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Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Ind. Courts - Lake County attorneys rate judges

The Indiana Lawyer reports today on Lake County judges, in a story by Ron Browning. Some quotes:

A survey of Lake County attorneys named Magistrate Michael N. Pagano the best jurist in the four county courts.

The magistrate in County Division III rated at the top of the list in competence, character, temperament, and overall qualification.

The poll, conducted by the Lake County Bar Association, sought responses from all 1,042 attorneys in the county -- not just bar association members. It asked for anonymous ratings of the County Court judges in one of five rankings ranging from exceptionally well qualified to not qualified. * * *

Attorneys were asked to rate only those judges with whom they had personal experience or knowledge, limiting the number of responses because only 300 to 350 attorneys in the county have any significant practice in the county courts, Funk said. A total of 276 surveys were returned.

While Magistrate Pagano scored the highest in the three areas attorneys were asked to consider, as well as his overall qualification -- which deemed him "well qualified" -- the judge in his court did not fair as well in the survey.

Judge Julie N. Cantrell scored the lowest of all active judicial officers in the county courts in each category as well as in the overall qualification -- where she rated as "qualified." She was rated "less than qualified" in the area of character.

Her ratings in each category scored only above Eduardo Fontanez and Stanley W. Jablonski -- judicial candidates for the bench in County Division IV.

The respondents said the candidates should not be elected judge, but incumbent Judge Jesse M. Villalpando should retain the seat.

Here is an ILB report from April 22nd with similar information, quoting a Gary Post-Tribune story.

[More] Today's Munster (NW Indiana) Times has a story on the Lake County Bar survey, by Marc Chase. Some quotes:

It may be one of the most rough-and-tumble Lake County judicial races on record, but attorneys in the county don't believe it's a close one, a new Bar Association survey shows.

Each year, the Lake County Bar Association members rank local judges in the categories of competence, character, temperament, overall qualifications and whether the judges should be elected to new terms.

This year, two judicial candidates for Lake County's contested superior court judgeship, Merrillville lawyer Stanley W. Jablonski and Hammond lawyer Eduardo Fontanez, also were ranked in the mix, coming up far short of the incumbent they are challenging, Judge Jesse Villalpando.

The race thus far has been characterized by sharp attacks on all sides, with Villalpando saying the challengers were placed on the ballot by political rivals to dilute his vote count. He claims both men were recruited because he declined to refer defendants to a counseling service run by a rival political operative's friend and supporter.

Fontanez has said Villalpando has performed inefficiently, creating a backlog of cases.

Say what they may about each other, but about 200 attorneys surveyed on Villalpando, Fontanez and Jablonski believe that the sitting judge is far and away the better candidate.

Of the 223 attorneys that answered questions regarding whether Villalpando should be re-elected in the May 2 primary, 74 percent indicated yes.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on April 26, 2006 01:13 PM
Posted to Indiana Courts