Superior Court District 8 up
for rematch

BY CHUCK TUCK | JOURNAL REPORTER As difficult as it is in making decisions, Superior Court Judge Position 8 is up for a rematch from four years ago as the incumbent Judge Eric Lucas seeks to retain his seat against then incumbent and current challenger Judge David Hulbert.

Both contend that they are well qualified for the position and cite that the other has flaws or less than exemplary standings with one or more organizations or bar associations.

“Since 2004 a lot has changed,” wrote Lucas. “First, in late October 2004 before I was sworn in (January 2005) Judge Castleberry obtained my commitment to serve on the drug court team as his backup for Juvenile Offender Drug Court. I served as backup for just under three years and took over as presiding judge for this court in January 2008. To prepare for this I attended required training at Judicial College for a week in October 2006, National Drug Court Conference four-day training in 2007 and 2008 and additional required local training including mentoring from Judge Castleberry and the other judges on the team. Drug court judges volunteer for these additional duties over and above our regular rotational duties.”

Judge Hulbert is a fourth generation family member of Lake Stevens, and stands by his slogan that ‘Snohomish County should be the worst place to be a criminal and the best place to raise a family’. “I care deeply about this community and I want to help keep it safe from violent offenders and drug dealers. As a judge I believe that it is the duty of a judge to firmly and fairly enforce the law and to place public safety as the number one priority,” Hulbert said.

“While some judges like to legislate from the bench and to make it up as they go along sometimes even rendering ‘crack-pot’ decisions, I believe that a good judge knows the law and has the courage to enforce it even in the most difficult of cases,” he added.

According to Hulbert, a comprehensive “evaluation’ from the Snohomish County Bar Association looked at all 34 principal judicial officers in the entire county from every level of court, municipal up to superior court, and of those 34 judges and commissioners Judge Lucas came in dead last.

Lucas on the other hand contends that he has offered himself to evaluations voluntarily, and asks why Hulbert has never offered to do the same.

“I have offered myself up for evaluation eight times including seven different bar associations: The Snohomish County Labor Council (Highest Rating: Well Qualified); the Snohomish County Bar Association (finished first in the bar poll); the Asian Bar Association, Snohomish County Bar Assoc. among others.

“In all but the last I have received the highest rating. Of all of the judicial candidates running for office this year in any race I have received the highest ratings,” Lucas stated.

Your vote on August 19 will determine once again who will be sitting in the judge’s seat for another four-year term.

Voters are encouraged to visit www.votingforjudges.org to learn more about the candidates and visit their respective websites for more information.

blog comments powered by Disqus