I am a senior judge who held public office in Union County for 33 years: first as Union County district attorney and then as circuit judge for Union/Wallowa counties 2003-18. I served as presiding judge for nine years.

I have read the letters of support for Wes Williams. Just because a person is friendly and a good politician does not mean they are a good judge. It is telling that Eric Valentine (who judged here from 1983-2003), Brian Dretke (who judged here from 2012-17) and the current presiding judge, Tom Powers (who has judged from 2017 to present), and I are all publicly supporting Jared Boyd for circuit court judge. Judge Williams can’t find a single Union/Wallowa county circuit judge to support him.

I am passionate about our justice system and can no longer stay silent regarding the current race for circuit judge. I feel the voters deserve to know more about what is happening in our court system.

Under Oregon law through 2023, a lawyer could file a motion to disqualify a judge if he or she had a good faith belief that the judge was prejudiced against the lawyer or their client.

There were 2,364 motions (including recusals) to disqualify Wes Williams filed between January 2020 and June 2023. That is a high disqualification/recusal rate. My disqualification rate for the years 2016-2018 was 1.54%. Between January 2020 and June 22, 2023, 4,329 cases that take significant court time were filed in Union/Wallowa counties. This number does not include cases that for the most part, in my opinion, take office time or a brief hearing such as violations, traffic tickets, small claims, name changes, etc.

Thus Judge Williams has been disqualified or recused in approximately 54% of the cases that take any significant court time between Jan. 1, 2020, and June 22, 2023. The majority of these disqualifications involved criminal cases in Union/Wallowa counties filed by the district attorneys. This means that those 2,364 cases had to be heard by an out-of-area judge or added to the presiding judge’s already full docket. This year through March 25, Judge Powers handled 765 hearings and Judge Williams handled 301 hearings.

In the year 2022, Williams was either disqualified or recused himself in 222 civil cases, such as family law or probate. Thus it is not only prosecutors who disqualify Williams.

In the spring of 2023, Judge Williams’ wife, Jennifer Williams, helped push Senate Bill 807 through the Oregon Legislature, which makes it more difficult for a prosecutor to disqualify a judge. Under the new law, if a judge does not believe a disqualification is valid, the judge can challenge it in a public hearing. A lawyer seeking to disqualify a judge must have a reasonable good faith belief that the judge is prejudiced against the lawyer. That bill went into effect on Jan. 1 of this year. Since then, there have been more than 165 motions filed to disqualify Judge Williams. He has not challenged any of those motions.

The voters need to ask Judge Williams this question: If he thinks the DAs are unfairly disqualifying him, then why hasn’t he challenged their motions and asked for hearings using this new statute? The answer he has been giving, that he is delaying the hearings until after the election to give the DA time to “do the right thing,” does not make sense. Is he not challenging the disqualifications at this time because he is afraid the voters will learn what is really going on in his courtroom, and thus hurt his chances of being reelected?

The next question: Why should the taxpayers pay Judge Williams $166,000 a year when he cannot handle a full caseload of Union/Wallowa county cases that take any significant amount of court time?

I believe I know the answer to these questions, and I will not be voting for Wes Williams.

I encourage the voters to talk to anyone who currently works in our justice system about Judge Williams: attorneys, law enforcement, legal assistants, child welfare case workers or court staff. If a citizen has any questions about the statistics I have cited, they can request them from the Union County Circuit Court by calling 541-962-9500.