We urge you to vote for Charlie Wiggins for justice of the State Supreme Court. He is a highly respected lawyer and former judge of the Court of Appeals. He has served as chairman of the Disciplinary Board of the Washington State Bar Association, which disciplines lawyers who violate ethical rules. He has worked to pass laws limiting campaign contributions in judicial races and pushed for rules prohibiting judges from hearing cases involving parties who gave large campaign contributions supporting the judge’s election.

Compare this record to the incumbent: Justice Sanders was disciplined by the State Commission on Judicial Conduct for meeting with criminal defendants who had cases pending before our Supreme Court. He wrote a majority opinion in a decision handed down by our State Supreme Court that directly benefitted him in a pending case in which he was a party.

Justice Sanders joined in a brief filed in the U.S. Supreme Court that supported the position that it was proper for a West Virginia Supreme Court justice who had received $3 million in campaign donations from the CEO of a large corporation to rule on a case in which the corporation was a party. In criminal cases before the Washington Supreme Court, where the court is divided on how to rule, he has sided with criminal defendants 94 percent of the time.

There is a huge difference between these two candidates. A vote for Charlie Wiggins is a vote to endorse the highest standards of judicial ethics, fairness and integrity.

Please support Charlie Wiggins for Supreme Court justice.

Charlie Silverman
Karen Vedder
Friday Harbor
— Silverman is deputy prosecutor (criminal), Vedder is deputy prosecutor (civil), in the San Juan County prosecuting attorney’s office.