Anchorage Daily News

Gov. Sarah Palin says the way judges are selected in Alaska has unfair elements, but she isn't proposing any big changes.

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Alaska Supreme Court Justice Morgan Christen

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Answering questions from the Daily News by e-mail, Palin said she doesn't like the fact that attorneys can comment anonymously on judicial candidates and would like to see that practice ended or at least scaled back.

"This is unfair to the candidate and ultimately to Alaskans if qualified candidates end up not being nominated because of inaccurate anonymous comments," Palin wrote in response to questions.

Under the state Constitution, the governor appoints judges from a slate of two or more nominated by the Alaska Judicial Council. The council sends her the names of candidates it considers "most qualified" based on various factors, including an Alaska Bar Association poll with comments, plus references, experience, public comment and community service.

Palin agreed to answer some questions about judicial picks in the aftermath of her selection last month of Morgan Christen, then an Anchorage Superior Court judge, to fill a seat on the Alaska Supreme Court. The vacancy was created by the retirement of Justice Warren Matthews. Christen took her seat on the Supreme Court this week.

A furor arose among conservatives about the pick because Christen was on the board of Planned Parenthood in the mid-1990s. The family planning organization provides abortions, though didn't do so in Alaska until 2003. Palin is anti-abortion, and some of her political backers were incensed at her selection of Christen.

The other nominee was Eric Smith, a Palmer Superior Court judge who once was head of the environmental law firm Trustees for Alaska.

Palin initially agreed to a live interview concerning Alaska's judicial selection process but changed to written questions and answers.

Palin wrote that she was concerned the Bar Association survey carries too much weight in Judicial Council deliberations.

She said she's heard that a candidate who does badly on the bar poll doesn't have a chance of being nominated by the council. Christen was the top scorer in the recent poll, and Smith was second. But not far behind Smith was a candidate favored by conservatives, Anchorage lawyer Frank Pfiffner.

She said she also didn't like that lawyers were allowed to submit anonymous comments.

"It's hard, if not impossible, for candidates to respond to or research anonymous accusations being leveled against them," Palin wrote.

Larry Cohn, Judicial Council executive director, said Palin may be getting bad information.

To start with, "the bar poll is only one tool among many that the council members use," Cohn said. Sometimes candidates who score the highest on the bar poll are not even nominated to the governor. Sometimes candidates not rated that highly leapfrog over everyone else. The bar poll ratings don't amount to a ranking, he said.

The survey is considered confidential. While most lawyers sign their names, all identifying information is stripped away before the applicant gets to see the comments.

Anonymous comments are allowed so that attorneys will feel free to chime in about coworkers, a supervisor, or other close colleagues, Cohn said.

But anonymous comments aren't given credibility unless the information can be verified independently or is admitted by the applicant, he said.

Applicants used to receive a summary of comments, but after the council heard concerns, the process was changed so they can see specific comments, with identifying information removed.

"They certainly have an opportunity to address any concerns that have been raised," Cohn said. "And that's our fair compromise ... (to) encourage the kind of candor that we really find meaningful yet be fair to the applicant."

Life experiences, community service work and the relevance of the applicant's legal experience to the position that's open all play a role in who gets nominated for any judgeship, Cohn said. So do the qualifications of other candidates in the mix. Someone who doesn't make the cut one year might make it the next, or vice versa.

Palin also wrote that she was surprised how strongly the Alaska Family Council, a Christian pro-family, anti-abortion group, opposed Christen.

Jim Minnery, president of Alaska Family Council, said the group didn't have all the information initially. But the real issue is that a governor should be able to pick from all qualified candidates, not just those deemed by the Judicial Council to be "most qualified," he said.

"They have been, in our view, abusing the system to prevent qualified candidates from reaching the governor," Minnery said.

Cohn has said the state's constitutional framers clearly envisioned the Judicial Council selecting the most qualified candidates by using the term "best available timber."

"The system we have is the one set up by our Constitution," Palin wrote. "We have to work within that framework and it has produced some very good judges. But there may be reasonable steps that could be taken to improve it."

Cohn said the Judicial Council is open to discussions.

Find Lisa Demer online at adn.com/contact/ldemer or call 257-4390.

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