The Race For District Judge In Washtenaw 14A Court Redux: A Debriefing With The Candidate Who Finished In Second Place

“It isn’t common to see someone run against a sitting judge in Washtenaw County,” Clerk Larry Kestenbaum told Saline Journal. “But it happens all the time elsewhere in the state.” [1,2]

For those who follow political machinations, that made the 2018 race for 14A District Court Judge a race to watch. Here, incumbent J Cedric Simpson was challenged by Ann Arbor attorney Tom Bourque in the general election held November 6. [3,4,5,6,7]

By the numbers, a grand total of 68,158 votes were cast in this race: 41,837 for Judge Simpson and 26,038 for Mr Bourque, with 283 write-ins (at 0.42%). In the City of Saline, where Judge Simpson counted Mayor Brian Marl among his endorsements, the breaks were 2143 and 1493, with 17 write-ins — or over two points more favorable to the challenger. More votes were cast in this race than for any one of the three uncontested candidates running for Saline City Council on the same ballot. [8,9,10,11]

Last Friday morning, we sat down with Tom Bourque at his office in downtown Ann Arbor to get his personal perspective on “lessons learned” through this experience.

“I’m not sure you can beat an incumbent,” he offered as summary. “But there’s no way to know what affected the outcome. There’s no polling. I still don’t know. It obviously wasn’t even close, and I was expecting the race to be closer. I even thought I might win.”

He went on to note that this sort of race is different in several respects.

The ‘Rule of Judicial Conduct’ apply to the candidate as if he was the judge. You’re required to act in a manner that befits the office. So, for example, you can’t comment on a case, although that might be something a voter would think could help them form an opinion of how you’d apply the law. I can’t directly ask for money. You have to ask people to help you without those people getting any benefit from helping — as they would if you part of a political party. [12]

And then there is the matter of being a litigator practicing in the same jurisdiction where his opponent is on the bench. “I’ve gone years without having a case assigned to Judge Simpson,” Mr Bourque said. “Then I started to run, and three cases came along where I was assigned to his court. Luck of the draw.

Judge Simpson recused himself from all three. He didn’t have to; there is no automatic recusal. And we could not legally ask him to, because there was no actual prejudice. But clients worry, and clients should not have to worry. So, he did that, and that was a very honorable thing to do.

Fleshing out his assertion opening thought about the power of incumbency, Tom Bourque noted that he had out-raised his opponent by a margin of approximately $40,000 to $33,000. With that, he placed five billboards and sent out 24,000 mailers, hand-delivering another five thousand on top of that. In addition to Michigan being unique as a state where an incumbent is labeled as such on the ballot, he believes that Judge J Cedric Simpson having secured Democratic Party endorsement was especially important this cycle. [13,14]

“I think the lack of straight-party voting had a lot more people doing homework,” he opined. When you get your name in the Democratic Voter Guide, that carries a lot of weight in this county. I was perceived as ‘The Republican,’ although Judge Simpson started out as a Republican appointee, and running as a Republican in Washtenaw County is an uphill climb.” [15]

Now taking all of the above into consideration, how does Tom Bourque feel about having run today?

“I’m glad I ran,” he smiled, without hesitation. “If I hadn’t, I always would have wondered. I gave it my best shot. And in the process I learned a lot more about my county, the people, the organizations through the meetings I visited.

“I’m grateful for the support that came with this, especially the people I didn’t even ask to support me, but who did.”

References

1. “Clerk / Register of Deeds” Washtenaw County Michigan.
2. “Lawrence Kestenbaum” Washtenaw County Michigan.
3. “Across From Middle School, Next To Global Manufacturing, A Block From Bowling Alley: District Court 14A-4 Is In Saline” Dell Deaton (September 17, 2018) Saline Journal.
4. “J Cedric Simpson” Washtenaw County Michigan.
5. “Exclusive Interview With J Cedric Simpson, Candidate For District Court 14A Judge (Including Jurisdiction Over Saline)” Dell Deaton (October 30, 2018) Saline Journal.
6. “Thomas B Bourque” Eby Conner Smillie & Bourque PLLC.
7. “Exclusive Interview With Tom Bourque, Candidate For District Court 14A Judge (Including Jurisdiction Over Saline)” Dell Deaton (October 29, 2018) Saline Journal.
8. “Official Election Results: November 6, 2018 General Election” (November 19, 2018) Washtenaw County Michigan.
9. “Official Election Results: 14A District Court Judge” (November 19, 2018) Washtenaw County Michigan.
10. “Official Election Results: Saline Council” (November 19, 2018) Washtenaw County.
11. Janet Dillon received 2994 votes, Dean Girbach 2904 votes, and Christen Mitchell 2711 votes, with 53 write-ins.
12. “Code of Judicial Conduct” Michigan Courts.
13. “Michigan Campaign Statement Summary Page: The Committee to Retain Judge John Cedric Simpson (Post-General CS)” (December 6, 2018) State of Michigan.
14. “Michigan Campaign Statement Summary Page: Committee to Elect Thomas Bourque District Judge (Amended Post-General CS)” (December 13, 2018) State of Michigan.
15. “Washtenaw County Clerk Says There Is ‘Absolutely’ No Reason To Worry About 2018 Election Result Integrity In Michigan” Dell Deaton (November 4, 2018) Saline Journal.
16. The Honorable J Cedric Simpson was first appointed to the bench in the year 2000 by then Michigan governor John Engler, a Republican.