Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 1, 1994 TAG: 9403010051
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"It's going to be a damn circus," said one attorney, who asked that he not be identified.
About a dozen candidates will seek bar association nominations for three judgeships that likely will be filled this year by the General Assembly.
The candidates will not be interviewed, and probably will not even speak, at meetings of the Roanoke and Roanoke County-Salem bar associations.
Most of the campaigning already has been conducted in a frenzy of telephone calls and letters to bar members in the past week.
Some lawyers say the nomination process turns more on friendships and political connections than on qualifications. "It's politics in the raw," one said.
The only attempt to interview the candidates in an organized format was by the Virginia Women Attorneys Association.
After meeting Saturday with 10 lawyers who responded to a questionnaire, the asociation's Judicial Screening Committee released its endorsements Monday.
For a new judgeship in Circuit Court, the group's board of directors said both Roanoke General District Judge Julian Raney and Roanoke lawyer George Wooten were "highly qualified and recommended." It said a third candidate, Roanoke General District Judge Richard Pattisall, was "qualified."
For a vacancy on the General District Court bench caused by the retirement of Judge Edward Kidd, the group endorsed William Broadhurst, an assistant commonwealth's attorney in Roanoke County, as "highly qualified and recommended."
Roanoke lawyer Thomas Dickenson and city Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Mac Doubles were called qualified for the judgeship.
For a new judgeship in Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court, the two top picks were Roanoke lawyer Anne Edenfield and Salem lawyer Ellen Weinman.
Broadhurst and Roanoke lawyers Joseph Bounds and John Molumphy were listed as qualified for the juvenile court judgeship.
Several other lawyers also have been mentioned as possible candidates, and the slate could change up until the last minute.
With the Roanoke and Roanoke County-Salem bar associations meeting at the same time, they could easily offer different nominations for the judgeships.
The voting will be done by secret ballot in closed sessions.
The names then will be forwarded to local Democratic legislators, who in large part will control who gets approval from the General Assembly. Lawmakers have not given final approval to fund the judgeships, but the bar associations were asked to submit nominations with the assumption that all three positions will be filled.
All three judgeships are in the 23rd Judicial Circuit, which covers Roanoke, Roanoke County and Salem.
Although the legislators generally follow the recommendations of the Roanoke Valley bar groups, that has not always been the case.
Keywords:
GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1994
by CNB