Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Page 4
Thomas Rubinson Wins Tight Judicial Contest
By a MetNews Staff Writer
Deputy District Attorney Thomas Rubinson won the closest of the county’s five judicial races, final figures show.
With all ballots, including absentee and provisional votes, counted as of Friday night, Rubinson wound up with 1,229,088 votes, or 50.72 percent, to 1,194,185, or 49.28 percent, for Superior Court Referee Cynthia Loo.
Rubinson and Loo were the runoff candidates for the Los Angeles Superior Court judgeship from which Judge Wendell Mortimer Jr. retired in April. Loo was able to shave only 5,000 votes off the 40,000 vote lead that Rubinson had when the last ballots were counted on election night.
Rubinson’s victory confirms that all five Los Angeles Superior Court seats on the Nov. 4 ballot were won by deputy district attorneys. Rubinson and the others—Michael O’Gara, Michael Jesic, Hilleri Merritt, and Pat Connolly—are to be sworn in Jan. 5 to begin their terms, along with Superior Court Commissioner Harvey Silberman, who was elected in the June primary.
Other candidates elected outright in June—former Deputy District Attorneys Kathleen Blanchard and Jared Moses, and former Commissioners Patricia Nieto and James Bianco—are already serving as judges because the governor appointed them to fill vacant seats.
Copyright 2008, Metropolitan News Company