Of all of the options on the June 2 primary ballot, perhaps the most vexing question is what to do about the 11 contested races for Los Angeles County Superior Court.
Over the last month, our editorial sent surveys to all judicial candidates in contested races. All but one completed our survey. Members of our team then interviewed 26 of the candidates, with one not responding to invitations for an interview.
Through our endorsement process, we sought to understand the backgrounds, thought processes and temperaments of the candidates as best we could given the nature of the office. Judges, after all, are held to different standards than run-of-the-mill politicians and are actually expected to uphold the rule of law, conduct themselves professionally and be as faithful to the facts as they can.
Making these calls is often quite difficult, as highlighted in deputy opinion editor Larry Wilson’s column on Office No. 65 and editorial board member John Seiler’s commentary on Office No. 14. Ultimately, though, the voters have to make a choice and so we are doing our part to help inform your decision-making process.
Here, we present our seven published endorsements to date in an easy-to-access list. In some races, members of the Opinion team wrote separate commentaries about the races elaborating on their thoughts about the candidates.
This list will be updated as the final four endorsements are made in the coming days.
Office No. 2
Endorsement: Tal K. Valbuena – Deputy District Attorney, County of Los Angeles
Office No. 64
Endorsement: Maria Lisa Ghobadi – Deputy District Attorney, County of Los Angeles
Column by Rafael Perez: Maria Ghobadi is the responsible choice for judicial office No. 64
Office No. 66
Endorsement: Benny Forer – Deputy District Attorney, County of Los Angeles
Office No. 81
Endorsement: David Walgren – Judge of the Superior Court
Column by Rafael Perez: Judicial temperament is on the ballot in Walgren-Kapelovitz race
Office No. 116
Endorsement: Pat Connolly – Judge of the Superior Court
Office No. 131
Endorsement: Donna Tryfman – Deputy Public Defender, County of Los Angeles
Office No. 181
Endorsement: Ryan Dibble – Superior Court Commissioner, County of Los Angeles
Column by John Seiler: Why Ryan Dibble is the right choice for L.A. County judge