Constant Readers,
Once again I had a marvelous time last night with the fine folks of the Middle Polk Neighborhood Association, who invited me to speak about ballot propositions at their monthly meeting. This time, we talked about Prop T (treatment on demand), Prop H (energy) and Prop 1A (high speed rail). People asked great questions and made astute comments, which certainly kept me on my toes.
Before I spoke, however (incumbent) Judge Mellon and Supervisor Sandoval - each vying for a seat on the Superior Court - got 5 minutes to talk about their candidacy. Basically, it comes down to this: Judge Mellon has 15 years of experience as a judge with 22 years of legal practice before that. But he is, by many accounts, a rude and crotchety judge. (Though he's apparently gotten better since being moved to civil court.) Mellon was given the lowest passing score of "qualified" (not "well qualified" or "exceptionally well qualified") by the SF Bar Association committee that examines judicial candidates.
Sandoval, on the other hand, has minimal experience and was not even rated as "qualified" by the SF Bar. For example, he always talks about how he worked at the fancypants law firm Skadden Arps when he graduated from Columbia law school in 1995, but always leaves out that he was only there for one year. But Sandoval is a very nice man. And he's Hispanic. And his daddy was no big-shot.
Advantage: Sandoval. He has name recognition and his campaign has honed in on the (ideally irrelevant) fact that he is a Democrat and Mellon is a registered Republican. (Mailer here: Download Gerardo_Sandoval_for_Superior_Court_Judge.pdf.) And, while I haven't seen any campaign pieces highlighting cases Mellon decided in a partisan manner, this town votes Democrat regardless of the office.
--Melissa
Didn't Sandoval get in trouble because he was highlighting his registration as a Democrat? Not only that, but in an interview with UC Law, Sandoval couldn't name one single case where he disagreed with Mellon, rather, because Mellon is a Republican he shouldn't be a judge. In an article by CalLaw, where their did not make an endorsement, they noted that this run by Sandoval "smacks of a person looking for the next possible government job."
I have a very low opinion of Sandoval as a potential judge, I mean, one of his reasons to become a judge is to effect social change; sorry, but I thought the position of a judge was to interpret and enforce the law, not create new law. Ohhh wait. . .sorry, I'm on the wrong blog for that train of thought.
Posted by: VenerableBede | October 21, 2008 at 15:29
@VenerableBede - You are always welcome here, my dear. You make some excellent points.
Posted by: Sweet Melissa | October 21, 2008 at 15:39
Having whined about wanting your analysis of H, I really, really did try to make it last night. Honest.
Will you be recapping? Pretty please?
Posted by: Fredo | October 21, 2008 at 16:24