County council picks four finalists for judge’s spot

The Clark County councilors selected four candidates Monday to interview out of the seven who applied to succeed retiring District Court Judge James Swanger.

District Court Commissioner Kristen Parcher, former Superior Court Judge Roger Bennett, criminal defense attorney Chad Sleight and Assistant Vancouver City Attorney Brent Boger were chosen to proceed to the final step of the application process. They will be interviewed individually between 1 and 5 p.m. Tuesday on the sixth floor of the Public Service Center, 1300 Franklin St., Vancouver, in conference room 683 inside the council’s office. Each interview will last about 45 minutes and is open to the public.

The council largely based its choices on the candidates’ résumés and the Clark County Bar Association’s preference poll released last week. Bar association members overwhelmingly supported Parcher as the top pick to replace Swanger. Bennett, Sleight and Boger were ranked second, third and fourth, respectively.

Council Chair Marc Boldt said he was a “little disappointed” by the poll’s lack of information — primarily, how it was conducted. He would have liked some context, he said, on how the bar vets the candidates. Councilor Julie Olson added that the poll seems to indicate which candidates local lawyers are most familiar with.

However, the council members agreed that the poll should be given significant weight in determining whom to interview. They went down the opinion poll’s final tally to make the top four selections.

Olson said Parcher is a wise and appropriate choice to interview given her current role in District Court. The council received letters of support for Parcher from most, if not all, of the Clark County judges, Councilor John Blom added.

The council also elected to interview Bennett because of his prior experience in Superior Court; Sleight, in part, because of his pro tem status in District Court (a pro tem judge fills in when the sitting judge is unavailable); and Boger because of his legal experience and the bipartisan support he’s received.

The other applicants, in order of their bar poll ranking, were criminal defense attorneys John Lutgens, Louis Byrd Jr. and Zeed Meyer.

Boldt said he was impressed by the list of candidates and called it an “honorable experience” to be able to select the next judge.