King County Bar Association ratings of judicial candidates on the primary ballot

Updated 7-21-2012 11:24pm

By Evan Smith

Here are the King County Bar Association ratings for candidates on the Aug. 7 primary-election ballot:

First for the three two-person King County Superior-Court contests that will be part of the candidates’ forum at the Richmond Beach Congregational Church Tuesday; in each of these contests, a candidate who gets a majority of the primary vote wins without running in the general election, meaning that the primary is virtually certain to decide the winner:

KING COUNTY SUPERIOR COURT Position No. 29

• SEAN O'DONNELL -- WELL QUALIFIED
• HONG TRAN – PREVIOUS RATING SUSPENDED PENDING RECONSIDERATION

 KING COUNTY SUPERIOR COURT Position No. 30

• DOUG NORTH -- EXCEPTIONALLY WELL QUALIFIED
• KIMBERLY ALLEN -- INSUFFICIENT INFORMATION TO
• RATE

KING COUNTY SUPERIOR COURT Position No. 46

• GARY ERNSDORFF -- WELL QUALIFIED
• JUDY RAMSEYER -- WELL QUALIFIED

Next, two Superior-Court positions that will not be part of the Richmond Beach forum; if one candidate for either position gets a majority of the primary vote, he or she would win without running in the general election; if no candidate gets a majority in the primary, the top two vote getters would run off in November:

KING COUNTY SUPERIOR COURT Position No. 25

• ELIZABETH BERNS -- NOT QUALIFIED
• ROGER DAVIDHEISER -- EXCEPTIONALLY WELL QUALIFIED
• ERIC SCHMIDT --- EXCEPTIONALLY WELL QUALIFIED

KING COUNTY SUPERIOR COURT Position No. 42

• SUE PARISIEN – QUALIFIED
• MARIANNE JONES – NOT QUALIFIED
• DAVID RUZUMNA – QUALIFIED
• CHRISTOPHER A. WASHINGTON  -- WELL QUALIFIED

Next, a State Supreme Court position with only two candidates. Here a candidate who gets a majority of the primary vote would appear unopposed on the November ballot:

WASHINGTON STATE SUPREME COURT Position No. 8

• BRUCE O. DANIELSON – REFUSED TO COOPERATE
• STEVE GONZALEZ -- EXCEPTIONALLY WELL QUALIFIED

Next, a Supreme-Court position with three candidates; if one candidate gets a majority in the primary, he or she will appear unopposed on the November ballot: if no one gets a majority, the top two vote getters in the primary qualify for the general election:

WASHINGTON STATE SUPREME COURT Position No. 2

• DOUGLAS W. McQUAID -- REFUSED TO COOPERATE
• SUSAN OWENS -- WELL QUALIFIED
• SCOTT STAFNE -- NOT QUALIFIED

Finally, a Supreme-Court position with four candates; again, any candiate who gets a majority in the primary  runs unopposed on the November ballot; if no one gets a majorty, the top two vote getters in the primary meet in the genetal election:

STATE SUPREME COURT, Position No. 9

• BRUCE HILYER -- EXCEPTIONALLY WELL QUALIFIED
• SHERYL GORDON McCLOUD -- EXCEPTIONALLY WELL QUALIFIED
• RICHARD B. SANDERS -- WELL QUALIFIED
• JOHN W. LADENBURG -- EXCEPTIONALLY WELL QUALIFIED