Candidate’s View: Role of judge another way to be engaged in community – Duluth News Tribune

I am running for district court judge in the upcoming election. Given my limited word count, I am not going to go through my resume in detail. Instead, I encourage you to please visit raukarmn.com , the campaign’s Facebook page (“Raukar for Minnesota”), and/or my LinkedIn page (“Peter Raukar”) to learn more about me and my qualifications.

I grew up in Hibbing and then left the area for approximately 15 years to attend school and work in St. Paul and in the greater Philadelphia and Detroit areas. I obtained my bachelor’s degree from the University of St. Thomas and my law degree from Rutgers School of Law, and I worked for the Michigan Court of Appeals. I returned to Northeastern Minnesota about 14 years ago to raise my children in this great community that I had previously taken for granted.

What makes this community great is its residents. Amongst many other things, a strong community needs great leadership, a vibrant business community, courageous service providers, volunteers, and, most importantly, engaged citizens who care about their community. Like most of you, I am an engaged citizen who cares about my community. I have actively volunteered (and continue to volunteer) in our community as a coach, board member for numerous nonprofit boards, and investigator for the Ethics Committee. I have also done pro-bono work for clients on my own and through various organizations.

I now want to attempt to have a further positive impact on our community by being a judge.

As someone who has been studying or practicing law half my life, I believe it is especially important we have a strong judiciary. Judges have a significant impact on our community by making important decisions relating to criminal charges, children in need of protection matters, custody matters, and civil disputes among citizens and businesses, to name a few.

Having practiced before more than 100 judges as a civil litigator, spoke with many district court and appellate court judges about their jobs, and spent several years working for the Michigan Court of Appeals where I assisted the court in writing hundreds of opinions in various civil and criminal matters, I know the qualities needed to be a good judge.

I believe I possess the qualities needed to be a good judge. I have the open mindedness and well-rounded understanding of the law to consider the positions and arguments on each side of any given matter that would come before me. I also have the patience, demeanor, and right temperament to work through matters with prosecutors, public defenders, and private counsel, as well as to help guide pro se litigants through what can be an intimidating process.

If elected, I promise I will treat everyone who comes before me with respect and fairness. I also promise I will utilize my passion and drive to put in the time and energy needed to be the judge the great citizens of the Sixth Judicial District deserve.

I thank all of you for taking the time to read this (and, hopefully, visit raukarmn.com, the “Raukar for Minnesota” Facebook page, and/or my LinkedIn page) to learn more about me. I also congratulate and thank all my opponents for their candidacy. It takes great courage to be a candidate, and it is important that several people take part in the process to give voters quality options.

I hope you will vote for Raukar in the Aug. 13 primary. Thank you for your consideration. If you have specific questions, please send an email to [email protected] .

Peter Raukar is one of five candidates vying to be elected judge in the 6th Judicial District, which includes St. Louis, Carlton, Lake, and Cook counties. The candidates were all invited to write a commentary about their qualifications and candidacy. The top two vote-getters in the Aug. 13 primary will advance to Election Day on Nov. 5.