Letter: Forty years of Democrat governors’ judicial appointments

Tom Schenk argues 150 Democrat-appointed judges shape Washington courts with no impartial check.

🎧 40 Years of Democrat Judges: Is WA’s Court System Partisan?

Tom Schenk says there is a reason citizens are fleeing this state

Editor’s note: Opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are those of the author alone and may not reflect the editorial position of ClarkCountyToday.com

John Spellman was the last Republican governor of Washington state. He left office in 1985. For over 40 years, the governorship has been held by a Democrat.

There are 175 to 186 judicial positions in the various Washington General Jurisdiction courts (Supreme Court, Appellate Courts and District/Superior Courts).

In the ensuing 40 years since the last Republican governor, Democrat governors have appointed (This list was generated by AI and is probably fairly accurate):

Judicial appointments by Democratic governors

Jay Inslee (2013–2025) Inslee appointed 123 judges across all court levels (Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, and Superior/District courts). His tenure covered three terms, allowing for a significantly higher number of appointments than his predecessors.
Chris Gregoire (2005–2013) Gregoire appointed 22 judges during her two terms. Notable appointments include Supreme Court Justices Debra Stephens and Steven González.
Booth Gardner (1985–1993) Gardner appointed 1 judge recorded in comparative datasets, though he served two full terms. His appointments included moving judges like Ann Schindler to higher courts.
Gary Locke (1997–2005) Locke appointed 4 judges during his tenure. He elevated several existing judges to the Court of Appeals, including Mary Yu and Ken Kato
.
• Mike Lowry (1993–1997) Lowry appointed 0 judges according to Ballotpedia’s comparative data, though anecdotal records show he made at least one Superior Court appointment (Ken Kato in 1996, later elevated by Locke).
Dixy Lee Ray (1977–1981) Ray appointed 0 judges in the available datasets covering the last 40 years.

The point is judges appointed by a governor to replace judges who retire, or resign or??? … are then “incumbents.”

Why does this matter? Judgeships are supposed to be non-partisan elections.

Generally speaking, it is my experience that election of judges by voters overwhelmingly favor “incumbents,” because voters have no idea who to vote for and, in many instances, incumbent judges have no challenger for the office.

Ask yourself why very few practicing attorneys seldom or never challenge a sitting Democrat-appointed judge.

Many attorneys, who have the knowledge and skill to challenge an “incumbent” judge in an election, choose not to run because they are fearful challenging an incumbent judge will poison the well in the “incumbent” judge’s court when plying their trade as an attorney should they lose.

So … from the accompanying chart on Democrat governors filling a judicial vacancy, there are 150 judges appointed by Democrat governors … mainly Jay Inslee.

Does anyone think these 150 judges, appointed by Democrat governors, were selected because of their impartiality? Not likely in this day and age of the political schism between Republicans and Democrats.

Therefore, we have a judicial system stocked with Democrat appointees who never met a “work around” (used to sidestep either the State Constitution or the Federal Constitution) they couldn’t whole-heartedly promote.

In far-Left Democrat controlled Washington state, the state government has consistently raised money on the backs of its citizens. Property taxes, fees, licenses, the Climate Commitment Act, and writing into many of the bills(38 in 2025 and 10 in 2026) an emergency clause giving the Governor or the Legislature the ability to “rule like a king” on anything for which they’ve included the emergency clause, usually related to spending.

I maintain, these Democrat appointed judges will rule in favor of the governor or the legislature regarding any lawsuit brought to restrict or abolish these emergency clauses.

There is a reason citizens are fleeing this state … they are tired of Democrats voting to abuse taxpayers so they can spend taxpayer funds on their pet socialist projects i.e. the out-of-control Interstate Bridge Replacement fiasco, now into the billions of dollars or not funding Brockmann House, a 48-bed mental health campus finished in 2025 at cost of $42 million dollars and for which the legislature has decided not to fund its operation.

No wonder citizens are voting with their feet!!!

Tom Schenk
Amboy

Tom Schenk says there is a reason citizens are fleeing this state

Judicial appointments by Democratic governors

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