Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Page 3
Janavs Switches Seats, Is Undecided About Re-Election
By KENNETH OFGANG, Staff Writer
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Dzintra Janavs said yesterday she is undecided about whether to run for another term in 2008.
“I’m undecided, I have no plans one way or the other,” the judge told the MetNews. “I have so much work to do here, I haven’t had time to think about [the future].”
Janavs was sworn in by Presiding Judge William MacLaughlin Friday, the same day Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger formally appointed her to fill the seat left vacant when Judge Stephen Suzukawa was elevated to the Court of Appeal in June.
Schwarzenegger said on June 9, just three days after Janavs was defeated for re-election to the seat she had held for 20 years, that he would appoint the veteran jurist to fill a vacant seat.
The formal change in seats has little practical effect. Janavs will continue to sit in the same courtroom and will continue as supervising judge of the writs and receivers departments. Judge J. Stephen Czuleger, who will will succeed MacLaughlin at the helm of the court in January, has previously indicated he plans to retain Janavs in that position.
Lynn D. Olson, who gained 54 percent of the vote to Janavs’ 46 percent in the June 6 primary, is scheduled to be sworn in Jan. 7. Now that the seat is vacant, the governor could appoint her to fill it for the unexpired portion of the term, but she could not be reached for comment yesterday on whether she would ask him to do so.
Copyright 2006, Metropolitan News Company