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Judicial Nominating Commission begins process for selecting nominees for Iowa Court of Appeals vacancy

June 20, 2019

The State Judicial Nominating Commission, which is responsible for selecting nominees for appointment to the Iowa Court of Appeals, announced today it will begin accepting applications for the vacancy that will occur when Judge Gayle Vogel retires July 1, 2019. The Commission received notice of the vacancy from Governor Reynolds on June 12, 2019.  The Commission has sixty days to send a slate of nominees to the Governor, who makes appointments to the court.  

The deadline for applications to be received by the Commission and the Commissioners to be considered for balloting is 11:59 p.m. July 22, 2019. Any citizen may submit in writing to the Secretary of the Commission, or to any Commissioner via email at the email addresses listed on the State Judicial Nominating Commission website at https://www.iowajnc.gov/state-commission/state-members-and-vacancies and also listed below, the names of persons for consideration as a candidate for nomination and express views concerning such candidate.  For comments regarding an applicant to be considered by the Commission, communications from the public must be received by the Commissioners via email by 11:59 P.M. on August 2, 2019.   Applications can be obtained on the State Judicial Nominating Commission website at the website address listed above or from the State Court Administrator at 1111 E. Court Avenue, Des Moines, IA 50319.

Once the application time has run, the Commission will release the names of all applicants along with information about each applicant's background, experience, and qualifications.   This list and other information about the Commission and Iowa's merit selection process will be available on the Iowa Judicial Nominating Commissions website: https://www.iowajnc.gov/state-commission/state-members-and-vacancies.

The Commission plans to meet August 5, 2019, and August 6, 2019 (if a second day is necessary), to interview applicants and select three nominees to submit to the Governor for appointment. The meeting will be in the Supreme Court Courtroom in the Judicial Branch Building, 1111 East Court Avenue, Des Moines. The interview portion of the meeting is open to the public and will be streamed live and archived on the Iowa Judicial Branch YouTube channel, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCL6EU7W8kqDKnKPUzMdxr_g .

The 17-member Commission is composed of eight commissioners elected by lawyers licensed to practice law in Iowa and nine commissioners appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Iowa Senate.

Important Notice to Applicants: To be eligible for appointment to the court, a person must be a resident of Iowa, licensed to practice law in Iowa, and must be of such age that he or she will be able to serve an initial and one regular term of office before reaching the age of 72. To be considered for balloting, an applicant must email his or her application and supporting materials to the Commission via email to sjnc@iowa.gov and to each member of the Commission at the email addresses listed below so that the application and supporting materials are received by the Commission and Commissioners by 11:59 P.M. on July 22, 2019. The candidates for nomination must email to the Commission and all Commissioners a PDF version of the completed Application forms and a PDF version of any writing samples and other attachments to the Application.   

The names and email addresses of the State Judicial Nominating Commission members after July 1, 2019, are:

 

Chairperson

Trish Roberts, Carroll, Iowa; trroberts@hotmail.com

 

Secretary

Kathleen Law, Des Moines, Iowa; kklaw@nyemaster.com

 

Commissioners

Steve Berger

319-461-4109

berger@netins.net

 

Henry Bevel

319-232-6555

bevel@s-c-law.com

 

John Bloom

515-494-7458

john.bloom52@gmail.com

 

Christine Conover

319-366-7641

cconover@simmonsperrine.com

 

Jeff Goodman 

515-267-8600

Jeff.scjnc@gmail.com

 

John Gray

712-255-8838

john.gray@heidmanlaw.com

 

Lance Horbach

641-751-8050

lance.horbach@insurecentraliowa.com

 

Dan Huitink

641-629-6630

huitinksjnc@gmail.com

 

Kathleen Law

515-283-3116

kklaw@nyemaster.com

 

Dorothy O’Brien

563-355-6060

dao@emprights.com

 

Kathy Pearson

 (c) 319-350-4604; 319-366-4451

kpearson@kaas-emp.com

 

Trish Roberts

 (c) 712-830-9912

trroberts@hotmail.com

 

Helen Sinclair

319-361-6661

hsinclair@moes.biz

 

Leon Spies

319-337-4193

Spies@Spaflegal.com

 

Kristina Stanger

515-283-8009

kmstanger@nyemaster.com

 

Steve Sukup

 (c) 515-238-6563; (w) 641-892-4222

steve@sukup.com

 

Janece M. Valentine

515-955-5544

Jvalentine@Valentinelaw.net

For More Information:

Trish Roberts, Chair of the State Judicial Nominating Commission; 712-830-9912; trroberts@hotmail.com

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