Board Meetings
By J. Mark Weiss
The Same-Sex Marriage Policy Statement appears to be the major issue of the first half of this year. It has consumed ink in several editions of this column now. As reported last month, the Board adopted a proposed policy statement, as discussed more fully in KCBA President Gary Maehara’s column on page 2.
A request for comments on the proposal yielded more than 300 responses, including comments from non-members and other bar associations. As of November 4, approximately 70.5% clearly favored the proposed statement; 3.3% would favor the statement if it referred to “civil unions” rather than “marriage;” 12.4% clearly opposed the statement; 11.4% did not deem it an appropriate subject on which KCBA should take a position; 1.7% complained about the process; and 0.6% had questions or made comments that could not be categorized. Some trustees reported getting comments directly.
The Board was scheduled to take up the comments and make a final decision at its November meeting, the results of which are reported in President Maehara’s column.
Judicial Screening
The KCBA judicial screening process remains controversial. Michael Morgan, candidate for Federal Way municipal court judge, complained about the KCBA’s judicial screening process. Morgan declined to participate in the process, but the Judicial Screening Committee nonetheless gathered information about him and then rated him “unqualified.” Morgan felt that was unfair.
Is the process broken? One trustee thought it incongruous that the Judicial Screening Committee would rate Russ Wilson “well qualified” in the Renton Municipal Court election in light of his Fair Campaign Practice violation. (See last month’s column.) There apparently is also discontent among South King County attorneys with the KCBA judicial screening process.
The Judicial Screening Committee has recently expanded its membership to accommodate concerns for diversity and community (i.e., non-lawyer) involvement and its present and former chairpersons are adamant that the process is good.
The Board is determined to get to the bottom of this controversy. Perhaps there is a problem with the process, perhaps there is a problem with public perception or perhaps there is a problem with . . . well, something else.
To address the concerns, President Maehara announced he would invite the chairpersons of the Judicial Screening Committee to face questioning from the Board. Trustees Eileen Concannon and John Ruhl will then investigate and report back.
This article discusses selected issues that were before the Board of Trustees at its November 2, 2005 meeting. The author wishes to thank Joseph Bring-man for preparing minutes while the Secretary was in trial. Complete minutes of this and other board meetings are available from the KCBA office.
J. Mark Weiss is KCBA secretary/trustee. Mr. Weiss practices family law in Seattle. He can be reached at 206-622-6707.
