PORT ANGELES — If Clallam County Superior Court Judge George L. Wood had retired by May 10 instead of this Sunday, voters countywide would have selected his successor this fall.
If more than two candidates had filed for the bench during the May 11-15 filing week, Clallam’s more than 47,100 voters could have cast ballots in the Aug. 4 primary for the two top choices who would have appeared on the fall ballot.
Instead, because Wood, 66, is retiring Sunday, Gov. Jay Inslee made the decision.
Inslee appointed Superior Court Commissioner and Lower Elwha Klallam Tribal Court Chief Judge Brian Coughenour to replace Wood.
Coughenour, 64, a longtime Port Angeles resident, assumes the Superior Court bench Monday.
He will serve more than a year on the bench before running for election in 2016, as he has pledged to do.
Wood, elected in 1992 and re-elected five times without an opponent, said this week the timing of his retirement provided a greater selection of choices to replace him.
Coughenour joined Port Angeles lawyers Simon Barnhart, Harry Gasnick, John Hayden, Dave Neupert and Tim Davis as applicants.
“Personally, I don’t think people want to go through an election process,” Wood said.
“I think more people had an opportunity to apply for the job than would have been in the election.”
He also discounted the notion that Coughenour has an advantage for a re-election bid next year by being the sitting judge.
Wood emphasized that had he retired May 10, Inslee still would have had to appoint a replacement.
“You still would have had a sitting judge, the same situation,” Wood said.
“It’s still the incumbent at that point,” Wood said.
Wood said he is retiring May 31 partly because of personal issues, including a reunion he wants to attend this summer, and his retirement benefits, which would have been affected had he left office May 10.
“My decision was personal and based on I wanted the summer to go see my grandkids and go do things,” he added.
“I fully intended to try to go the full distance.
“Things have changed, and I feel I have the right to retire.”
“That’s just the process, and I have no regrets about that.”
Wood has known Coughenour since the mid-1970s, when both moved to Port Angeles.
“We’re not social friends,” Wood said, adding that it was “a complete surprise” that Coughenour applied to replace him.
Wood discussed the candidates with Inslee’s counsel, Nick Brown, but said he did not make a recommendation on a replacement.
Coughenour said Thursday he never discussed applying for the position with Wood.
He said Wood did not inform him he was leaving office.
“I found out when it was in the paper,” Coughenour said.
“I just waited for the governor’s announcement to accept applications, and I applied.”
Coughenour said he did not seek endorsements.
He said he did make a presentation before the county Democratic Party organization at its request.
“I asked the Republican Party if they wanted me to make a presentation to them, and they declined,” Coughenour said.
Brown, Inslee’s lawyer, said the impending vacancy was posted on the governor’s website and that a notice was sent to the Clallam County Bar Association.
Bar association members gave Coughenour the top average score in three of four categories in a poll focusing on all six judicial candidates.
Brown said Thursday that he asked Wood who were the strong and weak candidates.
Brown said Wood answered the question, but Brown would not be more specific.
Coughenour’s appointment was Inslee’s 38th judicial appointment since April 19, 2013, which was three months after the Democrat was sworn into office in Olympia.
The total is already more than half the 65 judicial appointments that his predecessor, Chris Gregoire, made in her eight years in office.
“The primary reason is that this class of judges is all getting to retirement age,” Brown said.
Among Inslee’s appointments was Clallam County Superior Court Judge Chris Melly, who replaced Judge Brooke Taylor.
Taylor retired in 2013 after serving just one year of his four-year term.
“Most judges, in my experience, do not serve out their entire term,” Brown said.
“A lot of judges prefer a nonpolitical process. A lot of people feel that judges should not be elected at all.
“If you have a decision to make that’s controversial in the community, you don’t want them to be subject to political whim.”
Brown said that in many states, judges are appointed or undergo a judicial retention election during which a referendum determines if the judge should remain in office.
Coughenour will earn $156,363 annually until Sept. 1, when his salary will increase to $172,618,
He said he will fill out Wood’s term and, if he runs and wins in 2016, also intends to serve a full four-year term.
“If I won, my intent would be to do that, but life, things happen,” Coughenour said.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
