tice law in Kansas.

Recommendations for the judge­ship must be accompanied by a nomination form available at the court clerk’s office in each of the district’s four counties. The form is also available from the appellate court clerk at the Kansas Judicial Center in Topeka and on the Kan­sas judicial branch Web site at www.kscourts.org

Nominations must be submitted by noon on Oct. 14 to J. Richard Lake, secretary of the nominating commission. The commission will then hold interview sessions on Oct. 22 that are open to the public, after which the commission will submit at least two names, but not more than three, to the governor, who will choose a candidate to ap­point.

District court judges are selected in one of two ways in Kansas — merit selection and retention vote, as Ireland was chosen in 2006 to serve as a Second District judge, or partisan ballot. In some districts, voters have approved nonpartisan merit selection of judges. In other districts, judges run for office on a partisan ballot. Judges serve four-year terms regardless of their method of selection.

When a vacancy occurs in a merit selection district, a judicial nominating commission interviews candidates and recommends two or three candidates to the governor for consideration. The governor then appoints one of the candidates as a judge to fill the vacancy. When there is a vacancy in a district magistrate judgeship, the district judicial nominating commission selects a candidate to fill the va­cancy.

All judges appointed via merit selection stand for retention at four-year intervals beginning with the first general election after they have been in office for one year.

Judicial nominating commissions are made up of attorneys and non-attorneys who live in the district. Attorney members of the nominat­ing commission are elected by fel­low attorneys, while non-attorney members are appointed by the local county commissions in the judicial district.

Meanwhile, “senior judges,” or retired judges who step up to help in case of a sudden vacancy on the bench, continue to work with judges and courts in the Second District to cover cases slated to have been overseen by Ireland, who died Aug. 29 after suffering a car­diac arrest at the Courthouse. The district is led by Chief District Judge Gary L. Nafziger, with sup­port from District Judge Jeff Elder and magistrate judges Blaine Carter and Dennis Reiling.

In addition to Lake and Luckert, who serves as the nomination commission’s non-voting chair, the commission consists of Edward W. Pugh, Wamego; John D. Watt, Wamego; Charles W. Waugh, Eskridge; David G. Allen, Cir­cleville; Norma J. Dunnaway, Perry; D. Max Fuller, Maple Hill; and Corwin K. Seamans, Manhat­tan.