Editorial:
San Diego Superior Court Judge races are usually ho-hum affairs that rarely attract attention. That was until last June when tea party candidate Gary Kreep, an advocate of the birther movement, widely considered to be a “kook” and unqualified to be a judge, was elected to the Superior Court. For the legal community in particular, this was an embarrassing moment as the Kreep election became the butt of jokes. For many in the community there was a sense of being hoodwinked.
The upcoming election for Superior Court Judge Office 25 is similar in many respects.
Robert Amador is a prosecutor in the District Attorney’s office with 30 years of experience. He has been graded as well qualified by the County Bar Judicial Evaluation Committee. Jim Miller, Jr, is a private attorney who took over his father’s office only three years ago in El Cajon. Like Kreep, Miller is a tea party favorite and is considered unqualified by the Judicial Evaluation Committee.
What distinguishes Miller from Kreep is that Miller has been supported by Russell Pierce, the author of Arizona’s SB 1070 anti-Latino law, who attended a recent fundraiser for Miller. Miller, as a guest at a recent fundraiser, and has attacked the La Raza Lawyers as a “race-based organization” asserting that it supports returning California to Mexico. Miller has interjected immigration into a race that does not set policy in this area.
Amador on the other hand has broad-based support from Democrats and Republicans alike. He has the support of the legal community, he has the support of the Hispanic community. Amador has 30 years of working the judicial system including the prosecution of murder, arson, insurance fraud, gang crimes and crimes against children.
Miller has none of this experience and has resorted to polarizing politics to get elected. Instead of standing on the shoulders of his experience, knowledge, a broad base of support, Miller has instead painted his election into an “Us”, the White community, against “Them”, the Hispanic immigrant community. He is in a sense taking a page out of the Sherriff Apaio playbook and is focusing on immigration as his calling card for winning this race.
The Superior Court is not the place for this type of judge. A judgeship should be above politics and should administer the law in accordance with the constitution and state, federal, and local laws and statutes.
The best person to be the next Superior Court Judge, Office 25, is Robert Amador. Don’t let polarizing politics rule the day. Vote for Amador and keep the extremist out of the courts.