PORT TOWNSEND — Leadership style and court demeanor were topics discussed by two candidates for Jefferson County District Court judge at a Tuesday forum, which also included sheriff candidates.
“If I am elected, I will bring a different leadership style to the court — change the demeanor of the court,” said Cheryl Potebnya, who is challenging incumbent Jill Landes for the county’s sole District Court position in the Nov. 4 general election.
“I’m not a ‘my way or the highway’ kind of gal, and I will treat everyone who comes in the courtroom with respect and dignity.”
Said Landes: “The buck stops with me. I have to make the final decision.
“And actually, it is my way or the highway when I make those decisions.
“It can be difficult, but I’m not afraid to do that.”
Landes, 64, and Potebnya, 61, addressed about 60 people during a midday candidate forum in the Jefferson County Superior Court courtroom that was sponsored by the county bar association.
Also appearing were sheriff’s candidates Wendy Davis, 47, and David Stanko, 66.
Although Potebnya promised she would be open-minded and bring better listening skills to the bench, she would not comment on Landes’ performance.
“My goal is to run a positive campaign,” Potebnya said. “I’m running on respect, and that extends to my opponent as well.
“She has been on the bench for eight years, but I would provide a different style of leadership.”
Landes said she runs “a very fair courtroom.”
“I listen to people carefully,” she said.
“I care about the people who appear before me and do not paint the defendants before me with one paintbrush,” she continued.
Landes said she is “very aware that what I decide impacts the defendant, their family and the community.
“There will always be people who will be disgruntled, who don’t understand that when I’m being direct to somebody, the bottom line is that I’m not being rude.”
Both candidates became lawyers over the age of 40. Landes is a former social worker, while Potebnya worked for Boeing.
Both candidates said the office is currently running efficiently and would not make any wholesale changes.
Both added that an increase in funding would be welcome.
“The first thing I would do would be to convert to a paperless system and put Wi-Fi into the courtroom so attorneys could bring in their devices and have access to online legal documents,” Landes said.
“I would also establish a fund where we could provide for treatment and electronic home monitoring for people who are truly indigent,” she added.
“It’s amazing how long people have to wait for treatment because of a lack of funding.”
Potebnya said she would seek to put more personnel on the payroll.
“The court is a high-volume court and has a huge caseload,” she said.
Both candidates said extra funds should be used to give current employees raises.
Collaboration was also a topic in the sheriff’s forum, with both candidates favoring cooperation with other agencies — up to a point.
“I think it’s important that we in law enforcement work as partners with all others,” said Stanko, a retired lieutenant from the Fullerton Police Department in California and now living in Cape George.
“They need to understand what our expectations are. We need to understand what their expectations are, and we need to work together,” he added.
“I have no problems working with customs and immigration in our small county because we need to have them back us up. We need to back them up, but as sheriff, I won’t get involved in immigration issues.”
Said Davis, a former member of the Bremerton and Poulsbo police departments who is now a human resources officer for Port Ludlow Associates: “There’s been a lot of controversy about this recently, and we’ve seen the Border Patrol in lots of rural areas.
“But I don’t think it should become our job to assist them in those efforts.
“We need to support them as a law enforcement agency, but we should not be contacting them if we arrest or contain somebody who is an unauthorized immigrant, and I don’t believe in putting ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] holds on people who are in our facility.”
The two candidates are competing to replace Tony Hernandez, who quit to work as the Milton police chief. Chief Criminal Deputy Joe Noles is serving as interim sheriff until after the election.
The sheriff’s candidates will appear at a forum at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Quimper Grange, 1219 Corona St.
The forum also will feature Assessor Jeff Chapman, Superior Court Clerk Ruth Gordon and treasurer candidate Stacie Hoskins, who are all unopposed.
Ballots for the Nov. 4 election will be mailed to registered voters Oct. 15.
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Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
