The Alaska Judicial Council is an embattled organization. The recent commentary by council member Dave Parker (ADN, Oct. 23) is a good illustration of why so many Alaskans feel the council must be reformed.
Through Parker's piece, the council has launched an unseemly political campaign to unseat Palmer District Court Judge Bill Estelle, a man who has drawn their ire by calling them on inaccuracies in the past. Parker's screed against Judge Estelle goes for the jugular, stooping to extraordinary dishonesty by means of half-truths.
Parker sets out to tell the voters that Judge Estelle signed "untrue affidavits" that render him unfit to remain in the judiciary. But in considering such a story, wouldn't you want to know whether the errors in the affidavits were deliberate? Parker lets you assume that they were. And if the judge had self-reported the errors, pointing them out as soon as he discovered them so that they could be addressed, wouldn't you want to know that? Parker doesn't see fit to let the public know that it was Judge Estelle himself who reported the mistakes.
Let's look at the facts. In 11 years on the bench, Judge Estelle has handled more than 60,000 cases. In 2013, he discovered he had one case in which a decision was overdue by eight weeks. He realized that he had executed four pay affidavits during the eight weeks before he discovered the overdue case.
Concerned that he might have overlooked other cases, he looked back over the past two years (about 12,000 cases) while he had been struggling with health issues, and discovered a second decision that had been overdue at the time he had signed pay affidavits (although it had never appeared on the court system's computer-generated "under advisement" list, designed to remind judges which cases need attention).
As soon as Judge Estelle discovered these two overdue cases, he filed a self-report with the Judicial Conduct Commission. A yearlong investigation, involving a review of approximately 30,000 cases, enabled that commission to determine that the errors were unintentional, with "no dishonest or selfish motive." It further noted that Judge Estelle has an "excellent character and an excellent reputation ...," is "precise and thorough," and has a "good legal mind." The Alaska Supreme Court has affirmed these findings. Although you would never know it from the material Parker's Judicial Council puts out, everybody that has looked at this closely agrees that Judge Estelle is a man of high character who made an honest mistake, which he self-reported.
For perspective, it is worth remembering that a legislative audit in 2001 identified six judges who had overdue cases and yet had signed pay affidavits. The legislative audit committee found that "when errors do occur, they often go on for a period of time without the judge involved being aware of the situation." The judges identified in the audit were not disciplined because their conduct was inadvertent.
It is disturbing that the Alaska Judicial Council would publish something in Alaska Dispatch News painting Judge Estelle as dishonest while leaving out these important facts. In publishing half-truths, the council engages in a political game of character assassination that is unworthy of a public body.
William Estelle has had a lifetime of service to Palmer, where he was born and raised. He is a beloved and fair member of the judiciary in that community. Alaskans should not let a biased and unfair attack manipulate them into depriving the Valley of one of its finest public servants.
Lynne Gallant is a longtime Alaskan. She works as a newborn intensive care nurse in Anchorage.
The views expressed here are the writer's own and are not necessarily endorsed by Alaska Dispatch News, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a piece for consideration, email commentary(at)alaskadispatch.com