General Assembly leaves Bedford judgeship vacant

A Bedford County judgeship is one of 11 vacancies left open by the General Assembly this year.

How it will be filled remains unanswered.

Bedford Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court Judge Philip Wallace is scheduled to step down from the bench on June 30.

In January, the legislature was asked to consider four candidates, Louis Harrison and Linda Willis of Bedford, Reginald Yancey of Lynchburg and Amherst County Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Cary Payne.

The House of Delegates elected Harrison to succeed Wallace, but as of the session’s close on Feb. 28, Harrison’s candidacy remained mired in the Senate Courts of Justice Committee.

Sen. Robert Hurt, R-Chatham, said the committee had a difficult time getting through the judicial selection process. Hurt said a handful of candidates, including Harrison, were put off until the last day of the session.

“There were some questions on (Harrison’s) application that needed to be answered,” Hurt said. “I feel certain they could be explained. That is the whole purpose of the process. If the

committee process had worked the way it was supposed to, those questions would have been answered and I think we would have a judge there now.”

The senator said the selection of judges was the most confusing and inefficient process he has witnessed since joining the assembly in the 2002 session.

“Neither the candidates nor delegates were notified (of the delays), and in my opinion that is the chairman’s responsibility in running the committee to make sure everyone has adequate notice of the meeting and in my opinion that was not done,” Hurt said.

The committee chairman, Sen. Henry Marsh, D-Richmond, said another senator raised a question about litigation Harrison had mentioned in his application for the judgeship.

After the House approved Harrison for the judgeship, “when it got to the Senate some questions came up about litigation. Because of those problems, they didn’t pursue” the nomination, Marsh said.

“It wasn’t about being efficient,” Marsh said.

Marsh also blamed part of the problem on politics.

“With the Senate in control of the Democrats and the House in control of Republicans, there are some judgeships where both the House and Senate have an influence. Unless both sides can agree on a judge, we can’t make an appointment,” Marsh said.

“That’s what I inherited when I became chairman” in 2008, Marsh said.

Marsh said that if Hurt objected to the committee’s timing in taking up Harrison’s nomination, he should have mentioned the Bedford judgeship to Marsh as soon as it came over from the House.

Bedford isn’t in Hurt’s Danville-area district, however; it is in Sen. Steve Newman’s Lynchburg-area district.

Hurt is a member of the Courts committee, and Newman isn’t.

Mary Kate Felch, a senior research associate for the business and jurisprudence section of the Virginia Division of Legislative Services, said juvenile court judgeship vacancies could be filled by an appointment by the circuit court judges of the 24th Circuit.

Felch said such an appointment would be good through the next session of the General Assembly.

The General Assembly is expected to meet on April 8 in a reconvened session to consider any recommendations or vetoes made by the governor on bills approved by the assembly this winter. Felch said she was unsure whether any of the 11 judicial vacancies could be considered in that session.