Bainbridge attorney to run against Justice Sanders

Bainbridge Island attorney Charlie Wiggins plans to seek the Washington state Supreme Court seat of Justice Richard Sanders, perhaps the most visible member of the court because of his penchant for making headlines.

Wiggins has created a campaign Web site, filed papers with the state Public Disclosure Commission and begun raising money to challenge Sanders, one of three justices who face re-election this year. The formal filing date isn't until June.

Wiggins, 62, who has been an attorney for more than 33 years, said he has put $6,000 of his money into the campaign and plans to add more as part of a goal to raise between $300,000 and $500,000.

Citing his experience, he said he has handled appellate cases in every state appeals court, covering all varieties of the law.

He said he found he was well-suited to serve as an appellate judge when he briefly served on the state Court of Appeals in Tacoma in 1995. Wiggins was appointed to the seat but lost in an election that year.

Wiggins said he also has served as a substitute judge in King and Jefferson counties, handling many different types of criminal and civil cases, and served as a leader overseeing bar-disciplinary cases.

He said he also is running because he believes Sanders sides too often with criminal defendants and has failed to uphold ethical standards, citing Sanders' admonishment for improper judicial conduct in one case and an alleged conflict of interest in another.

Sanders, who has served on the state high court since 1995, was admonished in 2005 by the state Commission on Judicial Conduct for visiting detainees at a state sex-offender treatment center, including some patients who had cases pending before the court. In a unanimous ruling, nine lower-court judges sitting in as state Supreme Court justices pro tem upheld that admonishment.

Last year, the state Supreme Court withdrew a landmark public-records ruling after the losing party, King County, complained that Sanders stood to personally gain from his opinion in the case.

King County's lawyers argued that Sanders, who wrote the majority opinion, had a conflict of interest because he didn't disclose that the ruling impacted a public-disclosure lawsuit he filed in Thurston County in 2005 against the state attorney general. Sanders withdrew from the public-records case, which has been reargued.

In reply to Wiggins, Sanders said the admonishment was an injustice, and that judges should be familiar with institutions where people are sent.

In the public-records case, he said, he did his job and wrote a great opinion that did not benefit him.

Concerning criminal cases, Sanders said he has stood for individual rights of all kinds, including those of property owners and people demanding transparency of government.

Sanders said the public would be better served if Wiggins told voters what he would do as a justice rather than being negative.

Also up for re-election this year are Justices Barbara Madsen and James Johnson.

Information from Seattle Times archives is included in this story.

Steve Miletich: 206-464-3302 or smiletich@seattletimes.com