Three of Thurston County's eight Superior Court judges will leave the bench in 2012, a scenario that might be unprecedented here.
Judge Christine Pomeroy is retiring as of March 1, and Presiding Judge Paula Casey and Judge Thomas McPhee won’t seek re-election when their terms end Dec. 31.
The announcements came Thursday during the Thurston County Bar Association’s biannual luncheon with local judges at Thurston County Superior Court.
“I think it’s extremely uncommon,” Superior Court Judge Anne Hirsch said of the multiple departures. “It’s going to leave a huge (experience) hole on our bench …”
The pending vacancies set the stage for a busy election year, and lawyers and court officials already are discussing possible candidates.
Pomeroy, 59, has served as a Superior Court judge for 18 years. Before that, she served for seven years as an Olympia Municipal Court judge. She said she plans to stay in the Olympia area and looks forward to staying involved through volunteer work.
“… Family and personal considerations were the determining factors on my timing to resign, but I also have in mind that several of my colleagues are near my own age, and that it is most prudent for the court to have a phased transition of judges,” Pomeroy wrote in her resignation letter to Gov. Chris Gregoire.
It will be up to Gregoire to appoint Pomeroy’s replacement. A Gregoire spokesman said Thursday that it is premature to consider whom she might appoint.
Whomever she appoints will have to run for the office in 2012.
Casey, 64, has been a Superior Court judge for 27 years. Before that, she served for two years as a commissioner in Juvenile and Family Court.
“It’s time for retirement,” she said.
McPhee, 67, is on vacation and was not at Thursday’s lunch.
Next year’s candidate-filing period is May 14-18. Mail-in filings can be submitted beginning April 30. The fee to run for Thurston County Superior Court judge is $1,488.
Superior Court judges in Washington make $148,832 a year.
The 2012 primary is Aug. 7, and the general election is Nov. 6. If a candidate for a Superior Court judgeship wins more than 50 percent of the vote at the primary, he or she is automatically the winner of the race, and there is no general election.
Elections for Superior Court judgeships are nonpartisan.
Jeremy Pawloski: 360-754-5445
jpawloski@theolympian.com
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