By Leah Sander
InkFreeNews

WARSAW — Potential voters heard from two candidates running as Republicans for Kosciusko County Circuit Court judge on Wednesday, April 24.

Jack Birch and Matt Buehler answered questions from several media representatives, including InkFreeNews Editor Deb Patterson, at the Kosciusko Chamber of Commerce’s Candidate Forum at Warsaw City Hall ahead of the Tuesday, May 7 primary. They had two minutes to answer each query.

The first question asked was: “Introduce yourself and explain what qualifies you to be judge.”

Birch said he’d practiced law in Kosciusko County for 33 years.

“During the course of that practice, I’ve developed expertise in all types of trial work, both jury and bench trials, both criminal and civil,” he said. “I’ve been a public defender throughout my entire career. My civil practice has allowed me to gain experience in virtually every area that the circuit court handles. The circuit court’s caseload is from a percentage standpoint more civil than it is criminal. I’m very, very familiar with the criminal practice there. I’ve been a public defender in that court, so I have experience there.”

“I think my experience working with a number of different judges in not only this county, but in surrounding counties, probably most of the northern third of the state, has given me the ability and the knowledge of what good judges are and what I’d like to avoid as a judge,” Birch continued. “I think we’ve had wonderful judges in this county. They have been a great tool to learn from, and all of that put together, along with 30-plus years of, I don’t know how else to describe it, but wisdom, I think is an important part of being a judge. I think I have the temperament to serve as judge. I’m also a community servant, and I think that’s a part of what a judge does is try to make the community better not only in deciding cases but also in trying to help the community move forward and be successful and make our citizens successful.”

Buehler noted he grew up in Warsaw.

“What originally drove me to become an attorney and what continues to inspire me to become a judge here in our great community is my desire to keep both my family and my community safe and thriving, and it’s incumbent upon all citizens I think to work hard toward that goal,” he said. “In speaking with former Judge Rex Reed who explained to me his motivation, it was remarkable to me how my motivation lined up with his, and that was it’s important to utilize your unique skills and abilities to help your community.”

“I don’t know that there’s anybody that has the unique set of skills to help Kosciusko County the way that I do, and what I mean by that specifically is that during my time in the prosecuting attorney’s office I served as a deputy prosecuting attorney in the Kosciusko County Circuit Court during which time I was an important part of all of the processes that went through to running that court in day-to-day operations,” Buehler added. “I’ve been able to learn from who I believe to be a terrific judge in Mike Reed … That day-to-day experience in the Circuit Court has helped me become a qualified candidate for judge, and that’s why I’m asking for your vote on May 7.”

Both were also asked about their judicial philosophy.

Birch said he believes that “the Constitution and the legal statues say what they say.”

“The judge’s role is to take the facts that are presented or the facts that he determines and apply that law to those facts and make the decision based upon that.”

He said it was the state legislature, not judges, which should create laws.

“I also think that the court has to definitely be independent, and that’s independent from the legislature, independent from all the other offices in the Kosciusko County government,” said Birch.

He also noted the court’s administrative functions, saying he had experience running his own law firm.

“I have the ability to manage employees,” said Birch. “I think that … the court’s role is to not only make decisions, but also to try and help people not be participants from a criminal standpoint in the system and stop that revolving door, but it’s also the job of a judge to understand in the civil cases what people are experiencing and be able to consider their life experiences when they evaluate what the fact-finding may be.”

Buehler said “safety” was a main part of his judicial philosophy.

“I mean that in a number of senses, but most importantly obviously is to be certain that the members of our community are safe from those that might mean to do them harm,” he said.

Buehler also said “impartiality” was important to him.

“I have during my career both as private attorney and defense attorney before I joined the prosecuting attorney’s office and my time in the prosecuting attorney’s office developed a sense of fairness, a sense of justice and have sought justice in all terms,” he said. “My judicial philosophy as it will be on the circuit court bench will always be about seeking justice not only for the litigants that are front of you, but for the victims of crimes, for the litigants that are trying to divvy up their property and trying to determine what to do with their businesses, all of those things are about justice.”

Candidates were also asked: “Why are you the best candidate for this position?”

Buehler said it was his “unique experience.”

“During my time in the prosecuting attorney’s office, I have prosecuted murders,” he said. “I have prosecuted drug dealers, but not only that, not only have I punished the offenders and sought to punish the offenders that would mean to do us harm, I have also spent so much of my time trying to help the offenders that need the help, folks that can be identified, folks that can say, ‘I want to change for the better.'”

“I’ve dedicated so much of my time and so much of my career over these last several years to doing just that,” said Buehler. “I’ve been an advocate for the victims of crimes here in Kosciusko County and tried to seek justice for them and have successfully on so many different occasions, and so my unique experience in being in the circuit court each and every day for all those years, watching how the court works, seeing what it works, seeing what didn’t, makes me the best candidate for this position.”

Birch said he had “the experience in every area that the circuit court addresses in its caseload.”

“I’ve been doing these matters for 30-plus years. I’ve been trying cases for all that time,” he said. “I’ve been handling criminal cases. I’ve been dealing with people from homeless people to people who run multimillion-dollar businesses … I know how to deal with somebody who’s at the very bottom of their life at that point and trying to help them get out of it. I’ve dealt with people who are in a dispute and don’t have any idea how they’re going to get through it or get the justice that they think that they’re entitled to.”

“I am prepared on Day 1 to take over the circuit court,” he continued. “I’ve got the experience. I’ve got the time. I’ve got … the reputation. I’ve been successful in a large firm. I’ve been successful as a private practitioner, and I’ve been successful in developing and expanding my own practice.”

“All of those things I think are important to recognize,” Birch said. “I can run the court. I can run the administrative side of it. There are employees to manage. I can do all of those things on Day 1.”

People may view the livestream from the forum by going to https://bit.ly/koscandidateforum.