Local Elections : Legal Maneuvers : 16 Lawyers (15 From Mainland) Seek Catalina Judgeship

At Sally’s Waffle Shop by the beach, around the corner at Lolo’s Plaza Barber Shop and up the hill at the Catalina Island Golf Club, the talk is the same.

People in Avalon can’t quite understand why 16 lawyers, all but one from the mainland, want to serve as judge for one day a week in their sleepy island town.

“I’m very much confused,” said Jimmy Trout, 86, as he waited his turn in the chair at Lolo Saldana’s barbershop. “There are just so doggone many of them. I don’t know who to vote for.”

The 16 candidates for the part-time position on the Catalina Justice Court represent by far the longest list for a judicial job on the June 7 primary ballot.

The judgeship in the county’s smallest judicial district has often gone uncontested and at most has drawn three competitors. The flock of candidates this time prompted one legal journal to muse: “Who isn’t running for Catalina Justice Court?”

Observers say the record turnout of candidates was inspired by the absence of an incumbent, a change in state law, the opportunity to launch a judicial career and the allure of the resort island.

The post has been vacant since 1986, when the state Supreme Court removed Judge Robert H. Furey Jr. from the bench for “willful misconduct” and excessive use of his power to fine and jail people for contempt. Substitute judges from mainland courts have been presiding in the one-room Avalon courthouse.

There is no clear front-runner this time, with Furey on the sidelines. A candidate can win the post outright by polling more than 50% of the vote in the primary; otherwise, the top two finishers will meet in the general election Nov. 8.

Like other Justice Courts, the Catalina Justice Court serves a judicial district with a population of less than 40,000 and hears essentially the same cases as a Municipal Court--traffic citations, small claims, civil disputes and some criminal matters. The district covers Santa Catalina and San Clemente islands, but almost all cases involve Catalina visitors and the island’s 2,200 residents. Only a handful of Navy personnel live on San Clemente.

Until the late 1970s, candidates for Justice Court were required to live within the judicial district they served. But the Legislature rewrote the law to permit any lawyer within a county to serve in that county’s Justice Courts.

The change allows 15 mainland lawyers to compete with Jeffrey M. Lake, the only candidate who lives and works on the island full time.

“This is a way (to become a judge) for a person who doesn’t have any particular clout with the governor or the time or money for a big campaign . . . on the mainland,” said South Bay Municipal Judge Josh Fredericks, who fills in occasionally at the Avalon courthouse. “A person would look at this and say it’s more achievable.”

And the Catalina caseload is light enough that the winner will have time to sit up to four days a week as a substitute judge in mainland Municipal Courts if he or she wants to. Judge Robert LaFont parlayed his six years of service on the island and various Municipal Courts into a successful 1983 campaign for the Los Angeles Superior Court.

But several candidates say they plan to enjoy the island and will not seek out assignments “overtown,” as residents of Santa Catalina Island refer to the mainland.

Past Catalina judges praised the simplicity of the setting. Stray cats sometimes wander into court. Warrants aren’t often served, because word usually gets around town when someone is needed in court. And at least one judge enjoyed a little fishing off the pier during his lunch break.

“It’s a desirable spot,” said Lake, who plans to keep his job as operator of the Catalina Island Golf Club if he wins. “It’s one day a week in a beautiful spot. It certainly has some charisma to it.”

The pay is not bad--$29,800 a year for one day a week of work. If the judge works a full week the pay rate goes to $77,800 a year, the same for any Municipal Court judge.

The campaign has opened quietly, with only a few of the lawyers spending much time on the island.

Mainlanders are viewed with some suspicion on Catalina, so candidates have boasted of even the most obscure ties to the island.

Advertisements in the weekly newspaper, the Catalina Islander, say that Frank Hillsinger of Torrance has raced sailboats to Santa Catalina Island and plans to move there some day; Donald Grisham of Long Beach has owned a commercial building and weekend home in Avalon for 14 years; Roger Wesley of Long Beach is married to an “island girl,” the former Kathleen Splane.

Two other mainlanders, El Segundo lawyer Timothy Chang and Santa Ana lawyer Wendy Park, recently rented homes in Avalon and have said they plan to move there permanently.

“They are trying to establish credibility as being tied to the island,” said a former City Council member, who asked not to be named. “There’s likely to be a backlash to that. Islanders are possessive about their designation.”

Lake undoubtedly will win some votes simply because of his local status.

“I believe in the hometown boy,” said Sue Brown, co-owner of Leo’s Catalina Drug Store.

“I’ll be partial to vote for the guy who’s going to be here year-around,” agreed Raul Hernandez, a deckhand on the ferry to San Pedro. “When there is foul weather, the judges don’t come out or they come late. It’s been a real inconvenience for people on the island.”

Lake promises that he will operate the court in the middle of the week, not on Fridays when previous judges chose to preside. Friday is a busy tourist day when local businesses are loath to have their employees tied up in court.

But local status can carry political baggage as well.

Lake gave up a full-time law practice in Oregon to move to the island six years ago to operate the golf course, and to practice law on the side. He took over the course from his father, an immensely popular and charismatic man known as Big George around the island.

George Lake didn’t pay much attention if golfers occasionally neglected to pay their greens fees or if kids flew model airplanes on the first fairway, but his son has enforced course rules and raised fees slightly, from $4 to $6 for nine holes on weekdays. That made Jeff Lake “a real jerk” to some people, he acknowledged.

But others say Lake is just a good businessman. “The course is in better shape now than it has been at any time since World War II,” said barber Saldana, a respected political observer who has not endorsed any of the candidates.

The buzz around the barbershop centers on Lake and Joe Piro, a Los Angeles deputy city attorney from San Pedro, who is campaigning harder than any of the other candidates, including Lake.

“He’s all over the place,” observed Hans, who had stopped by for a trim and did not want to give his last name. “He really fights.”

Saldana said the hard work is appreciated. “I think most people love it when you spend some time with them and ask them for their vote,” he said. “The personal touch on a small island like Catalina counts for a lot.”

Piro had knocked on doors, spoken to service clubs, attended Mass at the local Catholic Church, helped serve St. Patrick’s Day dinners and paid a call on the newly seated City Council before most candidates ever went to the island.

“A lot of people want to run on their resume or they want to run by other people saying they’re a good guy,” Piro said. “I have distinguished myself by befriending the entire island.”

Piro was the only man in attendance last month at the Santa Catalina Woman’s Club fashion show--a tactic some considered extreme.

“A lot of islanders are beginning to think he is coming on too strong for someone who was not known out here a couple of months ago,” said Donald Haney, editor and publisher of the Islander for 26 years.

Many islanders are playing their allegiances close to the vest, but most say they will vote. Turnout for Avalon elections is commonly as high as 80%.

And once they decide, they support their local judge with fervor.

Islanders remember fondly how Judge Ernest Windle, who presided for 52 years until his death in 1968, would dismiss charges against troublemakers who promised to leave the island and never come back.

And many people said they would vote for Furey again, if he were eligible. Some were so incensed that the faraway state Supreme Court had taken away their judge that a petition campaign was mounted in a vain attempt to prevent Furey’s removal from the bench.