Help us improve in just 2 minutes—share your thoughts in our reader survey.
Gary Kreep
Gary G. Kreep was a judge of the Superior Court of San Diego County in California. He assumed office in 2013. He left office in 2019.
Kreep ran for re-election for judge of the Superior Court of San Diego County in California. He lost in the general election on November 6, 2018.
Kreep was first elected to the court in 2012.[1]
Biography
Kreep received his undergraduate degree from the University of California-San Diego in 1972 and his J.D. from the University of San Diego in 1978. While working in private practice, Kreep has served as chief executive officer and general counsel to the nonprofit United States Justice Foundation.[2]
Elections
2018
General election
General election for Superior Court of San Diego County
Matt Brower defeated incumbent Gary G. Kreep in the general election for Superior Court of San Diego County on November 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Matt Brower (Nonpartisan) | 61.2 | 550,044 |
 | Gary G. Kreep (Nonpartisan) | 38.8 | 349,118 | |
| Total votes: 899,162 | |||
 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Nonpartisan primary election
Nonpartisan primary for Superior Court of San Diego County
Incumbent Gary G. Kreep and Matt Brower defeated Steve Miller, Victor Torres, and Tim Nader in the primary for Superior Court of San Diego County on June 5, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Gary G. Kreep (Nonpartisan) | 30.5 | 173,274 |
| ✔ | | Matt Brower (Nonpartisan) | 26.4 | 149,704 |
| Steve Miller (Nonpartisan) | 17.2 | 97,838 | ||
 | Victor Torres (Nonpartisan) | 15.2 | 86,221 | |
| Tim Nader (Nonpartisan) | 10.7 | 61,011 | ||
| Total votes: 568,048 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Selection method
- See also: Nonpartisan election
The 1,535 judges of the California Superior Courts compete in nonpartisan races in even-numbered years. If a candidate receives more than 50 percent of the vote in the June primary election, he or she is declared the winner; if no candidate receives more than 50 percent of the vote, a runoff between the top two candidates is held during the November general election.[3][4][5][6]
If an incumbent judge is running unopposed in an election, his or her name does not appear on the ballot. The judge is automatically re-elected following the general election.[3]
The chief judge of any given superior court is selected by peer vote of the court's members. He or she serves in that capacity for one or two years, depending on the county.[3]
Qualifications
Candidates are required to have 10 years of experience as a law practitioner or as a judge of a court of record.[3]
2012
- See also: California judicial elections, 2012
Kreep was elected to the Superior Court of San Diego County in 2012. He defeated Garland Peed in the primary election on June 5, winning 50.04 percent of the vote.[7]
Noteworthy events
Misconduct allegations (2016)
In October 2016, the California Commission on Judicial Performance announced that following a preliminary investigation, Judge Kreep was being charged with judicial misconduct.[8][9] In August 2017, the commission issued a public censure against Kreep, concluding that the judge had committed 29 acts of misconduct.[10]
Part of the misconduct complaint was related to his 2012 campaign. The commission alleged that Kreep misrepresented himself in the "Biography" section on his campaign website, was politically active in raising funds to defeat President Barack Obama, and used his personal credit card and bank account for campaign expenditures instead of his campaign contribution account.[9]
The remaining counts against Kreep were related to his conduct while serving as a judge. Some of the allegations accused Kreep of saying inappropriate things to defendants and attorneys.[9] Kreep denied all of the allegations against him in a 40-page response on October 27, 2016. He said that the commission members were on a "campaign of harassment and intimidation" against him and were trying to get him to quit.[11]
Read the full list of charges here.
A three-judge panel appointed by the California Commission on Judicial Performance presided over a hearing in February 2017. That April, the panel released a 90-page report explaining its conclusion that Kreep did violate judicial ethics rules.[12] The case then went in front of the Commission on Judicial Performance in June 2017.[13]
The commission issued Kreep a public censure in August 2017. "Judge Kreep has engaged in one act of willful misconduct, 17 acts of prejudicial misconduct, and 11 acts of improper action," read the ruling. Four of the 10 members of the commission voted to remove Kreep from office. The ruling said that "severe public censure [was] the appropriate discipline" partly because the misconduct occurred mostly during Kreep's campaign and first year in office, and the incidents had declined after the first year.[14]
Below is the commission's decision and order of public censure.
Note: You can navigate the documents by zooming in or out with the + and - buttons and using the horizontal and vertical scrollbars on the document.
Misconduct allegations (2013)
In October 2013, the California Fair Political Practices Commission issued a formal warning letter and closed an ethics complaint against Kreep.
According to a complaint filed with the commission on June 6, 2013, Kreep allegedly committed a variety of ethics violations and failed to comply with state campaign law requirements. Kreep did not disclose $34,000 in income he received from a slate mailer group for services he provided as a political consultant.[15] He also did not disclose that he spent $7,600 on campaign mailers.
The complaint also accused Kreep's campaign of receiving contributions from various conservative political action committees he headed; the amounts often totaled $1 less than the amount which would trigger reporting requirements. Donations were also allegedly transferred between committees and then paid to Kreep's campaign to hide the true source of the funds.[16]
The complaints against Kreep were made by a group supporting liberal candidates and causes.[17]
After being contacted by investigators, Kreep amended his disclosure forms. He received a warning letter from the commission but was not fined.[17]
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Gary Kreep California judge. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
External links
- San Diego County Superior Court
- California Courts Judges Roster
- San Diego County Bar Association's 2018 Judicial Candidate Evaluations
Footnotes
- ↑ California Courts, "Trial Courts Roster," accessed April 9, 2014
- ↑ Ramona Sentinel, "Three Ramonans seek offices in June 5 primary election," May 30, 2012
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 American Judicature Society, "Methods of Judicial Selection: California," archived October 2, 2014
- ↑ Los Angeles Times, "Safeguarding California's judicial election process," August 21, 2011
- ↑ California Elections Code, "Section 8203," accessed May 21, 2014
- ↑ California Elections Code, "Section 8140-8150," accessed May 21, 2014
- ↑ San Diego County, "2012 Primary Election Official Results," July 2, 2016
- ↑ East County Magazine, "Judicial Misconduct Charges Filed Against Superior Court Judge Kreep," October 2016
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 California Commission on Judicial Performance, "Notice of Formal Proceedings-Judge Gary G. Kreep," October 12, 2016
- ↑ San Diego Tribune, "Judicial watchdog issues 'severe public censure' against Judge Kreep, who remains on bench," August 17, 2017
- ↑ San Diego Union Tribune, "Judge Kreep says judicial watchdog agency targeted him, wants him to quit," October 27, 2016
- ↑ Los Angeles Times, "Panel concludes San Diego judge violated judicial ethics rules," April 22, 2017
- ↑ The San Diego Union-Tribune, "State judicial discipline commission weighs fate of San Diego Judge Gary Kreep," June 28, 2017
- ↑ California Commission on Judicial Performance, "Inquiry Concerning Judge Gary G. Kreep: Decision and Order Imposing Public Censure," August 17, 2017
- ↑ San Diego Union-Tribune, "Kreep faces ethics complaint," October 24, 2013
- ↑ media.utsandiego.com, "Sworn Complaint Form and Complaint filed against Gary Kreep," June 6, 2013
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 The San Diego Union-Tribune, "Judge Kreep gets state ethics warning," October 29, 2013
Federal courts:
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: Central District of California, Eastern District of California, Northern District of California, Southern District of California • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: Central District of California, Eastern District of California, Northern District of California, Southern District of California
State courts:
California Supreme Court • California Courts of Appeal • California Superior Courts
State resources:
Courts in California • California judicial elections • Judicial selection in California
