EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the second of three reports on Saturday’s voters forum at the Elwha Klallam Heritage Center in Port Angeles. A third on the prosecuting attorney’s race will appear in Thursday’s Peninsula Daily News.
PORT ANGELES — Incumbent Clallam County District Court 1 Judge Rick Porter and challenger Cathy Marshall took off the gloves during an hourlong forum before the Nov. 4 general election.
A Porter supporter passed out a report card that gave the assistant state attorney general-section chief of the Port Angeles office a list of zeroes in seven areas of experience that ended with a “not qualified,” while Marshall accused Porter of fudging his numbers.
More than 70 people attended the general election forum Saturday, which was sponsored by the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe, held at the Elwha Klallam Heritage Center and moderated by Sequim Gazette columnist Bertha Cooper.
Porter’s handout also included a tally of sentences he imposed in July that showed an average punishment of two days in jail and 832 total jail days, including 572 that were pretrial confinement.
Marshall said it was “offensive and upside-down” that shoplifters in Porter’s court average 22 days in jail and domestic violence-assault perpetrators average eight days of confinement.
“That is really disingenuous,” Porter responded, adding that 69 percent of jail time is pretrial time that a judge has nothing to do with.
Marshall stuck by her figures, saying they were presented at a Port Angeles City Council meeting.
Porter’s numbers “are correct if smoke and mirrors is what Mr. Porter is presenting you,” she added.
She said Porter’s jail numbers are high because of his pay-or-appear program “and the fact that Judge Porter likes to incarcerate people for a long period of time.”
Under the pay-or-appear program, individuals pay their fines or appear before Porter to explain why they are delinquent.
If those who haven’t paid don’t appear in court, they can be picked up on a $150 warrant and incarcerated in the county jail.
Porter countered that in July, for example, jail costs for pay-or-appear scofflaws were just $304.
On the other hand, the pay-or-appear program has increased District Court revenue by $800,000 a year that is split among the state, Clallam County and the cities of Sequim and Port Angeles.
“I know my opponent does not like facts because facts can be inconvenient,” Porter said.
District Court 1 covers the Sequim and Port Angeles areas, while District Court 2 covers Forks and the West End.
Porter, a Port Angeles resident, said fine-payers almost always opt for pay-or-appear or can do 10 hours of community service in lieu of a fine.
But Marshall, of Sequim, said the program creates a “debtors’ prison” that forces people to go back to jail repeatedly and get stuck in the system.
“We need to enhance diversion programs, things like that, to get them moving to productive citizens,” she said.
“I don’t care what Porter says, there are people in jail over and over and over again on these things,” she said, suggesting that instead, collection agencies should go after delinquent fines.
“It’s about justice, and that’s what I’m here to provide.”
But Porter said collection agencies do not provide opportunities for community service or flexible payment schedules.
“Their sole job is to get blood out of a turnip,” he said.
Porter “finagles the numbers and issues to twist things around,” Marshall claimed.
“It’s important that the judge in this court is someone you can trust, is someone that can help people who are there to move forward with their lives,” she said.
The position has a 2015 salary of $148,881 and oversees a budget that in 2014 is $891,000, which includes salaries for 8.5 full-time-equivalent positions.
Being a judge is not about generating revenue, Marshall said.
“It’s about justice. That’s what I will bring back along with civility to this court,” she said.
She took Porter to task for passing out the report card that showed zeroes under her name for experience as District Court judge, Superior Court commissioner, as well as felony trial experience, years prosecuting crime, military experience, endorsement by judges and criminal cases she had presided over.
The Washington Women Lawyers rating showed an “N/A” next to Porter’s name and a “not qualified” next to hers.
“It’s not true,” she said of the handout.
Marshall, who will be 60 as of Election Day, earned her law degree in 1993.
As manager of the state Attorney General’s Office in Port Angeles, her office gets “glowing reviews” in cases involving children under the supervision of the state Department of Social and Health Services.
“I want to work to help other vulnerable populations — want to do the right thing by them, want to provide you with a judge who is honest and fair for you and do the right thing for you and the community,” Marshall said.
Porter, who will be 55 as of Election Day, said in his closing statement: “My opponent wants to not put people in jail, does not want to hold people accountable by making people pay fines, but I do.
“It’s not just about helping vulnerable populations; it’s about providing the structure they need.
“You don’t want someone who is going to say, ‘Oh, that’s a vulnerable population, and we are not holding them accountable.’
“It’s about accountability, but accountability with compassion.”
Ballots for the Nov. 4 election will be mailed to registered voters Oct. 15.
________
Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
