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Governor to consider two for judgeship
Published 6/24/2009 in Local News
By SHAJIA AHMAD
A local nominating commission comprised of area lawyers and citizens have named two candidates for a judicial vacancy.
Wendel Wurst, a Garden City lawyer, and Christopher D. Sanders, a district magistrate judge, were selected by the 25th Judicial District Nominating Commission during a day-long assembly Tuesday at the Finney County District Courthouse.
The names of the two candidates will be forwarded to the state governor's office by the commission and face further background checks by the Kansas Bureau of Investigation. Kansas Gov. Mark Parkinson has 30 days to interview and choose one of the two candidates to fill the judicial vacancy, said Justice Dan W. Biles of the Kansas Supreme Court and a nonvoting member of the commission.
The new judge will handle cases in the district that includes Finney, Greeley, Hamilton, Kearny, Scott and Wichita counties.
The position became available following the retirement of former District Court Judge Thomas Richardson, who retired in April after serving 14 years. The nominating commission was required to choose two, but not more than three candidates. The voting members chose not to vote for a third candidate after a five-minute session closed to the public.
Wurst, 54, has been an attorney with Calihan, Brown, Burgardt, Wurst, Daniel & Douglass, 212 W. Pine St., for 29 years. He received his law degree from the University of Kansas School of Law in 1980 and his bachelor's degree from Kansas State University in 1977.
Sanders, 50, has been a district magistrate judge since 2004. Prior to entering the 25th Judicial District, the judge served as a regional and child support enforcement attorney with the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services since 1992. Sanders received his law degree from Washburn University School of Law in 1990 and his bachelor's degree from Wichita State University in 1982.
Biles said that all of the candidates met and exceeded the statute qualifications for the open position but that voting members chose their candidates based on the qualifications that resonated with them after 30-minute interviews with all six during Tuesday's assembly.
The other candidates who vied for the position included Shirley K. Calvin, a lawyer with Kansas Legal Services; Susan H. Richmeier, a Garden City-based lawyer; and Ricklin R. Pierce and Wade Dixon, both district magistrate judges in the 25th Judicial District.
On the Web:
Kansas 25th Judicial District: http://www.kscourts.org/districts/District-Info.asp?d=25
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