Local judge will run for Senate

Alicia Robinson

Longtime Orange County Superior Court Judge Jim Gray announced

Wednesday that he’ll leave the bench for a year to run for U.S.

Senate.

A self-described “lifelong Republican,” Gray told a group of about

60 supporters at the old Orange County Courthouse that he’ll run as a

Libertarian for the senate seat held by Democrat Barbara Boxer.

Gray, 58, of Newport Beach was appointed superior court judge by

former Gov. George Deukmejian in 1989 and has been elected to three

consecutive six-year terms, the latest beginning in 2002. He has also

served as a municipal court judge, an assistant U.S. attorney and a

lieutenant in the U.S. Naval Reserve Judge Advocate General Corps.

An outspoken critic of the federal government’s war on drugs, Gray

said one of the reasons he became a Libertarian was that ending the

drug prohibition is traditionally a Libertarian issue. The federal

government’s role should be merely to help states enforce their own

drug laws, he said.

Another of his platforms is reducing the size of government with

“sunset” laws requiring Congress to vote every five years on funding

for federal agencies and programs.

If voters wait for Republicans and Democrats to address these two

issues, Gray said, “we have a long wait coming.”

Also on Gray’s agenda are local control for education and health

care, and making the federal government cover the costs of illegal

immigration instead of letting state and local governments pay them.

In addition to his work as a judge, Gray started a peer court

program that brings real juvenile court cases to Orange County high

schools, where juries of students make recommendations to the judge

adjudicating the case.

He also created the county’s first drug court in 1984 to handle

repeat drunk drivers and is known as an advocate for the local

Vietnamese community. Gray adopted a son, now grown, from Vietnam.

“[The Vietnamese in America] are people that are living the

American dream, but basically, they have no voice in our government

today,” he said.

He has also written a book about the failure of U.S. drug laws and

a musical about the importance of education that will be performed by

junior high school students in Santa Ana.

Gray will face at least one Libertarian opponent, Gail Lightfoot,

in the March primary. Five Republicans, one member of the Peace and

Freedom Party, and incumbent Boxer have also filed to run in the

primary.

Gray said he feels he has a chance of winning because people will

agree with his stances and are angry with the present state of

politics.

“It is definitely an uphill fight,” he said. “However, stranger

things have happened. My view is that we are right on the issues and

people are angry about what is happening today and they want a

positive choice.”

Orange County Libertarian Party Chairman James Rushing said the

county has about 8,500 registered Libertarian voters.

‘We’re averaging about 4% of the vote for all of our candidates

[at the local, state and federal levels],” he said.

At present, there are no declared Libertarians serving in

Congress, but about 1,200 non-partisan elected officials in the

country are Libertarians, Rushing said.

While it’s uncommon for a candidate from another party to join the

Libertarian party and run on its ticket, Rushing said, he has high

hopes for Gray.

“This is totally rare,” he said. “This is our bright star that

we’ve been looking for.”

* ALICIA ROBINSON covers business, politics and the environment.

She can be reached at (949) 764-4330 or by e-mail at

[email protected].