CHARLESTON — West Virginia Women Attorneys (WVWA) is playing host to a candidate forum for the West Virginia Supreme Court candidates Oct. 25.
The forum will be held 6-8 p.m. at the LaBelle Theater in South Charleston. The event is free but space is limited, and the organization encourages those who want to attend to register in advance.
WVWA President Sandy Kinney said what's happening with the Supreme Court is very unusual.
"It's a confusing situation for both lawyers and members of the public," Kinney said in an interview with The West Virginia Record. "They hear what's going on and they have formed a bad impression about the legal system and the justice system in our state."
Kinney said the forum is geared toward the public.
"People can submit questions online that they want to ask the candidates," Kinney said. "But, we have to go through and make sure the questions that are submitted are questions the can answer."
Kinney said the candidates can't answer questions about how they would vote on particular issues.
"We're hoping the majority of the questions we get will be questions that can be posed to the candidates," Kinney said.
The first hour of the forum will be for Division 1 candidates and the second hour will be Division 2 candidates.
"We'll have them come up two at a time, pose a question to them, let them answer, then bring up two more and go through until everyone has had a chance to answer an equal number of questions," Kinney said.
Kinney said five candidates from each division have committed to attending, but they're hoping more will commit.
Kinney said WVWA applied for a grant with the West Virginia Bar Foundation to help with the cost of putting on the forum and was awarded the grant.
"They supported our idea to have a forum geared toward members of the public and to help with their understanding of the justice system," Kinney said. "We have some repair to do with regard to the public's perception of the justice and legal system here in West Virginia."
Kinney said they're grateful for the support of the West Virginia Bar Foundation and the grant they provided.
WVWA President-elect Beth Kavitz will be the moderator of the forum.
There are 20 people who have filed to run for the two Supreme Court seats. The Division 1 seat has two years left on the term due to Justice Menis Ketchum's resignation. The Division 2 seat has six years left on the term due to Justice Robin Jean Davis's resignation.
Those who filed for the Division 1 seat are former Tim Armstead, Harry C. "Bo" Bruner Jr., Robert H. Carlton, Ronald H. Hatfield Jr., Mark Hunt, Hiram "Buck" Lewis IV, D.C. Offutt Jr., Joanna Tabit, Chris Wilkes and Jeff C. Woods.
Those who filed for the Division 2 seat are Jim Douglas, Robert J. Frank, Evan Jenkins, Jeff Kessler, Brenden D. Long, Jim O'Brien, William Schwartz, Marty "Red Shoes" Sheehan, Dennise Renee Smith and William S. Thompson.