Most of us were very concerned about the recent appointments to the United States Supreme Court. Would it be Harriet Meyers? John Roberts? Samuel Alito? We wanted to know about the way they decided cases, about their conflicts and their decisions to hear matters in which they had an interest, the groups to which they belonged, their experience, childhood, family, and background.
Did they work for a living during high school or were they born with a silver spoon in their mouth? Did they share their beliefs about community service and working with the less fortunate thereby demonstrating their compassion, kindness, and sense of equality? We wanted to know their hearts.

In the coming June election, Marin voters will have a rare opportunity to engage in a debate in which judicial values are front and center. Attorney Cliff Meneken is running against incumbent Superior Court Judge John Sutro because he believes it is important for voters to have a choice about values. When this reporter attended a recent election reform fundraising event, the jaded group of political activists gasped collectively when Meneken was introduced. They were stunned to hear that he has the courage to run against a sitting judge.

Meneken is not an ordinary attorney. He has litigated many trials and successfully negotiated multi-million dollar settlements. He has shown his values by the way he has lived his life and conducted his practice. Born and raised in San Francisco's Sunset District, Meneken graduated from UC-Berkeley. After serving two years in the Peace Corps, in South Korea, he was a Vista Volunteer and a social worker. He received his law degree from USF School of Law and clerked for Supreme Court Justice Stanley Mosk. For twelve years, Meneken prosecuted unfair labor practices for the California Agricultural Labor Relations Board in Oxnard and Salinas, and for ten years, he did labor and employment law for two Bay Area firms. He was a volunteer lawyer for the San Rafael-based Prison Law Office. A dedicated environmentalist, he won a stipend from the Sierra Club and wrote a brief on wild and scenic rivers.

Meneken's values closely reflect Marin values. Now in private practice, he has represented various neighborhood groups on a host of local environmental issues. Deeply concerned about community and the environment, Meneken is a Director of his local neighborhood association. He led a successful movement to restrict second floors in a neighborhood of pristine Eichler homes, and organized and moderated a Town Hall meeting whose main speakers were Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey and Supervisor Susan Adams. Keenly interested in political values, he received a Master's in US History from Rutgers University. Meneken has the vision and broad perspective needed to restore a balanced, fair and equable philosophy that has been long missing on the Marin bench.

On a personal note, Meneken met his wife Bonnie in law school, and she now teaches in a Corte Madera school. They have been Marin residents for many years. Both of his children graduated from Marin public schools and from the UC system.

Sutro, on the other hand, is a "well connected" Republican who secured his appointment to the bench from Republican Governor Pete Wilson after a good deal of lobbying by a friend (Marin IJ, Feb 6 2006). Before his appointment, Sutro was a corporate lawyer in a firm his grandfather founded. The firm's chief client was Chevron, a corporation in which he still owns upwards of a million dollars of stock, only one of a number of multi-million dollar stock interests he maintains that include other major oil and energy companies, large pharmaceutical firms, and off-shore oil drilling interests.

Sutro has proudly touted his Republican credentials, which include acting as local chair of the Bush for President campaign. It can be assumed that he subscribes to the current judicial philosophy espoused by the administration in Washington, as do other Marin Republican big wigs, whose keynote speaker for their annual dinner on April 1 (Lincoln Day!) is the infamous Representative Pombo, who is closely linked with the Abrahamoff scandal and who is trying to eliminate the Endangered Species Act.

A survey conducted by the Marin County Women's Lawyers Association (Marin IJ, July 20 2004) gave Sutro the lowest marks among local judges, based on his abrasive courtroom manners, arrogance, lack of legal reasoning, and bias. Neither Sutro nor any other judge publicly responded to the survey results. The Court's executive officer was the only court official to challenge the findings. Shortly thereafter, that officer was forced to resign when corruption charges were leveled against him and other court employees. These corrupt activities occurred during Sutro's tenure yet he had done nothing to stop them.

Many Terra Linda residents had the unfortunate opportunity to view Sutro in action during a civil trial involving a second floor construction in that community. The neighborhood organization, which successfully persuaded the City of San Rafael to ban second floors, timely filed an amicus brief in support of the plaintiff, a single mother. Sutro refused to accept the brief, and when the attorney courteously asked for his reasons, Sutro curtly told the attorney, "Sit down!" He then ordered the public cleared from the courtroom. This stunned everyone, most of whom had never attended a trial before. Seasoned court observers said that Sutro's actions had appeared biased, discourteous, and lacking in legal principles. Later, after a complaint was filed, Sutro was required to apologize at a meeting before the supervising judge.

When other lawyers and litigants were told about this incident, many stated that they had experienced similar treatment and that they considered Sutro to be a terrible judge. Many bemoaned the fact that our local court had declined to such a sorry state because of the poor quality of judicial appointments, mostly Republicans.

One only needs to review other Sutro decisions to fully comprehend what he is doing for and to Marin. He allowed a seemingly frivolous lawsuit to go to trial in the St. Vincent's matter, costing San Rafael incredible expense in a ruling the Marin IJ called a "high risk litigation tug of war" (Marin IJ, Sept. 25 2005). He repeatedly delayed and confused matters on the quarry issue. In a case highlighted in the IJ, a ruling setting aside the conviction of a murderer seems to rest on a tenuous thread. As Sutro no doubt will repeat again, "These will be tough cases, requiring a lot of hard work." But unless Marin voters decide otherwise, some Republican will decide them.

Sutro's presence on the local bench, along with other Republicans like Dufficy, Duryea, and Boren reflects the Republican judicial power grab nationwide. It permeates every state and county, regardless of local political orientation, which in the case of Marin is decidedly liberal. Thus the Marin judiciary is composed of Republican judges like Sutro, philosophically and judicially tied to the Bush/Rove battle plan, and tilted against consumers, environmentalists, working people, minorities, and the list goes on.

With Cliff Meneken, Marin voters have a chance they did not have with the Supreme Court to balance the philosophical orientation of our local courts. To volunteer with his campaign, call 499-1804. Send campaign contributions to Cliff Meneken for Judge, 33 Serra Way, San Rafael, CA 94903. You can learn more about him at his website: www.MenekenforJudge.org.