Candidates for Eastside judge spot trade criticisms

A race for King County District Court judge doesn't normally draw much attention, but this fall's battle for an Eastside seat has been a notable exception. Longtime incumbent Mary Ann Ottinger lost the primary after her two opponents hammered on her state disciplinary problems — including two censures and a suspension — stemming from a history of failing to inform some defendants of their rights.

Now Frank LaSalata and Richard Pope are trading accusations about each other's conduct. LaSalata points to Pope's multiple sanctions for unprofessional conduct as an attorney and his nine unsuccessful runs for elected office, while Pope says LaSalata irresponsibly lost his home to foreclosure last year and made poor decisions in drunken-driving cases.

Whatever happens, the stakes are high. LaSalata, a county substitute judge from Redmond, and Pope, a Bellevue attorney, are running for the court's Northeast District, which covers the entire Eastside. A district court judge can have a more visceral, immediate effect on people's lives than many other elected positions, with traffic tickets and minor misdemeanors handled at the district level.

"People will have to just decide what they think is important in a race like this," Pope said.

Pope's past mistakes

LaSalata says the difference in qualifications is clear.

Since the late 1990s, judges have sanctioned or fined Pope at least a half-dozen times — and thousands of dollars — for missing deadlines, filing frivolous motions and other court delays.

In one 1997 case, a state appeals court called Pope's failure to pay for court documents an "egregious violation" of the court's rules and sanctioned him and his client $1,500. Pope then took almost two years to pay and was fined another $1,500 for taking so long.

The Municipal League and King County Bar Association have rated Pope "not qualified," with the bar association taking the unusual step last month of citing him for a history of unprofessional conduct.

Pope "doesn't have the qualifications to run as a dogcatcher," LaSalata says. "Most attorneys who do their job never see a sanction in their entire career."

Pope says his mistakes aren't that unusual in civil and family law, where he's specialized. He says he "took cases that have been relatively complex and tried to do the best I could and sometimes I've missed deadlines."

U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman threw Pope off a civil case in January because of missed deadlines. In a long brief in his defense, Pope cited personal problems that included a divorce, his father's death and the care of his daughter, who has autism.

My "own mental health situation is terrible," Pope wrote, adding that he hoped most of it was "situationally derived, rather than long term."

Pechman pointed out that Pope still found time to make a failed run for Port of Seattle commissioner around the time he missed a deadline, and she forwarded a complaint about Pope's behavior to the Washington State Bar Association, which is investigating.

Pope said this week that he is doing "much, much" better. "I don't think there'd be any difficulty for me to serve as a judge."

A woman whose ex-husband Pope represented in a long-running child support case obtained an anti-harassment order against him for two years in the mid-1990s. Janet Moore said Pope threatened her repeatedly, and once lunged across the table at her and her attorney during a deposition.

After county prosecutors investigated him for an alleged violation of the order, he sued Moore, County Prosecutor Norm Maleng and then-King County Sheriff James Montgomery for "false and malicious" charges. The lawsuits, in King County Superior and federal court, were eventually dismissed.

Pope denies that he lunged at Hansen but admits that he behaved poorly during the deposition. "I made a bad mistake nearly 12 years ago there and I deeply regret it."

LaSalata says he alone has "the experience, the reputation" to be a district judge. He's been a substitute, or pro tem, district judge in King County since 1998, and four of the six judges on the Eastside have endorsed him.

The county bar association rated him "well qualified" and the Municipal League rated him "very good."

He lived and practiced law in Bellevue for several years until the late '90s, when he moved to Friday Harbor and began filling in as a judge in King and San Juan counties. He ran unsuccessfully for San Juan County judge in 2002, and the next year, quit his practice, became a full-time pro tem judge in King County and moved to Redmond.

LaSalata's missteps

Pope says LaSalata has his own mistakes to explain.

In 2002, a state appeals court overturned LaSalata's eight-year sentence of a meth-lab operator on San Juan Island because LaSalata had a conversation about the case with a prosecutor outside the courtroom and made biased remarks during sentencing.

Another judge later sentenced the meth-lab operator to seven years in prison.

Pope says the overturned sentence is a "much more serious matter than anything he can bring up on me" because it deals with "major ethics rather than procedural mistakes."

LaSalata says he regrets his behavior but that all judges experience decisions being overturned by a higher court and his actions don't compare to Pope's history of transgressions.

Pope also charges that the foreclosure on LaSalata's home "doesn't show stability or responsibility." LaSalata's mortgage company foreclosed on his San Juan Island home for $495,000 in summer 2005. LaSalata says he moved back to the Eastside because it was difficult to practice law in front of Judge Stewart Andrew — the only district judge on the island and the same judge who defeated him in the 2002 election. He rented an apartment in Redmond and struggled to pay rent, the mortgage on his island home — which was up for sale — college tuition for his son and other bills. "Everybody in their life has had financial difficulties," he said. "I'm not proud that I lost my home."

Pope says LaSalata has been "lenient" with drunken drivers because of multiple cases where he threw out breath-alcohol-test results as evidence.

LaSalata says he threw out the tests for several reasons, including misleading warnings that police officers were required to give before the tests. In some cases, he threw out the tests because he believed a 2004 state law that made it tougher for the tests to be thrown out of court was unconstitutional. Many other judges did the same, he said. Earlier this month, the state Supreme Court affirmed the constitutionality of the law. Pope acknowledges he's never served as a judge but says he has the "broadest amount of experience" handling cases as an attorney in several different courts.

Pope and LaSalata have spent mostly their own money in the race so far, with Pope raising about $12,000 and LaSalata about $37,000.

Ashley Bach: 206-464-2567 or abach@seattletimes.com