Dear Editor:
I am writing this letter in support of Jan Satterfield for District Court Judge in the 13th Judicial District. I have never written a letter to the editor before, because I always preferred to keep my politics to myself. However, in this case, I feel I need to speak my mind. I have been involved in the judicial system since the early 1980s. I have worked for two District Court Judges; one in Shawnee County and one here in Butler County. Over the last 30 years, I have worked around and with numerous judges and lawyers.
When I worked for the two judges, I saw firsthand the difficult and life-changing decisions they had to make. Believe me, it is not easy for them because, when people walk into a courtroom, someone is going to lose, and almost always someone is going to leave the courtroom not getting what they want. On a few occasions, both sides leave happy. Both of my former employers would agonize over their decisions. I was lucky that the two judges I worked for followed the law, the constitution and used their common sense to make their decisions.
I have known Jan since the 1970s. She comes from a hard-working, middle-class family. Jan has worked her entire life. She worked full time to put herself through college and then law school. She has never been given anything. She has always had to work her own way through. She has worked in many areas of the law. She has done a lot of domestic work, probate work and civil work. She was a paralegal prior to becoming a lawyer herself and worked in some major law firms in Topeka and Wichita where she even wrote legal opinions for other lawyers.
The reason Jan will make a great judge is that she is not afraid of making hard decisions and sometimes-unpopular ones. Jan is one of very few prosecutors in the State of Kansas who has tried a homicide case without a body and won the case. That family waited years before they saw the people responsible for their son’s murder come to justice. She was not afraid to try. Jan will follow the law and use her common sense and with the chance make a great judge.
Please vote for Jan for judge on Aug. 3.
Debbie Likes
El Dorado
