Voters will have to make a decision next week on their candidate for judge of the 5th Judicial Circuit Court, Division 2, which covers Andrew and Buchanan counties.
Weldon Judah, the current Div 2 judge is retiring at the end of the year. Div. covers family law cases as well as other civil and criminal matters.
On the republican ticket voters will have to decide between David Bolander who currently works as a partner in the firm Brage & Bolander, P.C. and Steve Stevenson who serves as the Andrew County Prosecuting Attorney. Both spoke with KFEQ 680 earlier this month about the temperament they feel a judge should have.
“Judicial temperament is huge and I think the bottom line it comes down to a couple of things. One of those is respect for those that appear before you. If they’re a defendants or a plaintiff or an attorney, a big part of respect is listening,” Bolander said. “I will listen to those that are before me, hear what they have to say and really strive to make sure that I’m doing the right thing when I make a ruling as a judge.”
“You want to have a temperament where you do not want to condescend you do not want to openly insult members of the bar or litigants who are in your court. You want to listen to them because these people have a beef. It’s an emotionally trying time for anybody to be in a courtroom,” Stevenson said. “There comes a time when you have to be firm but otherwise you have to be patient.”
On the democratic ballot voters will have to decide between Jackie Ross and Gary Myers. Both are attorneys in St. Joseph.
“Judges don’t usually have platforms but I do. That platform is the county jail is a revolving door. About 75 + percent of everyone that goes through the county jail has a drug/alcohol issues of some sort. Child support can oftentimes fit into that as well. I believe we need to find a way to do more counseling at the jail,” Myers said.
Ross was unable to make it onto the KFEQ’s Hotline program for an interview due to time constraints.
The primary election is Tuesday, Aug. 2nd. Primary winners will then face-off in the Nov. 8th general election.