Branstad appoints five judicial nominating commission members

Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad on Wednesday appointed five Republicans to district judicial nominating commissions, including three new members in Eastern Iowa's Sixth District.

Branstad's appointments for the Sixth Judicial District commission, which nominates judges to serve Linn, Johnson, Benton, Iowa, Jones and Tama counties, are Steve Armstrong, former Linn County GOP chairman from Cedar Rapids; Tom Yeoman, Monticello city council member and CEO of snow shovel manufacturer Yeoman & Co; and Ramona Heller, of Marengo.

Armstrong and Yeoman were appointed to terms through Jan. 31, 2022. Heller, whose term ends Jan. 31, 2018, is finishing the term of Alice De Rycke, of Belle Plaine, who died in October 2015, the governor's office reported.

For District 3B, which includes Crawford, Ida, Monona, Plymouth, Sioux and Woodbury, Branstad appointed Dr. Robert Stewart, of Sioux City, and Arlan Ecklund, of Denison.

Iowa has 14 District Judicial Nominating Commissions that interview district court judge applicants and nominate two finalists, whose names go to the governor. The governor must pick a judge from the finalists.

To make up an 11-person commission, the governor appoints five laypeople to the unpaid positions; lawyers in the district elect five peers to six-year terms; and the district's most senior judge leads the commission. The panel is activated when a local bench has an opening.

The Sixth District commission will soon be filling a position vacated last summer when Judge Robert Sosalla retired.

Branstad hasn't appointed a single Democrat to district judicial nominating commissions or the state nominating commission - which picks appeals court judges and Iowa Supreme Court justices - since 2011, a Sunday Gazette review showed. Past Democratic governors also leaned heavily on their own parties when appointing people to pick judges.

Iowa law requires gender balance on the commissions, but not political balance.

Of the 78 positions Branstad is charged with filling on judicial nominating commissions, he's named 58 people with Wednesday's appointments. This means 26 percent of the openings are still vacant.

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