Tri-Cities lawyers overwhelmingly support 1 judge candidate in bar poll

Nearly four dozen Tri-Cities lawyers overwhelmingly believe a former Pasco Municipal Court judge is better suited to don a black robe over a sitting state senator.

Dave Petersen was the “overall choice” for Benton-Franklin Superior Court’s Position 1 in a recent poll conducted by the Benton & Franklin Counties Bar Association.

Petersen, a Kennewick lawyer, received 40 votes from his colleagues, while Sharon Brown, a private-practice lawyer and state senator from Kennewick, got the support of five lawyers in the poll’s overall category.

Petersen and Brown are vying for the seat being vacated by Judge Bruce Spanner. He’s retiring in December after 12 years on the bicounty bench.

Superior Court judges are four-year, nonpartisan positions paid an annual salary just below $200,000.

The premier legal organization for the Tri-Cities historically has conducted a poll when a judicial position opens up “to gauge the feeling of legal practitioners regarding the potential new judges.”

The local bar waited until the pool of six candidates was whittled down to two for the general election.

There were four questions on the poll — legal ability; judicial temperament; relevant legal experience; and overall top choice.

All dues-paying members were allowed to submit responses over a three-week period.

Of the eligible 98 members, 46 voted. However, not all participants answered each of the four questions, according to a bar association news release.

“The BFCBA believes that the professional insight of local legal practitioners is an invaluable tool for local voters to consider when casting their votes for a Superior Court judge,” bar secretary Jennifer Azure said in the news release.

Azure noted that the results are an “informational tools only” and are not an official endorsement by the bar association.

In the legal ability category, 28 lawyers said Petersen is “exceptionally well qualified” while only one said the same of Brown. Twenty three said Brown is “not qualified,” and 11 said they had “insufficient information” to rate the candidate.

Petersen got 32 top votes for judicial temperament to three for Brown.

And Petersen again received 32 votes for being exceptionally well qualified with his legal experience, while Brown got one vote. Thirty lawyers said she does not possess appropriate courtroom experience to be the next Superior Court judge.

Petersen has been practicing since November 1997. He served as the Pasco Municipal Court judge from 2011 into 2017, and previously worked as a Franklin County deputy prosecutor.

Brown was admitted to the Washington state bar in June 2001. She was serving as the mayor pro-tem on the Kennewick City Council in 2013 when she was appointed to the Washington Senate for the 8th Legislative District.