Elections for judges are rare. The one in Placer County is ridiculous | Opinion

Editor’s note: Because contested races for judgeships are rare, we enlisted the assistance of David De Alba, who was the presiding judge of the Sacramento County Superior Court before he retired. De Alba had never met the candidates vying for a judgeship on the Placer County Superior Court before we interviewed them May 1, which the candidates acknowledged during our interview. De Alba did not have a vote in our endorsement process, but he offered relevant insights into the candidates’ legal experience that helped inform our deliberations. We sincerely thank him for his time.

It is rare when judicial elections are contested. It’s rarer still when a candidate challenges a sitting judge, particularly one who has been on the bench for less than two years. But that’s what we have in Placer County, with Rocklin Mayor Dave Bass seeking to unseat Judge Leon Dixson, who was appointed by Gov. Gavin Newsom to the Placer County Superior Court on July 17, 2024.

Before we interviewed Dixson and Bass, who is also a prosecutor in the Sacramento County District Attorney’s office, we thought there must be a serious reason why anyone would want to unseat a judge so recently appointed. Bass has enlisted the support of Morgan Gire, Placer County District Attorney. He is also supported by Wayne Woo, Placer County Sheriff, the Placer County Deputy Sheriff’s Association, Placer County Deputy District Attorneys Association, Rocklin Police Officers Association and other Placer County leaders, such as state Sen. Roger Niello and Assemblymember Joe Patterson, both Republicans.

In 2022, we endorsed Bass for the Rocklin City Council. In the current election, we endorsed Niello and Patterson.

Endorsements are expressions of respect, and we respect Bass as a public servant and the people who are supporting his desire to become a judge in Placer County. But we can’t endorse Bass in this election because we can think of no good reason to remove Dixson.

We endorse Dixson for re-election because of his impressive credentials. He was Regional Counsel for Civil Rights at Legal Services of Northern California. He has spent his career trying to seek justice for all people, particularly those who can’t afford legal representation.

“I have spent my entire career helping people out of poverty,” Dixson said.

Dixson is supported by every judge in the Placer County Superior Court, a roster of distinguished appellate court judges, Superior Court judges, former Placer County Sheriff Ed Bonner and former Roseville Mayor Gina M. Garbolino.

We didn’t hear anything in our hour-long interview that came close to persuading us that Dixson should be unseated. An email sent to us was equally unpersuasive. It repeated some of Bass’s talking points that bailiffs and court clerks don’t like working with Dixson, court calendars were mismanaged, proceedings were disorganized and clerks were wrongly reassigned. These are frivolous procedural complaints. These should be handled at the courthouse — not the ballot box.

Is this election being driven by unspoken grievances that nobody is talking about publicly? Who knows? But the stated reasons for it are not credible or serious.

We like Bass, especially on the Rocklin City Council. But in this race, Dixson deserves to be re-elected.