MARQUETTE, Mich. (WZMQ) – Marquette County voters will soon choose the next 96th District judge. Tonight, the three candidates competing for the seat took part in a public forum moderated by the League of Women Voters. The candidates are: Attorney Patrick Crowley – Chief Public Defender for Marquette County, Attorney Bill Nordeen, Vice Chair of the Marquette County Commission; and Marquette attorney Derek Swajanen. Candidates were able to make opening statements and then answered questions submitted by the audience.
We asked each candidate what issues they feel are most important facing the court.
“We have to stop the repeat offenders. They clog up the judicial system like nothing else that we have. And then we have to look at, like I said, the establishment of specialty courts and then the treatment of individuals and victims too, because things have to get tried in a timely manner,” said Derek Swajanen.
“The county jail we have now doesn’t really function well as far as the rehabilitation part. So I think we need that. So that’s a challenge for the judge. Also trying to get control of all the drug offenses because they’re backed up on a lot of those offenses,” said Bill Nordeen.
“The hard things are things like your mental health court, getting services in the community; that’s gonna be monumentally difficult, but it is something that we need to try. And for simply speeding up trials. And you know, dealing with huge lists of contempt and bench warrants and things like that are all things that just need attention,” replied Patrick Crowley.
Because three candidates are running in the nonpartisan race, the top two finishers in the August 4 primary will advance to the November 3rd general election.
