Charlie Wiggins
Charles "Charlie" K. Wiggins was a justice on the Washington Supreme Court from 2011 to 2010. He was elected in 2010 and re-elected in 2016.[1][2] Wiggins retired at the end of March 2020.[3] To learn more about this vacancy, click here.
Education
Wiggins earned his undergraduate degree from Princeton University, his master's degree from the University of Hawaii, and his J.D. from Duke Law School in 1976.[4]
Career
Wiggins was in private practice in Seattle for 18 years. He left private practice when he was appointed to the Washington Court of Appeals, Division 2. He served on that court until 1995, when he failed to win election to the seat.[5] In 1995, he started the Wiggins Law Offices (later Wiggins & Masters) on Bainbridge Island. Wiggins served as a judge pro tempore for the Jefferson County Superior Court.[4]
Awards and associations
- Five years (one as chair) on the Court Rules and Procedures Committee of the Washington State Bar Association
- Three years (including one as chair) on the Court Congestion and Improvement Committee of the Washington State Bar Association
- Three years (including one as chair) on the Disciplinary Board of the Washington State Bar Association
- Past President of the Washington Chapter of the American Judicature Society
- Awarded the Professionalism Award by the Young Lawyers Division of the Washington State Bar Association[6]
Elections
2016
Justice Wiggins filed to run for re-election in 2016. He faced Judge Dave Larson on November 8.[7]
Election results
November 8 general election
| Washington Supreme Court, Position 6, 2016 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Charlie Wiggins Incumbent |
57.49% | 1,535,554 |
| Dave Larson | 42.51% | 1,135,285 |
| Total Votes (100% reporting) | 2,670,839 | |
| Source: Washington Secretary of State Official Results | ||
Race background
The 2016 election was the first since the 1990s in which all three state supreme court justices up for re-election faced opponents.[8] At least one justice in every election typically runs unopposed, but this year all three incumbents drew challengers. Republican state Representative Matt Manweller said he and other lawmakers actively recruited candidates to run against the justices.[8] This was partly because of the court's decisions in the long-running school funding case McCleary v. Washington, over which the court drew criticism from both Republicans and Democrats for holding the state in contempt of court, and in a separate case about the state funding of charter schools.
Those in favor of replacing the justices said the court has overstepped its boundaries into legislation and policymaking and failed to respect the autonomy of the state legislature.[8] In the McCleary school funding case, the court both found the state government in contempt and fined the state $100,000 per day until the state complied with the court's orders.[9][10]
In a separate case, the court ruled unconstitutional the state funding of charter schools right before those schools were set to open in 2015.
Satellite spending
The political action committee arm of the group Stand for Children spent $116,000 promoting the campaign of Greg Zempel, who challenged Chief Justice Barbara Madsen for her seat on the court.[11] Madsen authored the court's 2015 decision declaring Washington's charter schools, in their form at that time, unconstitutional. The legislature passed a new bill in 2016 that allowed charter schools to continue; opponents threatened to sue over this law as well.[11] Stand for Children's spending on Zempel's campaign was funded by several of the backers of charter schools who were opposed to the court's 2015 decision. The primary donors include Connie Ballmer, wife of former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer; Reed Hastings, founder and CEO of Netflix; and Vulcan Inc., owned by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. Vulcan and Ballmer were also among the primary backers of the ballot initiative that paved the way for the charter schools.[11]
The McCleary case
While Justice Wiggins said on his campaign website that he is proud to have signed the McCleary decision, he has also apologized for its timing, which was very close to the opening of the charter schools whose funding was found unconstitutional:
| “ | I'm sorry that it came down on the eve of school beginning. You know, no one asked us to accelerate that case, and every case we have in front of us is important."[12][13] | ” |
Endorsements
- All of the following endorsements are listed on Justice Wiggins' campaign website.
- Washington State Supreme Court Justice Susan Owens
- Washington State Supreme Court Justice Mary Fairhurst
- Washington State Supreme Court Justice Debra L. Stephens
- Washington State Supreme Court Chief Justice Barbara Madsen
- Washington State Supreme Court Justice Steven Gonzalez
- Washington State Supreme Court Justice Sheryl McCloud
- Washington State Supreme Court Justice Mary Yu
- Washington State Supreme Court Associate Chief Justice Charles W. Johnson
- Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO
- Washington Education Association
- Washington Federation of State Employees
- Washington State Council of Fire Fighters
- Washington Conservation Voters
- Washington State Patrol Troopers Association
- NARAL Pro-Choice Washington
- Washington's Paramount Duty
- Court of Appeals Judge Mary Kay Becker
- Court of Appeals Judge Marlin Appelwick
- Court of Appeals Judge Thomas Bjorgen
- Court of Appeals Judge Ronald Cox
- Court of Appeals Judge Stephen Dwyer
- Court of Appeals Judge Jill M. Johanson
- Court of Appeals Judge Kevin Korsmo
- Retired Court of Appeals Judge Linda Lau
- Court of Appeals Judge Robert Lawrence-Berrey
- Court of Appeals Judge J. Robert Leach
- Court of Appeals Judge Bradley A. Maxa
- Court of Appeals Judge Rich Melnick
- Court of Appeals Judge Robert Lawrence-Berrey
- Court of Appeals Judge Rebecca Pennell
- Court of Appeals Judge Joel Penoyar
- Court of Appeals Judge Laurel Siddoway
- Court of Appeals Judge Ann Schindler
- Court of Appeals Judge Michael Spearman
- Court of Appeals Judge Lisa L. Sutton
- Court of Appeals Judge Michael Trickey
- Court of Appeals Judge Lisa Worswick
- Current Democratic Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson
Campaign finance
| Charlie Wiggins Campaign Finance, 2016 | ||
| Contributions | Expenditures | Cash on Hand |
|---|---|---|
| $172,186 | $70,909 | $101,277 |
| Source: | Washington Public Disclosure Commission | |
2010
- See also: Washington judicial elections, 2010
Wiggins filed his candidacy paperwork for the Supreme Court race on January 5, 2010.[14] Wiggins defeated Richard Sanders in the general election, winning 50.34 percent of the vote.[15][16]
Read Wiggins' Washington State Voters' Guide entry here.
Campaign fundraising
Wiggins says that he has spent $6,000 of his own money on the campaign as of late February 2010. He has a fund-raising goal of $300,000 to $500,000.[5] According to filings with the Public Disclosure Commission, Wiggins has raised $41,970 as of May 2010. By contrast, Sanders has raised $37,531 for his campaign.[17]
{{SSCelection judge page
|State=Washington
|Candidate1= Charlie Wiggins 
|Incumbent1=
|Seat1= Position #6
|Party1=
|Primaryvotes1=
|Primarypct1=
|Electionvotes1= 984,948
|Electionpct1= 50.3%
|Candidate2= Richard Sanders
|Incumbent2=
|Seat2= Position #6
|Party2=
|Primaryvotes2=
|Primarypct2=
|Electionvotes2= 971,803
|Electionpct2= 49.7%
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Seattle Post Intelligencer, "Charlie Wiggins runs for state Supreme Court," February 3, 2010
- ↑ Associated Press, "New Wash. Supreme Court justice takes seat Friday," January 6, 2011
- ↑ The News Tribune, "Washington Supreme Court Justice Charles Wiggins to retire," January 16, 2020
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Washington State Courts, "Justice Charles K. Wiggins," accessed May 23, 2016
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 The Seattle Times "Bainbridge attorney to run against Justice Sanders," February 19, 2010
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedbio - ↑ Washington Secretary of State, "2016 Candidates Who Have Filed," accessed May 23, 2016
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 The News Tribune, "Controversial school-funding rulings prompt crowded Supreme Court races," June 3, 2016
- ↑ The Seattle Times, "Contempt ruling ups ante in fight to fund public schools," September 12, 2014
- ↑ The Seattle Times, "School funding back on table as court fines state $100,000 a day," August 13, 2015
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 The News Tribune, "Charter-school backers spending $116,000 to try to unseat state Supreme Court justice," July 28, 2016
- ↑ KUOW.org, "Challengers accuse Washington Supreme Court justices of overstepping on education cases," September 26, 2016
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ The Spokesman-Review "Lawyer plans run for high court seat," February 21, 2010
- ↑ Washington Secretary of State, "Supreme Court General Election Results"
- ↑ Washington Secretary of State, "August 17, 2010 Primary, Judicial Results"
- ↑ The Daily World "High court challenger questions decisions of Justice Richard Sanders," May 2, 2010 (dead link)
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