By BRADEN CARTWRIGHT
Daily Post Staff Writer
Two candidates for judge in Santa Clara County say they’ve applied with the Governor’s Office to be a judge, but they didn’t make it through the long and secretive process.
So now prosecutor Jay Boyarsky and family attorney Nicole Ford are trying a more unusual route to becoming a Superior Court judge – getting elected.
They’ll face off against Deputy District Attorney Johnene Stebbins on March 5.
Boyarsky, who runs the day-to-day operations of District Attorney Jeff Rosen’s office, said through his campaign manager that he applied to be a judge in 2007 and again in 2023.
Boyarsky, 58, of Palo Alto declined an interview about the application process, so whether he received a good review or not is unknown.
“We have to apportion our time carefully these days,” campaign manager Finn Mennuti said. “Perhaps you can call an actual judge or the Governor’s Office.” However, the governor’s office isn’t commenting on candidates who were rejected, and “an actual judge” wouldn’t know about Boyarsky’s application.
California courts have struggled with judge shortages since the administration of Gov. Jerry Brown, and the shortage got worse during the pandemic.
Over five months in 2021, temporary assigned judges logged more than 1,100 days on assignment in 17 counties to help address criminal case backlogs, court spokeswoman Merrill Balassone.
Gov. Gavin Newsom has tried to resolve a backlog of cases by increasing court funding.
The Judicial Nominees Evaluation Commission – or JNE Commission (pronounced like “Jenny”) – plays a large role in deciding who gets appointed.
Lawyers must have 10 years of experience to apply. Candidates have to fill out a long application detailing their work and personal history, and their experiences and philosophies on the rule of law and the justice system.
The JNE Commission reviews the applications in a confidential evaluation, scoring them from “not qualified” to “exceptionally well qualified.”
Ford said she applied in March 2022, and the application took her several days.
She was ready for the JNE Commission to reach out to opposing lawyers and former clients.
“People are going to talk smack about you,” she said.
The application takes multiple days to complete, Ford said.
Ford said she never did an interview or got a score from the JNE Commission. She said she doesn’t know why her application didn’t make it through. “It’s hard because you don’t know where you are in the process. You don’t know what’s going on in the background,” she said.
Ford said the JNE Commission may have looked at her history with a Los Gatos woman who writes online about the courts and has made a number of personal allegations against Ford.
Ford said she has been trying to get a restraining order against the woman for five years, and she understands why the JNE Commission might look for another lawyer who doesn’t have the same problem.
It’s also possible her application was lost in the shuffle, she said.
Ford said if she loses the election on March 5, then she will probably apply for an appointment judge again.