Whatcom County Superior Court Judge Chuck Snyder has worked tirelessly for nearly two decades in support of the local judicial system. He deserves re-election to his seat on the bench.
Snyder has been a Superior Court judge for four years, but served 14 years before that as a court commissioner.
During that long record of service he has earned a reputation as an innovator, helping create and run Whatcom County's alternative court for people with drug problems and serving in his off-time as a leader in Teen Court, where teens answer to other teens for violations.
That kind of innovation is needed in a court system that is too bogged down, too slow and too expensive. There are simply too many cases to be heard and, potentially, too much jail time to be handed out. Our system needs alternatives as a way to hear criminal and civil cases without overwhelming the system with costs and bodies in our jail.
Snyder is challenged in his re-election bid this year by long-time Bellingham attorney Doug Shepherd. With two candidates, this judge's race is unique in that the winner will be decided in the August primary election, for which ballots are just now being sent out. Whoever receives the most votes in that election will win. This race will not be on the November general election ballot.
When we met with the candidates we found both intelligent and passionate about the job. We find no reason to think either would do a poor job as a judge.
Shepherd has been practicing law in Whatcom County since 1979, when he first opened a practice in Everson. He has served as Everson's city attorney and ran the Everson and Nooksack misdemeanor court system for 10 years. He has tried cases at nearly every level of court and has been a lawyer in some of the most high-profile cases in Whatcom County, including The Newstand case, in which the county prosecutor's office tried the business' owners for indecency for one of the magazines it was selling.
Shepherd told us he has seen the "worst and the best of judges" and would be a judge who respects everyone who comes before him and carefully listens to everyone in his courtroom. Though he didn't say so directly those comments, made more than once, appeared to be an effort to differentiate himself from Snyder. The implication is that Snyder does not do those things.
But we know of no evidence that Snyder is an unfair judge. He pointed out, after comments by Shepherd, that in 18 years on a bench, he has had 64 cases appealed and 85 percent of his rulings have been upheld.
Shepherd also commented that the court needs better management, that it is the only department in the county that exceeded its budget in recent years.
Snyder points out that the court lost some state funding and said he and the other Superior Court judges are working on ways to better manage the court budget.
Back in September 2004 we recommended voters choose Snyder in his first election bid for this position.
In that editorial we pointed out that Snyder had the experience, years of involvement and a keen understanding of what was going right, and what needed fixing, with the system.
Those facts are still true today. We encourage voters to return Chuck Snyder to the Whatcom County Superior Court bench for four more years.