PORT ANGELES — Attorney Curtis Johnson is the third candidate to announce his intention to run for the Clallam County Superior Court vacancy that will be created by Judge Ken Williams’ retirement.
Johnson, 58, a lifelong Port Angeles resident who announced his candidacy earlier this week, will run against Forks District 2 Judge Eric Rohrer, 54, and Clallam County Hearings Examiner Chris Melly, 60, of Port Angeles in the Aug. 7 primary.
If one candidate among three or more candidates in the primary wins more than 50 percent of the vote, that candidate advances to the Nov. 6 general election as the only name on the general election ballot.
The filing period for candidates is May 14-18.
“I think I have the most experience in terms of length of practice and criminal and civil trial experience,” Johnson said Tuesday.
Williams, 65, whose salary is $148,000 a year, is retiring at the end of this year after five terms on the bench.
Incumbent county Superior Court Judges S. Brooke Taylor and George L. Wood have said they intend to run for re-election.
Neither had announced opposition as of early Tuesday afternoon.
Johnson, a 1971 Port Angeles High School graduate, started his legal career in Port Angeles in 1978 as an associate in the law firm started by Williams and by Johnson’s father, Gerald Johnson.
He has spent 34 years in general law practice trying civil and criminal cases and was a pro tem Clallam County District Court judge for 19 years until 2008.
Johnson also has been an approved counsel for insurance companies in accident litigation.
Since 1994, he has been a Superior Court arbitrator with statutory authority to award up to $50,000 in damages in civil suits.
“I have not ever been reversed on any cases,” he said.
“My rulings, as far as I know, have held up.”
He and his wife, Nancy, have two adult daughters and a 14-year-old daughter who attends Stevens Middle School.
Superior Court judges are paid $148,832 annually, a cost equally split by the state and Clallam County.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at paul.gottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
