By Craig Medred Updated: September 28, 2016 Published: September 5, 2012
In a press release Wednesday, the Alaska Judicial Council announced its recommendation that Alaskans vote 'yes' to retain all trial judges on the ballot in the November 6 election.
The new, full-slate recommendation for retention is more or less the usual course for the Alaska Judicial Council – a track record broken briefly in 2010, when it urged voters to say 'no' on retaining Anchorage District Court Judge Richard Postma.
Alaskans vote on judges whose recent terms are expiring in each of the four judicial districts in the state. State law requires that the council, an independent, six-member citizen's commission established in the Alaska Constitution, evaluate each judge based on a variety of factors, including their impartiality and fairness, integrity, temperament and overall performance; the council then makes its findings public.
The council says it "publicizes more information about the performance of judges than any other judicial evaluation in the country and perhaps the world." Voters can learn more about each judge's performance by visiting knowyouralaskajudges.com.
The judges recommended for retention in 2012 are:
Appellate Justices/Judges
Supreme Court Justice Daniel E. Winfree
Court of Appeals Judge Joel H. Bolger
First Judicial District
Superior Court Judge William Barker Carey - Ketchikan
District Court Judge Keith B. Levy - Juneau
District Court Judge Thomas G. Nave - Juneau
Second Judicial District
Superior Court Judge Michael I. Jeffery - Barrow
Third Judicial District
Superior Court Judge Steve W. Cole - Kodiak
Superior Court Judge Gregory Louis Heath - Palmer
Superior Court Judge Charles T. Huguelet - Kenai
Superior Court Judge William F. Morse - Anchorage
Superior Court Judge Frank A. Pfiffner - Anchorage
Superior Court Judge Eric Smith - Palmer
Superior Court Judge John Suddock - Anchorage
Superior Court Judge Sen K. Tan - Anchorage
Superior Court Judge Philip R. Volland - Anchorage
Superior Court Judge Michael L. Wolverton - Anchorage
District Court Judge J. Patrick Hanley - Anchorage
District Court Judge Margaret L. Murphy - Homer
District Court Judge Daniel Schally - Valdez
District Court Judge Alex M. Swiderski - Anchorage
District Court Judge David R. Wallace - Anchorage
District Court Judge Pamela Scott Washington - Anchorage
District Court Judge David L. Zwink - Palmer
Fourth Judicial District
Superior Court Judge Paul R. Lyle - Fairbanks
Superior Court Judge Michael P. McConahy - Fairbanks
District Court Judge Patrick S. Hammers - Fairbanks