The Clark County councilors selected four candidates Monday to interview out of the seven who applied to succeed retiring District Court Judge James Swanger.
District Court Commissioner Kristen Parcher, former Superior Court Judge Roger Bennett, criminal defense attorney Chad Sleight and Assistant Vancouver City Attorney Brent Boger were chosen to proceed to the final step of the application process. They will be interviewed individually between 1 and 5 p.m. Tuesday on the sixth floor of the Public Service Center, 1300 Franklin St., Vancouver, in conference room 683 inside the council’s office. Each interview will last about 45 minutes and is open to the public.
The council largely based its choices on the candidates’ résumés and the Clark County Bar Association’s preference poll released last week. Bar association members overwhelmingly supported Parcher as the top pick to replace Swanger. Bennett, Sleight and Boger were ranked second, third and fourth, respectively.
Council Chair Marc Boldt said he was a “little disappointed” by the poll’s lack of information — primarily, how it was conducted. He would have liked some context, he said, on how the bar vets the candidates. Councilor Julie Olson added that the poll seems to indicate which candidates local lawyers are most familiar with.
