The Olympian’s endorsement for Thurston County Superior Court Position 8

The race for Superior Court Position 8 offers a choice between two well-qualified candidates with contrasting experiences and priorities.

Scott Ahlf is the classic model of a judicial candidate: an attorney with 23 years of experience, including private practice, a stint as a Lacey prosecutor, and 15 years as a municipal court judge in Olympia. He presides over the innovative and successful Community Court, which offers mental health treatment and other support services as an alternative to jail time for certain offenders. This strategy is credited with reducing recidivism and improving the lives of participants.

Sharonda Amamilo’s qualifications are quite different. She is an African American woman who is soon to complete a 22-year military career, including service in the Army Reserves. She earned a master’s degree in business administration from Saint Martin’s University and a law degree from Seattle University. She was initially motivated to become an attorney to protect people close to her from injustice.

After three years in private practice, she worked for Thurston County Public Defense for five years. Recognizing that the path to jail often starts in childhood, she spent the next several years working in family law and representing kids in foster care, homeless families, parents, legal guardians and people in involuntary commitment for mental health treatment. Her work also involved cases in the Nisqually tribal court where she developed cultural awareness about tribal life.

Along the way, she has participated in task forces and strategic planning efforts to develop practices in the justice system that address equity issues, and the histories of deep trauma that most defendants bring with them into the courtroom. She has been widely recognized as an emerging leader in reforming the justice system to make it fairer and more effective.

She has a remarkable list of endorsements that includes several sitting state Supreme Court judges, many current and former local elected leaders, and the Nisqually Tribe.

If elected, she will be Thurston County’s first Black Superior Court judge.

We endorse Amamilo. She is clearly a leader by nature, and brings a fresh perspective and a fresh approach to the challenge of creating a justice system that works for all of us.

This story was originally published October 26, 2020 at 5:45 AM.