Minority and Justice Commission
Meeting Minutes
Washington State Minority and Justice Commission
Meeting Minutes
Graham and Dunn
33rd Floor Conference Room
1420 Fifth Avenue
Seattle, Washington
October 16, 1998 at 1:30 PM
Justice James M. Dolliver and Justice Charles Z. Smith, Co-Chairmen, Presiding
Call To Order
Minutes
Report of Co-chairmen
1998 Commission Annual Report
Budget Report
National Consortium of Task Forces Report
Reports from Sub-committees Work Force Diversity Sub-committee
Outreach Sub-committee
Education Sub-committee
Research Sub-committee
Evaluation and Implementation Sub-committee
Other Business
Reception and Group Photograph
Commission Web Site Presentation
Other Business
Adjournment
The meeting was called to order by Justice Charles Z. Smith at 1:30 o'clock in the afternoon in the conference room of Graham and Dunn, 33rd Floor Conference Room, 1420 Fifth Avenue, Seattle.
Justice Smith acknowledged coverage of our meeting by TVW and introduced its technicians, Baraka Brown and Rob Demko.
Justice Smith introduced Jeffrey A. Beaver, Partner, Graham and Dunn, who invited us to hold our meeting in their offices. Mr. Beaver is also a member of our Technical Support Group. Mr. Beaver made the following introductions of support staff: Ms. Gwen Brons, Legal Secretary; Ms. Maggie Kinsella, Human Resources Director; and Ms. Jennifer Macqueen, Marketing Director.
Justice Smith thanked Graham and Dunn for hosting our meeting in their offices.
Justice Smith commended Judge Ricardo S. Martinez on his appointment as United States Judge Magistrate. Formerly on the King County Superior Court, Judge Martinez continues as a member of the Commission.
Present at the meeting were: Justice James M. Dolliver, Justice Charles Z. Smith, Justice Charles W. Johnson, Judge Monica J. Benton, Judge Ronald E. Cox, Judge Deborah D. Fleck, Judge Kenneth H. Kato, Judge Ron A. Mamiya, Judge Ricardo S. Martinez, Judge LeRoy McCullough, Judge James M. Murphy, Ms. Donna Claxton Deming, Ms. Kazzie Katayama, Jeffrey C. Sullivan, Judge Clifford L. "Kip" Stilz, Jr., Judge Philip J. Thompson, Robert C. Boruchowitz, Ms. Madelyn Botta, Ms. Lourdes Fuentes, Ms. Ada Ko, Ms. Terry Mark, Tony Orange, Ms. P. Diane Schneider, Ms. Mary I. Yu, and Ms. Donna V. McConnell-Adams.
Persons not attending (with excused absences) were: Judge David H. Armstrong, Judge William W. Baker, Judge Richard A. Jones, Ms. Myrna I. Contreras, Guadalupe Gamboa, Ms. Mary Campbell McQueen, Charles E. Siljeg, Ms. Mary Alice Theiler, Judge Sergio Armijo, Judge James D. Cayce, Judge C.C. Bridgewater, Judge Karen B. Conoley, Judge Albert M. Raines, Judge Vicki J. Toyohara, Ms. Lonnie Davis, David J. Della, Ms. Kim M. Eaton, Larry M. Fehr, José E. Gaitán, Charles A. Jardine, Ms. Debora G. Juarez, Robert Lamb, Jr., Ms. Lorraine Lee, Richard F. McDermott, Jr., Ms. Mary Elizabeth McKnew, Ms. Esther L. Patrick, Manuel Romero, Ms. Barbara J. Selberg, Brian A. Tsuchida, and Gender and Justice Commission liaison Judge Patricia Hall Clark.
Justice Smith presented the video from Justice James M. Dolliver's retirement dinner which was held at the Bell Harbor Conference Center on October 13, 1998. The video was produced by WES Design and was narrated by Lee Keller, who was a member of the Retirement Dinner Planning Committee.
The minutes of the April 24, 1998 Commission meeting were presented to the Commission for approval. A motion was made by Justice Dolliver, seconded by Judge Benton, and carried to approve the minutes subject to any necessary editorial revision.
The minutes of the September 11, 1998 meeting of the Executive Committee were presented. A motion was made by Justice Dolliver, seconded by Judge Benton, and carried to approve the minutes subject to any necessary editorial revision.
The minutes of the July 24, 1998 meeting of the Executive Committee were presented. A motion was made by Justice Dolliver, seconded by Ms. Katayama, and carried to approve the minutes subject to any necessary editorial revision.
Justice James M. Dolliver made brief comments and deferred further reporting to Justice Smith.
Justice Smith asked the Commission members to commend José E. Gaitán for his fund-raising for the National Consortium meeting in May 1998. He is a recent past President of the Hispanic National Bar Association and is currently serving his 2nd year as Chairperson of the Commission on Opportunities for Minorities in the Legal Profession for the American Bar Association.
Justice Smith introduced Ms. Donna V. McConnell-Adams as the new Executive Director of the Minority and Justice Commission and reported on the hiring process and some of the activities and work Ms. McConnell-Adams has done on behalf of the Commission and the Sub-committees.
Ms. McConnell-Adams gave a brief report on the Commission's Annual Report. The sub-committee chairs are working with Ms. McConnell-Adams on the report. If any commission member is interested, Ms. McConnell-Adams will provide copies of the worksheets that she is using to prepare for the annual report. She invited Commission members to contact her with any comments, suggestions, or questions.
The program cover of the Tenth Annual Anniversary meeting of the National Consortium of Task Forces and Commissions on Racial and Ethnic Bias in the Courts, Seattle, May 7, 8 and 9, 1998, displays the artwork that will be used in the 1998 Annual Report. The artwork is titled "Justice is All Inclusive" and was produced by Tori, a local artist. Justice Smith has the original artwork in his office.
Justice Smith called attention to the budget status report which had been previously approved by the Executive Committee.
Justice Smith announced that Judge Veronica Simmons McBeth, Presiding Judge of the Los Angeles Municipal Court, will be the moderator of the National Consortium of Task Forces and Commissions on Racial and Ethnic Bias in the Courts, starting the next year. Justice Smith has been the moderator for the past seven years. However, the by-laws were changed last year and Judge McBeth was elected to become moderator in 1999. Judge McBeth will also receive the William H. Rehnquist Award at the Unites States Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. on Monday, October 26, 1998. The award is given by the National Center for State Courts for outstanding judicial service in the United States.
The Washington State Supreme Court and the Minority and Justice Commission invited the National Consortium of Task Forces and Commissions on Racial and Ethnic Bias in the Courts to hold its Tenth Annual meeting in Seattle. The meeting was held at Westin Hotel on May 7, 8, and 9, 1998.
The Minority and Justice Commission appointed a planning committee to help in preparation of the Seattle meeting. The planning committee was chaired by Richard F. McDermott, Jr. and Ms. Myrna I. Contreras. Other members were: Justice Charles W. Johnson, Judge William W. Baker, Judge Ronald E. Cox, Judge Kenneth H. Kato, Judge Vicki J. Toyohara, Dean Donna Claxton Deming, Ms. Kazzie Katayama, Ms. Ada Ko, and José E. Gaitán.
The Committee raised a total of $25,000 in corporate donations to help with expenses. The fund-raising was done by non-judicial members of the Commission. José E. Gaitán was largely responsible for the fund-raising efforts. The Minority and Justice Commission did not spend any funds for the Consortium's Annual Meeting. Participants attended largely at their own expense.
Justice Smith thanked the Commission and the Washington Supreme Court members who hosted Consortium attendees for recreational activities during the Consortium meeting. Activities consisted of boat rides on Justice Johnson's and Judge Houghton's boats, and a trip to the Seattle Mariners baseball game.
The National Consortium will hold its 1999 Annual Meeting in Honolulu, Hawaii on April 29 and 30 and May 1, 1999. Commission members were asked to consider attending the meeting.
Judge Deborah D. Fleck reported that the Work Force Diversity Sub-committee met at 12:30 p.m. prior to the Commission meeting.
Some of the issues that the committee discussed were: reviewing the mission statement from the 1994 Annual Report, a possible proposal on the type of presentation that will be offered by the Work Force Diversity Sub-committee, continuing to build on Achievement Architects North's curriculum, and development of a one day presentation to hopefully be attended by teams from each court. The goal of the one day presentation would be to have every court participate. At this point, Judge Fleck was not sure if there will be eastside and westside presentations. The committee will continue its discussions. According to Judge Fleck, court staff are "hungry" for information on work force diversity.
The Work Force Diversity Resource Directory is also a project that the sub-committee will be working on.
Ms. Donna V. McConnell-Adams gave a report on the Equal Justice newsletter. The proposed theme of the next issue of the newsletter is reparations for Japanese Americans incarcerated in World War II. Ms. McConnell-Adams also reported on the Commission's web site.
Judge Ronald E. Cox reported that the sub-committee is working on a cultural diversity educational program presentation for the Judicial College on January 26, 1999. The Request for Proposals has been sent out. Evaluations should be complete by the end of November.
The sub-committee is also putting together a proposal for the Office of the Administrator for the Courts court support orientation in spring of 1999.
Long term projects for the Education Sub-committee are to reach broad audiences and to review existing evaluations from cultural diversity education programs that have been sponsored by the Commission.
Judge Kenneth H. Kato reported that the sub-committee is working on determining the direction for the next research report. They will defer to the Evaluation and Implementation Sub-committee and its review of Dr. George S. Bridges' report titled A Study on Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Superior Court Bail and Pre-trial Detention Practices in Washington.
The Research Sub-committee is also considering a research project on a retrospective look at statistics on Work Force Diversity and Women of Color in Law Firms.
Judge James M. Murphy gave a brief overview on the membership of this newly formed Sub-committee. Members of the sub-committee are: Judge Deborah D. Fleck, Judge Richard A. Jones, Judge Ronald E. Cox, Judge Kenneth H. Kato, Judge C. C. Bridgewater, and Robert C. Boruchowitz. Judge Cox and Judge Kato were appointed to the committee because of their positions as chairpersons of the Education Sub-committee and the Research Sub-committee.
The sub-committee is discussing Dr. Bridges' report from one year ago as mentioned in the Research Sub-committee's report. That report was the main catalyst for the creation of the Evaluation and Implementation Sub-committee. Dr. Shiquan Liao, Statistician at the King County Department of Judicial Administration has been assisting the sub-committee. The sub-committee will continue to work on the report and has planned to meet with Dr. Bridges to address some of the questions that the report findings have raised.
Judge McCullough discussed the issue of training during judicial conferences.
Judge Fleck reported on the court services staff who meet to interview people to look at personal recognizance issues in King County. The processing issues and follow-up skills could impact educational program offerings.
A reception was hosted by Graham and Dunn. The firm provided hors d' oeuvres and beverages. The meeting was temporarily recessed for the group photograph and reception at 2:45 p.m. The meeting was reconvened at 3:50 p.m.
Ms. McConnell-Adams gave a presentation on the Commission's new web site. The address to the web site is
http://www.courts.wa.gov/mjc/. Selected pages from the web site were included in the meeting packets. Ms. McConnell-Adams invited everyone to review the web site and send comments back to her. The comments can either be sent through the comments form on the web site or members can e-mail her at Donnav.MConnell@courts.wa.gov. Ms. McConnell-Adams acknowledged assistance from Ms. Virginia Neal, Administrator for the Courts Webmaster, and Ms. Lamia G. Mackoul, Minority and Justice Commission Administrative Secretary, for the work they have done to make the creation of the web site possible.
Justice Smith discussed the TVW newsletter that he distributed. He noted the Supreme Justice educational videotape which premiers on November 12, 1998 that was produced and gave a brief introduction and some information on TVW. Justice Smith expressed his pleasure with the work of the TVW and its support of the Minority and Justice Commission.
Justice Smith distributed a memorandum from Ms. Mary Campbell McQueen regarding the Constitutionality of Changing the Date of the Election Which Occurs After a Judicial Appointment by the Governor. Justice Smith referred the memorandum to Judge Cox and the Education Sub-committee for its consideration.
Justice Johnson recognized Justice Dolliver and the fact that this was probably the last Commission meeting he would attend before his retirement in January 1999. Justice Johnson, Justice Smith and the Commission thanked Justice Dolliver for his leadership and hard work.
The meeting of the Commission was adjourned at 4:03 p.m.
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