Published: October 26, 2008 09:01 am      

Incumbent judge, Clark County attorney square off

After weeks of party leaders and attorneys debating who would be included on the ballot, it appears set that Judge Abe Navarro and attorney Dan Moore will face off in the race for Clark County Circuit Court judge.

For their part, Moore, a 56-year-old Democrat, and Navarro, a 37-year-old Republican, have been trading jabs about who has more experience and better judgment.

Navarro was appointed in May by Gov. Mitch Daniels to replace the retiring Clark County Circuit Court Judge Daniel F. Donahue.

Moore, who was selected by the Democratic caucus to run against Navarro, said his opponent made “inappropriate” decisions in his first week as judge. Navarro fired two court reporters immediately after being appointed judge. He

had planned to replace them with Clark County Republican Chairman David Buskill and Jeremy Snelling, son of County Councilman Monty Snelling, at a higher salary than other clerks.

Buskill was ultimately not hired, and Snelling was hired at a lower salary.

Navarro maintains that the transition from deputy prosecutor in Floyd County to judge has been smooth and that his experience on the bench separates him from his opponent.

“The difference between us is that I am in this office and (Moore’s) not, and we’re running the court more efficiently,” Navarro said.

He said newly released numbers show he is running the court more efficiently than Donahue did. Navarro said his court disposed of 133 criminal cases in the second quarter of this year, as opposed to 79 cases in the first quarter — about a 41 percent increase. Navarro has been judge most of the second quarter.

Navarro said he increased the numbers by being more available for hearings and imposing stricter deadlines on himself for making decisions.

Moore was not impressed with those numbers. He said he looks at the jail population as the real indicator for how judges are doing, and the jail population has remained fairly steady.

Moore said he has several ideas for making the courts run more efficiently.

He said the magistrates should have personal courtrooms and dockets rather than filling in for judges when they are gone. He also wants individuals with multiple cases to have all of their cases moved into one court and work with only one probation officer. He said probation-revocation cases should go immediately to the court because that would help keep the jail population lower.

Moore also claims that Navarro does not have enough experience to be judge.

“I’ve always said you need at least seven years experience as an attorney to be a judge,” he said.

Moore said Navarro has less than six. Moore has been a trial lawyer for more than 24 years and has been the attorney for Clark County for more than 15 years. Navarro has worked as deputy prosecutor in Floyd County, which he says has prepared him well for this position.

“It’s what you do with your time that counts,” Navarro said. “I’ve been serving the public since I left law school.”

In August, the Indiana Election Commission allowed Moore to be placed on the ballot after initially denying his candidacy for alleged incorrectly filling of paperwork.

Moore said he believes the issue has been resolved because the commission has decided to allow both of them on the ballot. However, Navarro said Bart Betteau is still working to find a way to have Moore removed from the ballot.