01/18/2006: "Judge Hancock's Speech To Elected Officials"

ig_Alan_Hancock-1 (12k image) (Official Superior Court photo)

Judge Alan Hancock has served San Juan County as a Superior Court judge for seventeen years; and also serves on the State Supreme Court's Ethics Advisory Committee.

In his capacity as a Superior Court judge, Judge Hancock recently gave the oath of office to the elected officials of San Juan County, and in his introductive remarks he addressed the importance and significance of the recent election that has changed our form of government in San Juan county.

We were impressed by his comments, and believe it is worthwhile to share them with all of the citizens of San Juan county. They are presented in their entirety below.

Judge Hancock's Speech to elected officials prior to administering the oath of office

We are gathered today to administer the oaths of office to the elected officials of our new San Juan County Charter government, and believe me, I consider it a great privilege to the one to preside over this historic occasion. Since the charter takes effect today, and we haven't administered the oaths of office yet, does that mean that we've been living in anarchy for the last eleven hours? -Just kidding! I have followed closely the process of deciding to convene a board of freeholders, and then of electing the freeholders, and then the freeholders formulating a charter for the new home rule government, and then, of course the election whereby the citizens approved the charter.

What an exciting exercise in democracy! Laurence Peter has described democracy as a process by which the people are free to choose those who will get the blame. But seriously, when you consider the fact that a group of citizens was specifically elected to draw up a charter of county government, and then the citizens themselves voted on that charter, those of us who have faith in democracy can only be exited about what lies ahead.

Since I have a captive audience, however, I guess I just can't resist one editorial comment: with all the issues surrounding the exercise of executive and legislative power under the new charter, let's not forget that in our system of government, we have a separation of powers, with the judiciary being a separate and co-equal, not inferior, not superior, but co-equal, branch of that government.

I note with interest that the Journal of the San Juan Islands has chosen the Board of Freeholders as the Citizen of the Year. Now this presents somewhat of a metaphysical conundrum as to how a board can be a citizen…Oh, don't worry, I get it. And as a matter of fact, I can't think of a better choice.

Now I don't know all of the members of the board, but on the basis of the qualities of those I do know, it seems to me that we have a composite of what citizens in a democracy should be: educated, well-informed, and concerned about the public good. And so I salute the board of freeholders, namely, Charlie Bodenstab, Greg Hertel, Ryan Drum, Linda Tretheway, Gayle Rollins, Madrona Murphy, Jeff Bosser, George Johnson, Bob Querry, Mindy Kayle, Gordy Petersen, Jeri Ahrenius, David Bayley, Steve Ludwig, Fred Ellis, Lola Deane, Stephanie O'Day, Richard Fralick, Ed Carlberg, Gene Knapp, and Walter Corbin, for a job well done. Special recognition to Fred Ellis, who at the age of 89 is will making worthy contributions to the community he loves.

So now I would ask that the following persons come forward to take the oath of office (He then stated the names of all of the elected officials.) I wish you the very best in this noble endeavor of self-government. Let's work together to make sure that our citizens get the responsive, efficient, and compassionate government they deserve.

-Alan R. Hancock