By The Times Editorial Board, September 13, 2024:
Steve Napolitano stands apart from most judicial candidates because of the diversity of his experience. He represents prisoners at their parole hearings, which means he is in a sense a public defender for Californians serving their sentences. He also is an administrative law judge, hearing civil cases alleging violations of city or county codes. He had his own practice dealing with contract matters.
That’s all on top of a long career in government, including on the Manhattan Beach City Council, where he led the city’s efforts to atone for its role in shutting Black property owners out of Bruce’s Beach many decades earlier. He was chief of staff for Los Angeles County Supervisor Don Knabe, and simultaneously had a private law practice (with county permission).
Varied backgrounds like Napolitano’s are valuable assets. Attorneys who spend their entire careers as prosecutors or criminal defense lawyers typically become very good at what they do but don’t always make the best judges. Having viewed the justice system from a single window, they may have trouble making the transition to the bench, where a wider and more balanced perspective is needed.
George A. Turner Jr. is an accomplished and well-regarded deputy public defender who probably would make a capable judge. But like most judicial candidates, he’s mostly a one-window attorney. Voters can’t go wrong in this race, but their best choice for this Superior Court seat is Napolitano.
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