Topeka ? Organizers trying to oust Douglas County District Judge Paula Martin face almost overwhelming odds.

In the history of judicial retention elections in Kansas, only once has a district court judge been voted off the bench. That, according to state officials, occurred more than 20 years ago when voters bounced Lyon County District Judge R.E. Miller from the bench. It was so long ago that state officials couldn’t say why Miller was pushed from the bench or give the exact year.

With no system in place to evaluate sitting judges, the voting public generally sleeps through retention elections, giving judges new four-year terms by electoral landslides when their turn comes up on the ballot.

But that trend won’t stop Karen Drees of Lawrence, a co-chair of the effort to remove Martin from the bench.

Quoting famed anthropologist Margaret Mead, Drees said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

Drees said Martin’s light sentencing of criminals was astounding. “The more we started digging, the more you start pumping antacids,” she said.

What started the ouster effort were Martin’s decisions in recent cases where a 13-year-old girl was raped.

State sentencing guidelines carry a presumed penalty of at least 13 years in prison for statutory rape.

But claiming the girl was drunk and an “active participant,” Martin departed from the guidelines, sentencing two men to five years’ probation and 60 days in jail and a third man to five years’ probation. A fourth person was sentenced by a different judge to 30 months in a juvenile correction facility.

Martin’s sentences have sparked outrage among some. Last week, more than 50 people met to kick off a campaign to get Martin off the bench.

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Martin has said she cannot comment on the cases because they were being appealed, but she added that in all cases before her she listens objectively and carefully to all the evidence.

Ouster rare

The effort against Martin brings attention to a judicial retention election system that rarely registers with voters.

Of Kansas’ 31 judicial districts, 17, including Douglas County, have appointed judges who aren’t elected but are up for retention on the ballot every four years. In 14 districts, including Sedgwick and Wyandotte counties, judges are elected in partisan elections.

The move toward a system of appointed judges who would face retention elections was touted as a way to remove the judiciary from partisan politics and campaign fund raising. Voters in 1972 approved a state constitutional amendment allowing for the appointed-retention system of district court judges.

But without partisan campaigns, voters seldom know much about the judges up for retention.

In recent years, some judges and lawmakers have complained about this lack of information.

Despite the concerns, nothing has changed. There is no process for evaluating judges in place in the Kansas judicial system.

In some states, including Illinois and Washington, bar associations evaluate judges and makes the reviews available to voters.

Jeffrey Alderman, executive director of the Kansas Bar Assn., said in states where the bar evaluates judges, bar membership for attorneys is usually mandatory, and the bar is the licensing and disciplinary agency of that state. In Kansas, attorneys join the state bar on a voluntary basis, and it is the court system that licenses attorneys.

Replacement process

In the case of Martin’s retention election, Drees said it would take a huge public education effort about what she sees as unsound judicial decisions.

“It’s always tough to get the public to care,” she said. “Apathy seems to be quite common.”

A simple majority against Martin on Nov. 2 would start a series of events leading to a new judge, according to Ron Keefover, education-information officer for the Kansas Supreme Court.

Kansas Supreme Court Chief Justice Kay McFarland would declare a vacancy. Then the 7th Judicial District Nominating Commission would have 30 days to nominate two or three candidates to replace Martin. Gov. Kathleen Sebelius would then have 30 days to appoint one of the candidates to the bench.

The members of the nominating commission are three lawyers — Suzanne Valdez Carey, John Nitcher and Janine Cox — and three nonlawyers — Judith Anderson, Milton Scott and Louie McElhaney. The commission is headed by Kansas Supreme Court Justice Robert Gernon, who serves in a nonvoting capacity.