Padula and Williams take early leads for seats on Pierce County District Court bench

Early ballot returns had private attorneys Lizanne Padula and Karl Williams in the lead Tuesday night for seats on the Pierce County District Court bench, ahead of two veteran Pierce County prosecutors.

Padula had 58,509 votes to opponent Tim Lewis’ 51,648 in the race to replace retiring Judge Frank Dacca.

John Sheeran trailed Williams, 45,474 votes to 63,513, in the contest for the seat held by retiring Judge Maggie Ross.

“I’m feeling like this is a good lead,” Padula told The News Tribune by phone. “I’m feeling like this is a lead that will hold up. This is the culmination of working really hard for 25 years to be a good attorney and to put myself in a place where I felt like I could be a good judge and serve my community.”

Padula, 52, has done defense and civil work during those years, much of it in King County.

She initially was a deputy prosecutor on the Olympic Peninsula and also briefly worked as a reserve police officer on Bainbridge Island.

Williams, 57, also said he was feeling confident about his lead. This is his sixth campaign for a judgeship in Pierce County.

“The first time I ran was in 1999,” he told The News Tribune by phone from his University Place home. “I’m standing here, looking at my children, who were basically toddlers at that point. I’m just happy that I was able to, with the support of my family, keep trying. Because as I’ve always said, good judges make a difference. And I think I am one.”

Sheeran said he called Williams on Tuesday night to congratulate him.

“I can congratulate Karl on running a great race,” Sheeran told The News Tribune. “I expect he’ll be a great judge. I want to thank the voters for participating and giving both of us a fair hearing.”

Williams has done civil work and criminal defense and for 22 years has filled in as a pro-tem judge as needed on the District Court and other local benches.

Both he and Padula ran against veteran prosecutors with the Pierce County Prosecutor’s Office and out-raised them, according to records from the state’s Public Disclosure Commission.

Lewis has been a deputy prosecutor for 15 years in Pierce County, Sheeran for 22.

Williams raised more than $91,000 to Sheeran’s roughly $72,000. Padula raised about $79,000 to Lewis’ nearly $14,000.

District Court handles criminal misdemeanor and gross misdemeanor cases, traffic infractions, small claims and civil cases that seek damages of $100,000 or less, among other matters.

It is the court most Pierce County residents interact with. It had more than 62,000 cases in 2017, nearly twice those in Superior Court, which handles felony criminal cases and major civil ones.

The eight seats on the bench come with four-year terms, and an annual salary of about $164,000.

This story was originally published November 6, 2018 at 9:14 PM.