I blogged last month about judicial races in Ferry and Okanogan County.   Now it is time to catch up on prosecutor races in this area.  In Stevens County, Chewelah attorney Patrick Monasmith recently declared his candidacy for the position of Stevens County Prosecuting Attorney against Tim Rasmussen.  You may remember that Monasmith was one of Governor’s Locke’s two finalists for appointed Superior Court judge in ’03.  For more on Monasmith, check out the article by Jamie Henneman in the  Statesman-Examiner.

In Ferry County, attorney Dennis Morgan has declared his candidacy for Ferry County Prosecuting Attorney.   Dennis Morgan has been a lawyer for about 35 years and was an elected judge in Adams County in years past.  In the years he has lived in Ferry County, I often call on him for advice on legal issues in criminal law that I face.  Morgan has recently focused a lot of his practice on doing appeal work, and that means that he has kept a lower profile locally.  However, he has done some major criminal jury trials here in Ferry County, including many cases in which the defendants have faced potential lengthy prison terms.   Although I consider the incumbent prosecutor Mike Sandona a friend, I decided to back Dennis Morgan and hung one of his signs at my office.  I didn’t make my decision to support Morgan based on friendships, or based on my law practice, or any contract work I do with the county.   I made the decision from the perspective of  a community member, and as an individual raising a family in the area.  I think Dennis Morgan has the work habits, the legal mind, the gravitas, and the fair-minded temperament to serve the community in the very important roll of prosecutor.

Since I haven’t blogged in a while here at Graham Lawyer Blog, I figured I would explain why.  In late March my blog was hacked by spammers who inserted a bunch of hidden links to pharmaceutical dealers in India, and an apparent effort to boost the google ranking of those suppliers.  I had to call in an expert to fix my blog.  Also, I was out of town on a murder trial in Okanogan County that kept me pretty busy.  I had the pleasure of working with two lawyers down there named Anthony Frey and Sunshine Poliquin.    I don’t usually blog about my own cases, but for those interested you can visit the Omak Chronicle, the Wenatchee World or the Okanogan Valley Gazette.

In the weeks to come, I hope to cover more on the judicial races in Eastern Washington, the prosecutors race in Spokane county, and how candidates are using the internet in new ways.  I also blogged last year about coaching a mock trial team for the local high school.  This year I will be coaching the mock trial team for Curlew high School.  When I get the date of the competition, I will let you know.  It is usually pretty entertaining to watch.

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