Clallam judge candidate delighted by poll results

Published 12:01 am Monday, July 9, 2012

PORT ANGELES — Hearing Examiner Chris Melly said he’s delighted with the results of the lawyers’-preference survey of primary election candidates conducted by the county Bar Association.

The informal survey asked Clallam County lawyers to rate the four candidates vying for the Clallam County Superior Court judge position being vacated by Ken Williams.

Melly and District

Court 2 Judge Erik Rohrer of Forks tied for the top choice.

Rated from one to five on 10 different qualities, Melly of Port Angeles and

Rohrer each received average total scores of 4.16, bar association President Simon Barnhart said last week.

Port Angeles lawyer Curtis Johnson, 58, scored 3.47, and state Assistant Attorney General William Payne, 55, of Port Angeles received 3.21.

The largest average score for a single quality was 4.41 for integrity for Melly, while the lowest average single score was 2.38 for experience

for Payne.

The surveys were mailed June 19 to the association’s 76 lawyers who are current on their dues, Barnhart said.

Completed surveys were returned by the due date of June 29 by 47 lawyers, he said.

Melly’s emailed comment to the Peninsula Daily News was not discovered before the story was published Sunday.

“I’m obviously delighted that I came out on top in the Bar poll and very delighted that I carried six of the 10 categories rated [legal ability, integrity, judgment/common sense, administrative ability, organizational skills, and work habits],” said Melly, 60.

Rohrer, 54, said last week that it was “an honor to be recognized by my peers.”

Ballots will be mailed out July 18 for the Aug. 7 primary.

Johnson said the law is a “very competitive” profession.

“If I do well in a case that’s been litigated, then my opponent does not do as well,” he said.

Said Payne: “The attorneys know the other guys better than I, even though I was bar president in 2010. They’re familiar with me as bar president but not as to the criteria in the poll .

“I wasn’t surprised at all. It’s small portion of the voters. It is what it is.”