The race for the open seat in the Marion County Circuit Court in the Nov. 5 general election is down to two longtime Salem attorneys. Michelle Vlach-Ing, a criminal defense attorney, parenting time coordinator and temporary judge for the city of Salem, took the lead in the May primary earlier this year, when the race was a four-person contest. She drew 16,481 votes, 33.5%. Her current opponent, David Carlson, a Salem attorney for three decades currently focused on wills, trusts, probate and guardianship, came in second in May with 11,570 votes, 23.5%. They advanced as the top two candidates, and each believes their own experience outweighs their opponent’s. The seat was vacated by retiring Judge Donald Abar. When incumbent circuit judges retire mid-term, the governor temporarily appoints their successor until the next election. But Abar retired at the end of his term, leaving that decision in the hands of Marion County voters. A circuit judge in Oregon is a nonpartisan position for which there is rarely a contested race. The position has a six-year term, and all voters in the county get a say in the race. The county’s 15 circuit court judges preside over criminal and civil cases as well as sentence criminal defendants. The winner will take office on Jan. 6, 2025. The annual salary for the seat is currently $197,800. This is a preview of the only contested race for a seat on the Marion County bench, position 11. David Carlson Name: David Carlson  Age: 55 Education: Willamette University College of Law, J.D. 1994; Whitman College, B.A. in politics, 1991 Occupation: Solo practice attorney in wills, trusts, probate and guardianship Previous legal experience: Chair of State Board of Professional Responsibility; Partner at Pierson, LaMont, Carlson & Gregg  In 30 years of practicing law in Marion County, Carlson has come to understand the importance of being flexible. He said attorneys need to know when to cut a deal and when to push a case to trial. “Sometimes, the answer is just people need somebody with a black robe to tell them what it’s going to be and to live with that,” he said. Carlson believes his varied experience best qualifies him to fill that role. “We shouldn’t be afraid to let the judge make a decision, but we also shouldn’t be afraid to settle. That is almost always better than the (decision) that makes everyone unhappy,” he said. Carlson worked several years on divorces before becoming a criminal defense attorney. He told Salem Reporter earlier this year that he moved away from criminal law after representing repeat clients left him with the feeling that he wasn’t making a positive contribution. He currently works cases involving wills, trusts, probate and guardianship. Much of that work has involved helping senior citizens defend themselves from people seeking to scam them or steal their money. Carlson has represented Liberty House, a child advocacy center in Salem, for over two decades free of charge. The Oregon Supreme Court also appointed him in 2018 to serve four years on the State Board of Professional Responsibility, which prosecutes lawyers accused of ethics violations. He most recently served as chair of the board in 2022. Carlson’s endorsements include Rep. Tom Andersen, Marion County Commissioner Colm Willis and Turner Mayor Steve Horning. The Salem Police Employees Union also endorsed him. Violent crime and drugs The judge’s race comes as Marion County law enforcement officials are sounding the alarm about a rise in deadly street violence in recent years. When asked how he believes judicial policy for crimes involving weapons and violence needs to change to impact that trend, Carlson said judges “don’t have a policy.” He said the policies he would use as judge are what legislators have put into state law. “If you picked up a gun, you’ve picked up great power, and there’s a great responsibility that goes along with that and you should be responsible for the consequences of your actions,” he said. “It doesn’t matter whether it’s a gun or a knife or you hit somebody with your fists. If you take an action, you are personally responsible for that action, and what the judge does is say, ‘The law says you are accountable this way.’” The most significant recent change in Oregon’s justice system is the re-criminalization of hard drugs. Possessing user amounts of drugs was treated similarly to a traffic ticket for nearly four years but is now a misdemeanor crime under state law. Judges have some discretion to balance enforcing the law with ensuring that people with addictions get the treatment they need. Carlson said that the primary issue behind those decisions is whether the person is “ready and willing to accept help.” In his practice, when parents and families have talked about how their loved one’s drug use has affected their lives, he usually asks if they’ve sought help. He recalled some families responding, “They don’t want help.”  “If somebody wants help and they’re in a position that should benefit them, I think they should be given that avenue. But if they’re not, we’re wasting our efforts, because they have to want to change,” Carlson said.  He said he recognizes that the drug crisis is an important issue for Marion County residents and that “we did not make that better” with Measure 110, which decriminalized small amounts of street drugs in early 2021. With drug possession again a crime, “hopefully people will take advantage of offers given to them to get off drugs,” he said. Mental illness Another challenge Oregon courts face is their role in the state’s struggling mental health system.  A federal judge in 2022 set deadlines for how long people can stay at the overcrowded Oregon State Hospital in Salem while getting mental health treatment to help them assist in their own defense against criminal charges. As a result, judges have to decide daily whether to release violent, mentally ill people back into the community or violate their rights by leaving them to languish in jail without treatment.  Carlson said he believes the solution lies in more funding, which is not in the purview of state judges. He said he’d “do the best I could” but would follow the lead of Marion County Circuit Judge Audrey Broyles, who until recently oversaw most of the county’s criminal cases involving people with behavioral health issues and has been an outspoken critic of the federal order.  No matter the outcome of the election, Carlson said he looks forward to helping people in Marion County. “I’d like to do that from the bench,” he said. “But I think we all have something to offer, and I’ll continue to offer whether or not I win the election because at the end of the day, I love what I do.” Carlson said he believes he should be elected over his opponent because “experience matters, and I have a lot more experience than she does.” “I like Michelle, but in talking with folks, I’ve heard consistently she has a hard time making a decision,” he said. “You have to make a decision and you have to know going into it that the odds are pretty good that at least one person in that courtroom is going to be really unhappy with your decision. But that doesn’t mean you get to shilly shally around and not make a decision. You’ve got to do it.” Michelle Vlach-Ing Name: Michelle Vlach-Ing  Age: 48 Education: Willamette University College of Law, J.D., 2001; University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, B.A., 1998 Occupation: Criminal defense, arbitrator, mediator, parenting time coordinator, trademark, copyright, business law – solo practice; City of Salem pro tem judge, 2002-present Previous legal experience: Partner at Crowell Ing, LLP; Associate attorney at Eskanos and Adler, PC; associate attorney at Law Office of Derrick E. McGavic Vlach-Ing said her services as a pro tem judge in the city of Salem demonstrates that she is “able and adept at making decisions from the bench.” She serves in that role around two to four days a month handling matters including arraignment, bench trials, jury trials, special motions and settlement conferences. The full-time judge is often conflicted out of cases due to her former work as a defense attorney, prompting Vlach-Ing to step in and take her place. In recent years, she has worked as an arbitrator and resolved over 1,000 mediation cases outside of court, including domestic relations, business matters and neighborhood disputes.  “While on a handful of occasions I took matters under advisement, I turned those decisions around quickly after acquiring a better understanding of the law. Ask the attorneys who appear before me,” she said. Vlach-Ing has practiced civil law in contract enforcement, intellectual property law, representing creditors, small claims, landlord and tenant issues, restraining order cases, banks and businesses, family law and criminal defense. Early in her career, she clerked for the Lane County Circuit Court and the Oregon Department of Justice’s General Counsel Division. Vlach-Ing said 75% of her current work involves criminal defense. She works as a parenting time coordinator in cases which have concluded, helping resolve disputes of high conflict between parents and keep them from ending up back in court. Her volunteer experience includes the Lawyer’s Campaign for Equal Justice, Salem Fire Foundation, previous chair of the Oregon State Bar Alternative Dispute Resolution Executive Committee and team leader of Willamette Valley Inn of Court.  Her endorsements include retired Marion County Circuit Judge Claudia Burton and Keizer City Councilor Soraida Cross. Vlach-Ing said that one of the biggest challenges in her career has been dealing with clients who make poor decisions.  As a defense lawyer, it’s her job to give them the best advice that she can. She said most of her clients embrace opportunities to put themselves in a better position.  “At the end of the day, it’s their decision, and some people turn their life around,” she said.  Representing people in difficult life circumstances also comes with tragedy, such as finding out a client has died. The first time it happened to Vlach-Ing, a woman young enough to be her daughter was killed and found on the side of a road. Her killer was never caught.  They are human beings, she said, “no matter what type of trouble they got themselves into.” Mental illness Vlach-Ing has also dealt with the legal hurdles caused by the federal order that set deadlines for how long people can stay at the state hospital while getting treatment to help them assist in their own defense. When patients “time out” of the hospital under such conditions, she said their cases are sometimes dismissed and they end up back on the street. Vlach-Ing said state judges should have more discretion to identify violent offenders and determine how long they need to stay at the hospital. As it stands now, she said some people who reach their federal deadline are released while still mentally ill because they can’t be sent to prison, and they end up committing a new crime.  “We’re not, as a state court, going to undo that,” she said of the federal order. “That’s going to have to be the Oregon Legislature.” She said that state judges “need to just continue to do what is within their realm of options,” such as keeping track of data that shows the consequences of the order.  When Vlach-Ing’s clients with mental illness fall off track after getting help, she said it’s usually because they can’t maintain their medications. She said that some people need to have a person monitor their medications. Judges only have control over people in front of them, and there is limited funding in Oregon for public guardians. But when family members step up and give consent, she said, judges can appoint them guardians. Vlach-Ing said she is “not here to make big changes,” she said, which would come from the county’s presiding judge.  But she said she will participate in any discussion where she can attest to what she sees in court, and the problems created by certain laws.  Violent crime and drugs On gun violence, Vlach-Ing said that she doesn’t know if judicial policy needs to change because there are already state laws that add time to prison sentences for people with previous convictions for gun crimes. She said such a change would require legislative action. Vlach-Ing said one issue is the number of people who are ignorant about gun laws, and she is surprised by how many people purchase them without taking a gun safety course. “I don’t know how to make people take that,” she said. She also said it’s important for police to have relationships with the community so that people feel comfortable reporting crimes to them.  While drug possession is again a crime, Vlach-Ing said there are still mechanisms for criminal defendants to get treatment for addictions, such as specialty courts that offer diversion programs.  She said recriminalization is “probably for good measure,” because she sees many people whose mental health issues are triggered by recreational drug use. Vlach-Ing said she believes she should be elected over her opponent due to the breadth of her experience. She is confident that she can handle any criminal case from arraignment all the way to a murder trial, “because I’ve done them,” she said. She said she also knows from handling family law cases and arbitrations how to handle civil matters such as dividing a person’s assets. “A vote for me is a vote for somebody who’s ready to take the bench,” she said. Vlach-Ing said she knows that she doesn’t know everything, and there are aspects of serving as a judge that are different from practicing law. But she’s gotten a taste from her work at the Salem Municipal Court. She said she enjoys working on the bench, seeing the faces of attorneys appearing before her and listening to people testifying. She said a circuit judge’s job is ultimately to help people solve problems. She said she has done that in all of her previous jobs, whether she had opposing sides of civil litigation coming to her for answers, or she was representing criminal defendants “that nobody wants to take” and helping them accept the consequences coming their way. It’s important for judges to have the “proper, demure temperament” to have difficult conversations with people, she said. “That’s something that you can’t just put anyone in.” Campaign money Here are totals for each campaign as reported by the state Elections Division as of Oct. 11. To look into individual donations and expenditures, start with this state website: Campaign finance. CARLSON Contributions: $5,408. Expenditures: $6,504. Cash on hand: $4,449.Top five donors: Loree Erpelding, $2,000; Jeremy Gingerich, $500; Derek Van Veen, $500; Robert Jones, $300; Cora Lee Carlson, $300. VLACH-ING Contributions: $30,873. Expenditures: $21,614. Cash on hand: $9,259. Top five donors: William Pierce, $2,500; Keri Traask Lazarus, PC, $1,500; Jason Short, $1,000; Daemie Kim, $500; Liani Reeves, $500; Walter J Todd, $500; Olcott Thompson, $500; Ryan Collier, $500; Pamela Kniffin, $500; Russell Barnett, $500; Jennifer Brown, $500; Anna Peterson $500 (tie). RELATED COVERAGE:  Vlach-Ing, Carlson lead in judge race; Bill Burgess reelected clerk VOTE 2024: Four candidates seek Marion County circuit judge seat The post Meet the 2 Salem attorneys who want to be Marion County’s next judge appeared first on Salem Reporter.