LAKEPORT, Calif. – The most experienced judge currently serving on the Lake County Superior Court bench says he will not seek reelection next year.
On Monday, Judge Stephen Hedstrom announced that he will not be seeking a fourth term in 2018.
Rather, Hedstrom said he will serve out his third term on the Department Four bench. His six-year term ends in January 2019.
“I didn’t use the word retirement,” Hedstrom was careful to note in an interview with Lake County News.
Hedstrom, who turns 69 this week, has practiced law for 43 years. Before his election to the bench in 2000 – succeeding retired Judge Richard Freeborn – he served as Lake County’s district attorney for about 12 years.
By the time he retires, he will have spent 30 years in elected office and will be 70 years old.
“When I put that string together, it kinda says to me, it’s probably time,” Hedstrom said.
This is where he thought he would be at this time in his career, he said.
While the job of a judge is very demanding, “I very much enjoy my work and the people I work for and the people I work with,” said Hedstrom.
However, he added he’s ready for more freedom. “This seems like the right thing to do at this time,” he said.
There is a lot to look forward to. “I have a family who actually want to spend more time with me,” he quipped.
His family includes his wife, Linda, his two grown sons, Dan and Brian, and their families, including Hedstrom’s five grandchildren.
“That’s a big part of it too,” he said of his decision. “My sons. My grandkids. My daughters-in-law,” as well as his siblings.
Hedstrom said that the timing of his announcement is dictated in part by the need to let potential candidates know about his decision so they can start planning to run early in 2018.
In fairness, he said people need to have time to make their decisions in order to get campaigns under way.
Hedstrom’s announcement comes about six months after his colleague, Judge Richard Martin, retired from the Department 2 Superior Court bench, as Lake County News has reported.
Gov. Jerry Brown has still not announced an appointee to succeed Martin.
In an interview this spring, Lake County Superior Court Presiding Judge Andrew Blum told Lake County News that he anticipated an appointment by the end of this year.
However, the latest list of judicial appointments released recently by Brown’s office did not include an appointee for the Lake County Superior Court bench, and the governor’s office did not respond to a request from Lake County News on Monday seeking an update on the appointment process.
Lake County Superior Court Executive Officer Krista LeVier said Monday that the court has so far not been notified of a decision by the governor.
While Hedstrom is not seeking reelection and Martin’s seat has no appointee yet, that doesn’t mean there will be two simultaneous judicial races in Lake County next year.
Lake County Registrar of Voters Diane Fridley said that, in fact, Hedstrom’s seat may be the only judicial race on the ballot.
All of the judicial seats typically go on the ballot the same year, with 2018 being the next year for all of them to run for reelection, Fridley said.
However, if the races are uncontested, they don’t appear on the ballot, she said. That means if no one challenges Judge Andrew Blum and Judge Michael Lunas for their seats, they will be considered reelected.
And while Martin’s seat remains open, it won’t be on the ballot, said Fridley.
She confirmed that with the governor’s office and also referred to language in the California Constitution that sets out how judicial seats are to be filled.
According to Article 6, Section 16, subsection (c), “Terms of judges of superior courts are six years beginning the Monday after January 1 following their election. A vacancy shall be filled by election to a full term at the next general election after the second January 1 following the vacancy, but the Governor shall appoint a person to fill the vacancy temporarily until the elected judge's term begins.”
In other words, the seat Martin held is not expected to appear on the ballot again until 2020, Fridley said.
Fridley said judicial candidates have a slightly different process to seek office. It starts earlier in the new year than other races, requires a declaration of intention and has an earlier deadline, which underlines the importance of Hedstrom making his announcement early.
The campaign calendar is being drafted by Fridley for next year and will be available soon, she said.
As for Hedstrom, in the coming year he expects it will be “business as usual.”
He plans to focus on his work as he always has, and anticipates there will soon be an appointment to Martin’s seat so that the busy court can have another full-time judge.
After his term ends, he is considering hearing cases part-time as a retired judge, as many other retired judges – including Freeborn, Martin, Robert Crone, David Herrick and Arthur Mann – continue to do on a regular basis, giving much-needed help to the full-time judges.
“I can’t imagine not working,” he said, but he’s looking forward to less work and more time for the people and the activities close to his heart.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
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