Choose your next judge: Flyckt, Miller seek election as superior court judge

Two men with distinctly different ties to Adams County and its justice system, are vying for the job of Adams County Superior Court Judge.

Current judge, Richard Miller is retiring at the end of this year, which attracted the two candidates for his position — his brother, Brian Miller, and Adams County Prosecutor, Randy Flyckt.

The two candidates share a passion for working in the court room and participating in justice.

Miller, is primarily a civil trial lawyer today, while Flyckt’s decade-long work as prosecutor has focused on criminal cases and serving the legal needs of the agencies of Adams County.

The following is the candid discussions the candidates shared with The Journal recently, just prior to today’s mailing of the primary ballot.

Randy Flyckt

Age: 41

Born: Spokane

Raised: near Deer Park

Education: 1996 graduate of Gonzaga University with a bachelors degree in history. Flyckt also majored in political science. 1999 graduate of Gonzaga University School of Law

Current Profession: Adams County Prosecutor, elected in 2002.

While Flyckt was raised with his parents near Deer Park, he developed tight ties to his grandparents who lived in Ritzville. Norman and Donnie Rambow owned a couple of businesses in the city.

“I used to spend most of my summers as well as a lot of spring breaks and just about any opportunity I had here with them,” he said. “They moved here in 1967. Granddad was owner operator of a truck stop and fuel/auto repair station that was known as the Economy Station with a full service bay. Most of my fondest memories as a child were spent with them here in this community.”

While an undergraduate at Gonzaga, Flyckt considered a pair of career paths. He thought about becoming a history professor or a lawyer. His eventual career course would hinge on his desire to help people.

“I felt as though law was an area where I would be able to work much more directly with people and that it would be a good fit with my personality,” he said. “Even at that point I had a tendency to be very articulate and was able to debate issues and stick with facts and stay away from just appealing to passions and emotions. So I made the decision to go to law school.”

The path resulted in Flyckt moving permanently to Ritzville while still attending law school. He would serve as a Rule 9 legal intern for the firm of Miller and Sackmann.

“One thing I feel very thankful for to this very day is the experience of getting to know Walt Miller,” he said. “I learned a great deal about the history of the legal community in Adams County and the happenings that had occurred here in decades and generations passed and some of the cases and the players. I got a lesson on the history of the Adams County justice system that was very valuable to me.”

Flyckt went to work right after passing the bar for Adams County as deputy prosecutor in 1999.

“I worked up through 2002. That was quite an experience,” he said. “During that particular time the prosecutor’s office had gone through a lot of instability. There had been a lot of turnover of elected prosecutors and deputies.

“When I started working there it wasn’t a situation where you came in and you got trained on this and then worked into this and so forth like I do with my deputy prosecutors today. For me it was sink or swim, handle virtually everything,” Flyckt explained. “From a simple speeding infraction to an appeal before the state supreme court in my first year as deputy prosecutor; from major felony cases to civil cases to child support and family law related matters to tax foreclosures and juvenile (cases). I was very well versed and seasoned in the functions of the office.”

After more than two years with the county Flyckt considered the notion of a small town private practice. He and John Strohmaier, currently the Lincoln County Superior Court Judge, formed a partnership.

“I was a little bit nostalgic about that old firm that I had left and the idea of a small town private practice lawyer,” he said. “Through a course of discussions we eventually decided to form a partnership and set up a new firm that would have offices in both Odessa and Ritzville.”

Flyckt knew that he had to try private practice, but learned in short order that he truly enjoyed public service.

“I’d have to say that after I left there was a big part of me that felt like private practice was just not where my heart was anymore. I found very quickly that private practice, even though I was very capable of doing it, left a certain void for me,” he said. “I felt as though over there, working in the justice system in a public capacity was where my heart was. The thing that motivated me to get up every day and go to the office was the fact that I wasn’t doing it for me. But I was doing it for a greater public purpose, something that benefitted the entire community. That same thing is what motivates me to continue to do that work to this very day.”

In September of 2002, Flyckt was successful in his first election effort defeating incumbent prosecutor, Gary Brueher, in a close race. Flyckt has been re-elected twice since then and was unopposed in both races.

As prosecutor for a decade, Flyckt takes pride in the progress his agency has made.

“I have to say this, not everybody may agree with every decision that the prosecutor’s office has made over the years, but that office today is night and day from what it was 10 years ago. When I ran for that position I made it a goal to try and build the prosecutor’s office into a modern day, up-to-date district attorneys office that would be able to handle the work load and meet the standards of any other county in the state and I think that I have done that.”

Flyckt has been successful as the county prosecutor, but sees the role as judge as a new way to serve the public and strengthen the justice system.

“I care very deeply and very genuinely about the justice system in this county,” he said. “The court system is critical to our county’s future. Having a justice system that works, that is effective, that gets things done is just as important as a lot of other pieces of basic infrastructure that a community has.

“In addition to that I believe very firmly that I would be a good fit for this position,” he added. “Being a superior court judge or a district court judge for that matter, it isn’t just about someone’s record of litigation or how many verdicts they have had or success as an attorney alone. Serving as a judge requires special personality characteristics. I believe that I fit those very well. A judge must set a standard of integrity and honesty both on and off the bench. As a judge we have to set a standard of decorum and professionalism for the rest of the bar association, for the other attorneys, for the litigants and for the witnesses.”

Flyckt noted that many county prosecutors move on to serve as superior court judge, including Richard Miller who served several terms as prosecutor before becoming the Adams County Superior Court Judge.

Serving as prosecutor, Flyckt explained, leads to many legal experiences outside of the handling of the county’s criminal case load.

“As a county prosecutor you are not just a criminal attorney. You serve as the civil legal council to all county departments and the board of county commissioners,” he said. “You deal with everything from land use, zoning issues to public records to open public meetings, employment law, collection of taxes and land transactions. It’s a long list. Here in the small counties we also serve as ex-officio coroners as well.”

Looking at himself as a candidate, Flyckt said he can offer the court, and the communities it serves, stability.

“I think I present a number of very strong qualifications,” he said. “Long term stability if that’s important to you as a voter, I’m the only candidate in this race that can really provide that. Meaning no disrespect to my opponent. In his first year of office he would be 65.”

Flyckt would be 42.

“If elected judge one of the things that I’m going to be looking at doing during my first year in office is to expand the number of available court docket days we have,” he said. “I will look at setting up separate civil dockets so there’s days that people will know that we will hear family matters, contract disputes, any other kind of civil cases that would come before the court and not hold those on the same days as criminal dockets.

“What I’m saying is, we are going to have more docket days so we can make available more individualized time to hear each case, reducing what can easily become a log jam in the court room,” he concluded.

When asked why the role as judge is a good fit for him, Flyckt was quick to point out that he has a long term investment of time and energy in the county.

“I made a choice to move here and make this community my home. And I intend to stay here and as such, not just as an attorney, not just as a prosecutor, but as a citizen here,” he said. “I have a very deep concern for our justice system and making sure that it works for the future. I can tell you if I do get elected judge here, I’m going to make it a goal that when I leave that position some day I want to be able to leave that court knowing its better off than it was before. That our justice system is better. That it works better and is more efficient. That it is more responsive to the needs of the citizens than it is today.”