Judge Robin Hunt has announced her candidacy for a third six-year term on the Washington Appellate Court for Division 2, which includes Clallam County.

Appellant judges hear cases that are appealed from lower courts, such as the Clallam County Superior Court. Division 2 cases are heard in Tacoma.

Hunt is the first judicial candidate to pledge her commitment to the standards of campaign conduct set by the Washington Committee for Ethical Judicial Campaigns.

The Washington Committee for Ethical Judicial Campaigns was formed in early 2008 through the efforts of the Judicial Selection Coalition - a coalition of Washington bar associations and civic organizations. The group has attempted to address the increasingly partisan nature of judicial campaigns, the growing amounts of special interest money finding its way into judicial campaigns and the lack of eligibility standards for judicial office.

Hunt has been challenged by Tim Ford, who is an assistant attorney general for government accountability in the office of the attorney general. Ford is running on a platform of open government, insisting every level of government, including courts, must be held to accountable to the public.

Ford served in the U.S. Navy and attended Gonzaga University School of Law. He, his wife and their daughter live in Olympia.

Hunt graduated from Smith College in 1970, with a major in music, and from Wayne State University Law School in 1973, cum laude. She worked her way through law school clerking for the Detroit Public Defender and the Washington Attorney General's Office, education division. A 32-year Kitsap County resident, Hunt is married and she and her husband have two grown sons.