Friday, February 15th, 2002

Not a Cookie-Cutter Candidate

by Cynthia Walker

      Most candidate statements are useless. Thomas Spielbauer, who is running for Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge, Seat 16, jokes that his opponents’ candidate statements sum to: "I can be tough on crime; I am a very nice person; this is all my experience; these are all the people who say nice things about me."

      There’s more to Thomas Spielbauer than that kind of cookie-cutter statement, and I am going to let him (mostly) speak for himself.

      "Superior Court judges can hear civil cases, criminal cases, probate cases, juvenile cases, family court, anything that has to do with legal issues in a courtroom setting.

      "I’ve been a lawyer for 23 years, twice as long as each of my opponents. I’ve handled just about every kind of case, with the exception of capital cases.

      "I went to school at Gonzaga University, in Spokane, Washington, at a time when it was very unpopular to go through ROTC, starting in 1967, and graduating from college in 1970. I remember many a time, we’d be doing our military thing out on the parade field, and the other students would have blaring away Country Joe McDonald and the Fish and various other anti-war songs.

      "I served in the United States Army, in the military police, for 3 1/2 years, went in as a second lieutenant, came out as a first lieutenant. I was stationed in San Francisco, Thailand, and New York City.

      "Then I went to California Western Law School in San Diego. I worked with the Monterey County District Attorney’s office for about a year, a year and a half -- that’s the prosecution side. It wasn’t something I wanted to do, so I took some time off, traveled a bit, spent 8 or 9 months in Mexico.

      "I studied Spanish, I lived there. I wanted to just basically be in the country for a while, to appreciate its culture, what it’s like to live there. I had done that while I was in Thailand, albeit I was in the military at the time. It’s a very rich experience.

      "Then I ran out of money, so I came back and started working with the Public Defender’s Office here in Santa Clara County. Been doing that for twenty years.

      "I’m very concerned with what’s happening to our Bill of Rights, what’s happening with our Constitution. I took an oath to support and defend the Constitution, as an officer in the Army, and as a lawyer, and that is one of the primary reasons I am running for judge. I know that sounds very nice and noble and idealistic, but it’s true.

      "There have been erosions to all of our Constitutional rights. That’s been going on for years, but what really crystallized it was the USA Patriot Act, the breadth of authority the government now has, compared to the protections the Constitution and the Bill of Rights give to us.

      "Some provisions of the Patriot Act apply to citizens. For example, the police can go and get all the information they want: your education, your employment, your medical history, your financial history, and you won’t even know about it. There’s no protection; any obstacles have been removed.

      "If they get a warrant, they can come in and search your residence, and not even tell you about it, or tell you about it much later. They can monitor your e-mail, they can monitor what web-sites you visit.

      "Every case that comes before me, I’m going to have one eye on the case, one eye on the Bill of Rights. I’ll bring common sense to the bench. I’ll realize that I am dealing with people, not objects to be demonized.

      "One of the significant roles of a judge is to be the interpreter and defender of our Constitution and the Bill of Rights. They are the last stop before we move into a totalitarian state."

      I can’t make a blanket endorsement of Mr. Spielbauer. He fails the "life" portion of my life, liberty, and property litmus test, as he is basically pro-choice. But a prospective judge who takes liberty and his oath as seriously as Mr. Spielbauer gets my personal vote on March 5th.