In 2008, I campaigned for a seat on the Fresno County Superior Court.  The below information is from that 2008 campaign.  I am leaving this information posted for now so that those visiting this site will have the opportunity to learn something about my views. 

Thank you for taking the time to visit my website and remember to vote June 8, 2010!

 
As part of its election coverage, The Fresno Bee asked all the judicial candidates to respond to the following questionnaire.  These are my complete responses to the questions asked.  You may view the Fresno Bee’s local election coverage on their web site at:  http://elections.fresnobeehive.com/

Please tell us something about yourself: 

Name:              Gary Shinaver

 Age:                 53

 Occupation:      Chief Public Defender

 Experience:       I have been an attorney for 25 years – longer than any of the other candidates for this office.  I was admitted to the State Bar of California in 1983 and began my legal career in the Public Defenders Office.  I have significant trial and courtroom experience.  In 1997, I was promoted to a Chief Public Defender, which has now given me well over 10 years of public law management experience.  It is these two attributes that most significantly set my experience level above any of the other candidates for this office.

 Education:        Fresno City College: AA degree; California State University, Fresno: BA degree; California Western School of Law, San Diego: Juris Doctor (JD) degree.  I was admitted as a lawyer to the State Bar of California in 1983.

 Family:             I am married to my lovely wife, Ann, of 20 years.  We have two children.  My son, John, is a first year student at Fresno City College and works part time; my daughter, Barbara, is a junior at Sanger High School and is active in the music program.

 Public Web Site:           www.garyshinaver.com

 Endorsements:              La Raza Lawyers Association

Brief Statement on why you are running for judge:  What is your vision for the courts and community?  What are the top three issues the courts need to address, and how would you help the courts address those issues?
        I believe that as a judge I can bring positive change to our court system and to our community.  My 25 year legal career has been devoted to serving the people of Fresno County.  I have the knowledge, experience, and ability as a judge to continue to serve the public by improving the efficiency and effectiveness of our court system.  
         I am a native of Fresno and have raised my family here.  I believe that Fresno County is a great place to live, and is full of potential.  Our diverse community deserves a court system that is fair, effective, and efficient. That is my vision for the courts and the community.
         The top three issues the courts need to address are how to make the court system efficient, how to make the court system effective, and how to provide the resources to update the court's dilapidated infrastructure so that the court’s outdated facilities do not hinder the court’s efficiency and effectiveness.  In these times of fiscal hardship and budget crises, the courts need to be creative and proactive in working with others on state and local levels to secure the resources necessary to improve efficiency and effectiveness in the court system.  Priorities must be set and leadership must be exercised.  Hard work must be the order of the day.  I will bring these qualities to the bench in order to accomplish these goals.

Please answer these questions:

 Q:  Are you satisfied with the way jurors are summoned and chosen?  Do you feel the process is efficient and fair?  Do you think juries accurately represent the community?
        Jurors are summoned from a Master Jury List.  This list is comprised of registered voters and people with driver’s licenses or ID cards issued by the DMV.  While this list may include a core segment of our community it certainly does not encompass a statistically accurate cross section of all people residing in Fresno County.  Ideally, every eligible member of the community should be on the Master Jury list.  That should be our goal.  Our challenge is to find ways to dig deeper into our community and include those that are currently disenfranchised from serving as jurors because they are not registered to vote or don’t have a driver’s license.  
         Having a more representative and expansive Master Jury list benefits the community as a whole.  Not only would such an expanded list include those that are currently excluded from this civic process, it would also provide some relief to those that are on the list and asked to serve so frequently.  It would also provide all litigants, whether criminal or civil, a pool of jurors to which they entitled under the law – one that represents a fair and accurate cross-section of their community, a true jury of their peers. 
        Of course our responsibility as a Community does not end there.  The next challenge is to ensure that once summoned from the Master Jury list, those prospective jurors, from whatever demographic, respond and participate in the process.  Most people realize and accept that jury service is part of their civic responsibility.  However, we need to make sure that this awareness continues to be fostered among all members of our community and that our youth receive this understanding as part of their civic education.
        The “one-trial or one-day” system currently used in Fresno County to bring in prospective jurors to the courthouse for the actual jury selection process is certainly a vast improvement over the former system that required prospective jurors to return to the courthouse day after day for sometimes as much as a week or more.  However, we should not be content with a view that this process is beyond further improvement.  The courts should continue to examine ways to assist prospective jurors in carrying out their civic responsibility of jury service with the least disruption to their daily lives as possible.  This should include dealing with such issues as availability of downtown parking for summoned jurors, the frequency of receiving a jury service summons, and the length of time that a prospective juror must remain “on-call” once summoned. As a judge I will be committed to improving the juror selection process whenever and wherever possible.

Q:  How will you approach your role as a judge?  How will you treat defendants and plaintiffs, as well as attorneys, witnesses and audience members in the courtroom?
        I will approach my role as a judge with confidence, hard work, fairness, and respect for all individuals with whom I interact.  I believe it is the responsibility of a judge to treat all participants in the court process with dignity, respect, and patience.   There is no question that a busy courtroom and the daily responsibilities of a judge can combine to make many stressful situations. But there is nothing that reflects more poorly on the judiciary than a judge that looses his or her temper or treats defendants, attorneys, witnesses, or audience members with rudeness, disrespect, anger or disdain.  There is also no excuse for a judge once elected or appointed to the bench to become pompous, arrogant, or dismissive of others.
        In my role as a Chief Attorney in the Public Defenders Office I am used to working in high tension, stressful, situations and making quick decisions and judgment calls on a daily basis that impact a large number of people.  As a judge, I will have the fortitude and patience to treat others with dignity and respect and to listen to them with an open mind even under the most trying circumstances.

Q:  What would you do as a judge to help ease an overburdened judicial system (overcrowded jails, busy courtroom calendars, etc.)?
        Judges, and the bench as a whole, seem to remain largely out of touch with, or at least don’t seem to give much consideration to, the amount of resources and finances it takes on a county-wide level to efficiently and effectively operate the Superior Courts.  It is well known that the vast majority of the court’s business involves the processing of criminal cases.  Between juvenile delinquency and adult criminal cases, these criminal matters consume easily two-thirds or more of the court’s resources.  However, each and every criminal case that the court processes requires County-funded resources from all of the Public Safety Departments:  The Sheriff, the District Attorney, the Public Defender, and Probation.  Without the necessary funding for these Public Safety Departments, criminal cases will simply not be processed efficiently, effectively, or at all, regardless of what resources the court has available to itself.
        The courts go to great lengths to prevail upon our legislators and the Governor to provide more Superior Court judges and more space to handle increasing court caseloads.  And in the last few years they have been successful, receiving a number of new judicial positions for Fresno County.  Yet no consideration is given to linking these new judicial positions to funding for the public safety departments that are essential to make the entire public safety system work efficiently and effectively.  The judiciary needs to take an active role at the state level in making sure that each new judicial position is accompanied by, or linked to, sufficient funding for all public safety departments. The bench needs to take a leadership role in working with the County at the local level as well as at the state level, to ensure that all necessary resources for the efficient and effective operation of the judicial system are in place.
         In terms of the day-to-day operations of the court, the creation early last year of the Local Justice Coordinating Council was a step in the right direction to at least start a dialogue among the justice departments and the courts as to how the daily operations of the court and justice system might be improved.  However, the court leadership of the Justice Council needs to take the committee beyond identifying known existing problems to the stage of solving them.  And to be effective in actually accomplishing anything significant with such issues as jail overcrowding, the Justice Council will have to include in its membership other law enforcement agencies, such as the Fresno City Police Department and outlying city law enforcement agencies that contribute inmates to the jail population.
        It is also essential that the Justice Council become a catalyst for opening a dialogue between the City and the County as to how the costs for the justice system can be shared, how resources can be combined, and how simple cooperation and communication between the City and the County will go far in helping to solve many of the difficult issues now confronting the justice system.  The Justice Council may prove to be a good vehicle for positive change if it is steered with leadership and does not become mired in its own bureaucracy.

Q:  How can the courts better serve the community?  Can/should the courts make it easier for the public to access court records, look up information about their case, and efficiently take care of any criminal charges or traffic violations they face?
        The courts exist for the benefit of the community.  It is of paramount importance that the courts remain in tune with the needs of the community which they serve and evolve so that they can continue to provide meaningful and cost effective services not just to those that enter into the court system but to the community as a whole. The Community Court Model as applied to low level criminal offenses is but one example of a more creative approach to the administration of justice that the Superior court bench needs to explore.  Community Courts have been used with great success in a number of other states and California counties and have benefited the community by decreasing recidivism and targeting specific sections of a community most in need of the court’s attention.
         Many of the court’s records are public records and the courts should make access to these records as user friendly as possible.  Today’s technology provides a great opportunity for improvement in this area.  Much of this information can be made available to the public on line.  Efficiency in the court system should be a priority for the Superior Court bench.  Facilitating the expeditious handling of minor criminal and traffic offenses by providing easy access to necessary information and a means by which to resolve these cases quickly is certainly a worthy goal for the courts and in the long run also provides a direct cost benefit to the County.

Q:  What is your view on how the media and the courts should interact?  What is an appropriate balance between the public’s access to open courts and the need for privacy and security for jurors, defendants, victims and witnesses?
        The court system and the day-to-day business of all judges should be open and transparent to the public.  The Superior Court bench should be accountable to the community which it serves, no differently than any other elected officials.  While the independence of the judiciary and the privacy rights of litigants and others that play a role in the court system must be safeguarded, this must be done with an eye towards the communities right to know what their judicial system is doing and how it is being done.  The media plays an important and essential role in disseminating this information to the public.
        For this reason, communication and understanding between the media and the courts is essential.  The courts need to keep the media educated and updated as to how and why the court conducts its business the way it does.  An open dialogue between the media and the courts is something that the community as a whole would benefit from and should expect from its elected officials.
        The nature of our court system often casts jurors, defendants, litigants, victims and witnesses into public view whether willingly or not.  Each case and each situation requires a judge to carefully balance the interests of all participants in the court system with the public’s right to know.  As a judge I will be committed to doing this in a fair, thoughtful, and conscientious manner.

KFSN-TV/ABC-30 invited all candidates for public office to participate in their NextGenPolitics program.  This is a new political page on their internet web site at: 
http://kfsn.nextgenpols.com/
        As part of this coverage, ABC 30 asked each candidate to respond to ten questions and submit those responses to the news station. The following are my responses.  (Note that this questionnaire was not well tailored to candidates for a judicial office as several of the questions had marginal relevance to the issues that will confront a Superior Court Judge.)