I like and respect attorney Doug Werth. If a magistrate position becomes available in the next few years, I hope Mr. Werth will place himself in the running. The experience he gains in that position will help him develop the judicial knowledge and maturity demanded of a district judge.
Being a district judge is an incredibly difficult task. A critical component is establishing a judicial philosophy, a maturation process that can take years. Supreme Court Justice White, in his late 70s, was fond of saying that for him it was a process that never stopped.
Judge Elgee started this process as a superb magistrate judge. Although he was a junior member among his colleagues, they elected him president of their association. When he was later inducted as a district court judge, state Supreme Court justices lauded his accomplishments, including his streamlining judicial processes in the family courts using parent coordinators. As a district judge, he continued these efforts through the establishment of drug and mental health courts, improving their procedures and saving thousands of taxpayer dollars.
Mr. Werth states he feels he has a better "skill set" to be elected district judge because he served as a law clerk early in his career. If that qualifies Mr. Werth for a superior skill set, then Judge Elgee's having trained four law clerks must certainly trump it.
Mr. Werth also says his experience better qualifies him to research the law and apply it. I am not qualified to evaluate his assertion; however, members of the local bar (who arguably are), have overwhelmingly endorsed Judge Elgee's bid for re-election.
Finally, Mr. Werth asserts that his judicial philosophy is more closely aligned to Judge Barry Wood, a now-retired, highly respected former chief district judge who sometimes sat on Blaine County cases. I respectfully disagree. Having compared the sentencing patterns of both judges in several criminal cases (as a forensic psychologist), my own conclusion is there was little difference in their decision reasoning or in their implementation of criminal sentencing. Both routinely tailored sentencing decisions to the individual circumstances of the crime (and of the defendant). Mr. Werth implies he would not do this under his platform of "judicial restraint." With judicial experience and maturity, I am sure his opinion will change.
Judge Elgee best provides the qualifications for leadership, wisdom, maturity and legal expertise required to fulfill the responsibilities for being a judge of the 5th Judicial District, and I would encourage your vote for his retention.
Frank M. Andrews
Diplomate, American Board of Forensic Psychology
Hailey
