BRATTLEBORO — The three candidates for the two positions of assistant judge in Windham County are in the awkward position of running for a job for which most of its duties have been removed.
Larry Robinson, a Newfane Republican, and Democratic newcomer Joseph Spano of Brattleboro are running, as is incumbent Democrat Patricia Duff of Brattleboro. The other current assistant judge, Mary Ann Clarkson, is stepping down.
It used to be that assistant judges - or side judges, as they are often called - used to sit with the presiding judge in court and served as “finders of fact” on civil cases in Superior and Family courts. They also had the power to rule alone on traffic cases, uncontested divorces and small claims disputes.
Each county elects two assistant judges. Since it is an elected position, assistant judges were traditionally seen as the “people's representative” on the bench. But a judicial reorganization plan approved by the Legislature earlier this year has sharply reduced their duties.
As of next year, the state's criminal, civil, family and environmental courts will be merged in one Superior Court under the jurisdiction of the state Supreme Court, and county court employees will now be state employees. Also, county Probate Courts have been merged with the family court.
So what duties are left for a Windham County assistant judge?
According to Robinson, assistant judges will oversee the county budget and the upkeep of the buildings and grounds of the courthouse in Newfane and the Sheriff's Department across the street. Judicial duties are now restricted to the family court and traffic cases.
“The job title really ought to be county commissioner,” said Robinson. “The Supreme Court and the Legislature took away most of our judicial responsibilities.”
In a way, you could say that Robinson was born for this job. His father was once the Windham County Sheriff and he grew up in the building that now houses the Sheriff's Department.
He served as a Vermont State Trooper for a decade before taking the post of county clerk at the court in Newfane. He retired after 31 years in 2008, and then served as the clerk of the works for the renovations to the Sheriff”s Department offices.
“I want to see the courthouse and the Sheriff”s Department kept up in the way that it should be,” said Robinson. “I was born and brought up here, and I believe that with my experience working with the assistant judges and the budgets over the past 30-odd years, I would be a good fit for this job.”
Spano, a Massachusetts native, came to Brattleboro after living and working in California for more than 20 years.
“My wife is from California and my family still lives in the Boston area,” said Spano. “We were looking for a place to retire and fell in love with Brattleboro. We bought a house in West Brattleboro last fall, and while we renovating it, we met a lot of really wonderful people and felt the urge to get involved in the community.”
Spano, who served in both the Army and the Air Force, said he has no prior legal experience but he does have budgeting expertise from his time running an electronic components company in California. “Luckily I was born with a lot of common sense,” he said
Duff has been an assistant judge for four years and helped to oversee renovations to the Newfane courthouse and the Sheriff's Department headquarters. She said she has enjoyed working with Clarkson, who handled traffic court duties. That job will fall to whoever wins this race. Duff said if she wins re-election, she'll take the training courses that would qualify her to hear those cases.
“The duties of the job have changed, but there will still be some courtroom work for us to handle,” she said. “The biggest changes are merging the family and probate courts and switching the current courthouse staff from the county payroll to the state payroll.”
Duff, who has three teenaged children, is well-known around the county as a justice of the peace and a chef. She said she knows her opponents well.
“Larry has been around the courthouse for years, and Joe sought me out when he decided to run,” she said. “It's nice to be in an election where everybody likes each other.”