Judicial candidates do best to make their cases to voters despite ethical restrictions

Apr. 25—Candidates for circuit court judge and magistrate introduced themselves to the public Tuesday night at a forum held at Fleming Memorial Church. The event was sponsored by the Women's Club of Fairmont, the Marion County Chamber of Commerce and the Greater Fairmont Council of Churches.

Ethical constraints restricted what sorts of questions the candidates could answer. The forum did not have a regular question-and-answer format because of those limitations. Instead, Chamber President Pat Snively, host of the event, asked candidates to introduce themselves and provide a brief biography.

The event did provide time after the forum to mingle and meet the candidates on a personal basis. Snively asked audience members to not be surprised if candidates couldn't answer certain questions.

"When you're meeting judge candidates, there are many questions that simply cannot be asked," Snively said. "We can't ask for a specific stance on most issues. By the very nature of the position, judges are required to weigh evidence and rule based upon law, not personal opinion."

To clarify, Snively later explained that "by law" should be taken to mean, "by statute," or the laws as they are written. A judge's role is to apply the law as written, regardless of whether they agree with it.

Three candidates are running for Division Two of the 16th Judicial Circuit. Matt Delligatti, Craig Erhard and Chuck Shields are running to replace Judge David Janes. Janes is retiring at the end of his term. Pat Wilson is running unopposed to retain his seat as Division One judge for Marion County Circuit Court.

Missy Pride Linger and Todd Anthony Rundle are unopposed for Division Two and Division Four magistrates, respectively. Division Three has the only competitive magistrate race in the upcoming election. Carrie McCoy Biddle and Brian Stewart are both vying for the seat.

Biddle, Linger and Stewart were present for the event. Shuck and Rundle, the incumbents for their district, did not attend. Two of the magistrate candidates work as public servants. Stewart is vacant property manager for the City of Fairmont. He inspects and determines which dilapidated buildings need to be demolished and which can be restored. Biddle works in the magistrate court office, a position she's held for the past 21 years.

"I believe magistrates need to be unbiased with the decisions of the rendering," Biddle said. "They need to understand the effect that has on the person that's appearing before them and understand that they can have a trickling effect on their family members and our community."

For his part, Stewart has a long record of public service, both in uniform for the Marine Corps. and as law enforcement. Stewart also had a hand in establishing the Child Advocacy Center.

Linger is the incumbent magistrate. She's held the job for 7 terms, arriving at it out of a sense of civic duty. She also is community-minded, giving back through volunteering and community service during her school and college years.

The judicial candidates all possess several years of experience.

Erhard argued litigators make the best judges because of experience accrued working firsthand in a courtroom day to day. Erhard makes his living as a litigator, in practice for the last 25 years.

"The role of judge can be a very difficult component of the truth-seeking function," Erhard said. "It's designed to be that way by our founders. We should take pride in that, all Americans should. Much of it was designed by the bible, the Bill of Rights, that is."

Matt Delligatti brings experience beyond that of a trial attorney. Interested in public service from a young age, Delligatti served as part of Fairmont City Council when he was 20, which he followed with a stint as the city's mayor two years later. Delligatti also has ample experience as a litigator in civil and criminal cases, with a bulk of his time spent on abuse and neglect cases. However, there's more to public service than litigating, he said.

"Just practicing law isn't really enough in terms of what it means to be a part of the community," Delligatti said. "I've continued to be interested in giving back."

Delligatti is a major presence in several civic organizations throughout town.

Shields has the most experience, clocking in at 37 years practicing law. He's served as one of the county prosecutors since 2005. Today he represents Marion County as its attorney. Throughout his career, Shields practiced cases in both criminal and civil law.

Shields also teaches criminal justice at Fairmont State University, as a professor for 26 years.

"Not only have I practiced law, I've taught law," Shields said. "Taught law to a lot of different people. I've taught law to police officers, magistrates, judges, parole officers and probation officers and state police. Just all kinds of people."

Running unopposed, Wilson still made himself available to the public. He provided a brief peek behind the curtain to how he approaches cases while sitting on the bench.

"I will tell you all, it is a humbling experience," Wilson said. "And I'm grateful for it. Besides talking about what a judge should do, they should be respectful. When a person comes into that court, it's normally because something is affecting their life."

Wilson said regardless of the circumstances that led to an individual being in court, it's important to him that he feels the weight of whatever a person is facing in court.

"It's important to those people," he said.

The election is May 14.

Reach Esteban at efernandez@timeswv.com.