Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger surprised many in Santa Barbara’s legal community by appointing court commissioner Colleen Sterne to fill the vacancy on the bench created two week ago when Judge William McLafferty died. What was surprising was not the appointment of Sterne — well-respected for her intelligence and work ethic — but that the governor made the appointment at all. In past vacancies on the Santa Barbara bench — in the case of former Judge Dianna Hall who was removed from office after being convicted for domestic assault and perjury — Schwarzenegger’s appointment office proved missing in action altogether. As a result, her vacancy was the focus of a countywide election, won last year by Judge Beebe.
Even with Sterne’s appointment, the Santa Barbara bench has two vacancies and will soon have a third when Deb Talmage steps down as commissioner. The strain is felt most acutely in North County where the criminal caseload is notably large, and the legal machinery is pushed almost to the breaking point.

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SB Family Law does it again. This quasi priest/judge who believes in "economic justice" put a father in jail, one mile from his million dollar house wherein his Ex lived rent free, causing him to lose the job he had because it didn't pay enough to keep the Ex in Santa Barbara style. How many more childless insulated SB Law School and night school graduates do we need on the bench to complete the destruction of families in this community?
flamnikita (anonymous profile)
February 1, 2010 at 7:50 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Actually. there is another way to look at this: Perhaps this will get her OUT of the family law setting that affects the "best interest of the child" and maybe someone who is actually a parent and gets what it is like to raise a child will take her place. I have witnessed the long drawn out cases and apparent lack of ability to make a decision that would move things along quickly rather than slowly and hard on the kid. Also terribly expensive. Here is a tidbit for SB family law: Putting parents in financial ruin is not in the best interest of the child. The economic justice statement is ironic. She would let all of the people without attorneys go first while everyone with an attorney is sitting there watching their attorneys multitask in the bullpen with their blackberry's for $400 and hour. So lets say you have a couple hours of sitting and waiting, $800 for NOTHING. Many of these people did not want to hire attorneys but had no choice. Then at the end you get some speech to make her feel good about her intellect while your life is ruined. I say this may be a really good thing for a lot of kids. Don't let the door hit you in the ass too hard. Hopefully for her the new bench doesn't have as many steps.
bimboteskie (anonymous profile)
February 3, 2010 at 7:14 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Had the opportunity to have Sterne hear our case and what a nightmare... Stern is NOT the word I would use for her, power hungry and related words are more accurate. She used pompous and complicated words with the people in court instead of making sure that everyone could clearly understand her. I have an extensive vocabulary but had to look up one of the words she used to try to figure out what she meant by it. That and she was mean to everyone in her court and belittled them... and likes to set court date follows up every 2-3 weeks. What is up with that? So suddenly our attorney fees are costing around $1200 a month and the other person, who decided not to pay their attorney and doesn't have one, gets to call in because she is out of state. The judge actually complained about the cost that the OTHER party is incuring by having to call in... no mention of our costs and we aren't the ones that committed crimes or lies to the court. Sorry to hear that she is just as bad here as she was at the last place bimbo... so very sad to hear it! :(
santabarbarasand (anonymous profile)
September 13, 2010 at 7:12 p.m. (Suggest removal)