Eighteen Pima County Superior Court judges are up for retention this year, and all were given passing grades by the Arizona Commission on Judicial Performance Review.
Judges appointed by the governor, including those on the Superior Court in Pima and Maricopa counties, the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court, must be reaffirmed periodically by voters.
The commission distributes written surveys to attorneys, jurors, litigants and witnesses asking them to rate the judges on such things as legal ability, integrity, communication skills, judicial temperament, administrative performance and settlement activities. The commission also holds hearings every election season.
Respondents are asked to rate the judges as unsatisfactory, poor, satisfactory, very good or superior, and the commission determines if each judge meets performance standards based on his or her scores.
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The Pima County Superior Court judges who will appear on this year's ballot are: Karen Adam, Gus Aragon, Deborah Bernini, Kyle Bryson, Carmine Cornelio, Jane Eikleberry, Richard Fields, Richard Gordon, Howard Hantman, Jan Kearney, Kenneth Lee, Leslie Miller, Michael Miller, Scott Rash, Sarah Simmons, Christopher Staring, Paul Tang and Stephen Villarreal.
With a few exceptions, all of the judges scored higher than 85 percent in all of the categories.
Attorneys gave Leslie Miller an overall score of 64 percent in temperament and 60 percent in settlement activities. Attorneys gave Adam a score of 75 percent in settlement activities, and attorneys and litigant/witnesses gave Cornelio respective scores of 78 percent and 74 percent in temperament.
Litigant/witnesses gave Hantman a score of 69 percent in communication skills.
Leslie Miller's scores prompted seven of the 30 commissioners to say she did not meet judicial performance standards.
Between 165 and 500 surveys were handed out at Pima County Superior Court between the end of August and the end of December - the higher a judge's caseload, the higher the number of surveys distributed.
The percentage of those who filled the surveys out varied between 14 and 46 percent.
For example, 365 people were given surveys for Leslie Miller and only 69 filled them out. Conversely, 513 people were given surveys for Bernini and 150 filled them out.
Arizona Supreme Court Justice John Pelander also met the performance standards, as did Arizona Court of Appeals Division 2 Judges Peter Eckerstrom, Philip Espinosa, Joseph Howard and Virginia Kelly.
Contact reporter Kim Smith at 573-4241 or kimsmith@azstarnet.com
