MinnLawyer Blog

Judge Timothy Blakely

The results of the bar’s plebiscite on the judicial races are in and, not surprisingly, all the incumbents, save one, were big winners.

The one race keeping incumbents from having a clean sweep in was in the 1st Judicial District, where Judge Timothy Blakely, who spent six months last year suspended from his judicial duties for ethical misconduct, faces a challenge from attorney Larry Clark. Clark got 73 percent of the lawyer vote, making him the only challenger to out poll an incumbent. Interestingly, Blakely was the top vote-getter in last August’s primary despite his much-publicized disciplinary run-in.

Incumbents easily eclipsed their challengers in the lawyer polling of the Supreme Court races. Justice Helen Meyer received 91 percent of the votes in her race against Greg Wersal, whose biggest claim to fame is being one of the plaintiffs in Republican Party, et al. v. White, et al. Since White, Wersal has continued to successfully challenge restrictions on judicial campaign speech, although none of those victories actually seem to be helping him to win a seat on the bench.  Justice Alan Page coasted to victory against 9^th District Magistrate Tim Tingelstad in the polling, receiving 88 percent of the vote to Tingelstad’s 12 percent. This is the second time Tingelstad has tried to unseat the popular justice, who sailed to victory last time around. Page is the most senior of the high court’s seven justices.

In the Court of Appeals races, Judge Larry Stauber out polled seemingly perennial judicial candidate Dan Griffith 89 percent to 11 percent.  Meanwhile, Judge Randolph Peterson received 95 percent of lawyer votes to stealth challenger Roxann Klugman’s 5 percent. Little is known of Klugman, whose campaign strategy and motivations for running appear to be equally mysterious.

In the trial court races outside the 1^st District in which incumbents face challengers, Ramsey County Judge William Leary and 8th District Judge Kathryn Smith, substantially outpacing their opponents, Ramsey County Public Defender Connie Iversen and attorney Glen Jacobsen (respectively).

The real interesting races are the judicial races in which there is no incumbent running. In Ramsey County, attorney Mark Ireland out polled attorney Gloria Bogen by nearly a 2-1 margin. In the 6^thDistrict, attorney Mike Cuzzo had a similar margin of victory over attorney Timothy Costley.

The Minnesota State Bar Association conducted the polling for the statewide races and the District Court races outside Ramsey County. The Ramsey County Bar Association conducted its own polling. Click here for the full survey with appropriate disclaimers.