- Welcome to the 2026 General Election Candidate Forums.

I'm Polly Parton, President of the League of Women Voters of Benton and Franklin Counties.

The League is a nonpartisan organization that neither supports nor opposes any candidate.

In presenting these forums, it is our goal to provide opportunities for voters to become better informed about the people who are running for public office.

These general election forums have been pre-recorded in person by Northwest Public Broadcasting at the WSU Tri-City Studio.

They will be available through November 3rd, election day, on NWPB, YouTube, the League's Facebook page, KTNW TV, and through the Columbia Basin Badger Club.

At this time, I would like to turn the program over to our moderator, Tracci Dial, multimedia news director at NWPB.

And remember, be a voter.

- Thank you for watching Northwest Public Broadcasting, and thank you to our partners with the League of Women Voters of Benton-Franklin Counties.

I'm Tracy Dial with Vote 2026 Coverage, digging in with candidates for several races in the Tri-Cities.

Our Vote 2026 series aims to give you complete and fair coverage ahead of the upcoming general election.

Today we'll hear from candidates in Franklin County, a race for sheriff and district court judge.

Now to some general rules for today's debate.

The candidates are aware of this setup.

We've got a series of questions compiled by the League of Women Voters of Benton-Franklin Counties covering all sorts of topics that are critical to these races.

Candidates are promised the following, equal opportunity to answer these within response time limits and an equal number of times to go first with those responses.

Now, because this is part of a one hour TV program, as moderator, I may have to adjust times and add or remove questions as the program allows.

And with that, let's get started with our candidates.

There's going to be a new sheriff in town and two men who are no stranger to Franklin County law enforcement are going for the big badge.

For our first candidate forum of today's program, we have Monty Huber and Chris Lee with us.

There are candidates for Franklin County Sheriff as longtime sheriff, Jim Raymond retires after more than a decade serving as sheriff.

So for our first question this afternoon, Chris, you will go first and we're doing opening statements.

So each of you get 1:30.

And Chris, you'll go first.

- Excellent.

Thank you, I appreciate you having us here tonight and everybody that's participating with us.

My name is Chris Lee.

I'm running for Franklin County Sheriff.

I've got 25 years in law enforcement all throughout our communities here, and I'm dedicated to having a Sheriff's Office that supports our communities, that is in alignment with our mission and helps keep our communities strong, safe, and vibrant.

And that's what I hope to bring as is the executive level leadership that I've had throughout my career in the last five years as a chief of police, bringing that forward also into the office and having effective leadership from the top down.

- [Tracy] Thank you, Mr.

Lee.

And Monty, your opening statement.

- Yes, first and foremost, I'd like to thank the League of Women Voters for hosting this.

It's an honor to be here.

My name is Monty Huber.

I'm running for the Office of Sheriff in Franklin County.

I currently serve as the undersheriff.

I've been there for 23 years.

I have a combined law enforcement experience of 27 counting corrections.

I've worked in all facets of the Sheriff's Office, come up to the ranks.

I know what works, I know what needs to be improved upon.

That's my mission moving forward is to focus on those things, keep building on what we do well, and then change what needs to be changed.

I've also served on the Connell City Council for five years and I'm a 12-year US Army veteran.

Looking forward to serving.

- [Tracy] Thank you, Mr.

Huber.

Sorry about that.

- That's all right.

- And you will get the real question number one.

A lot of folks support the use of Flock cameras as a tool to help solve crimes.

Others, however, do worry about government surveillance and misuse of the data the cameras collect.

As sheriff, where would you draw the line between public safety and personal privacy?

- So for the Franklin County Sheriff's Office, we currently don't have any Flock cameras.

The discussion has come up that it could be a useful tool if used correctly.

My personal issue with the Flock cameras is the storage of the data and how that's accessed.

That's controlled through an outside source, and we don't have control of that.

And that becomes a concern for citizen rights.

So that's my issue.

And as the next sheriff, that would be my issue in making sure that I protect the citizen's rights.

I'm all for technology.

I think it's a useful tool.

Like the drone program, you know, it keeps officers out of danger.

This program, if the data was managed correctly and used correctly so it didn't violate rights, could be a valuable tool if you're trying to apprehend someone that was fleeing, that was a kidnapping suspect or someone of that higher crime element could be a useful tool.

But the way it stands right now, I don't support it.

- [Tracy] Thank you, Mr.

Huber.

- You're welcome.

- [Tracy] Mr.

Lee, and if either of you would like me to repeat a question, I certainly can.

- Thank you.

If I can, I want to separate out the difference between Flock as a manufacturer and the utilization of the technology as ALPR.

Flock as the technology or the manufacturer, I can't say whether or not they are the best or what should be utilized.

So I'll address mostly as it pertains to the ALPR technology.

It is same with my opponent had talked about is, we got to protect individuals' rights in the balance of apprehending criminal, individuals that are committed crimes.

I personally have used this in my current agency where we solved a substance abuse homicide by utilizing other agencies that participate.

Happens to be that they're using the technology of Flock.

I think ALPRs, it's a good utilization and a good technology, but it needs to be managed by policies and making sure that there's oversight and that there's audits and things that are making sure that people aren't abusing the systems or the information that is contained.

Also, state law is also limited as far as how long the data can be stored and those types of things.

And as sheriff, we're gonna make sure that those policies and the laws, policies are up to date and the laws are being followed to make sure that people's individual rights are making sure that they're maintained and preserved as much as we possibly can.

- [Tracy] Thank you, Mr.

Lee.

Then you'll go first for this next question.

- Okay.

- Law enforcement across the state, as we know, are dealing with recruitment and retention challenges.

What strategies will you use to recruit, retain, and train qualified staff without overextending the budget?

- Yeah, it's a great question because it is.

It's a struggle that has been going on.

I'd say, I dated back from my time to about 2010 in the state of Washington.

Policies and decisions that the state has made that has disenfranchised people from wanting to get into the profession or makes it very difficult in order for people to stay in the profession because we feel like we're helpless and we can't defend or protect our community the way that we know that we can.

So my objective is to start with one is effective leadership.

People love to stay with organizations where they feel wanted, they feel respected, they feel heard.

And so that's what I'm going to bring to the table is effective leadership that addresses the morale that affects where people want to be.

That includes diversity within the ranks as far as different assignments from being assigned to Metro or ICAC or bringing on other opportunities, whether that's a school resource officer or branching out and working in partnerships with other agencies that are in our local jurisdiction in order to allow people to be able to have diversity in... Not diversity, but the ability to lateral move within the organization and gain experiences and knowledge that they wouldn't get where it's currently structured within the Sheriff's Office.

- [Tracy] Thank you, Mr.

Lee.

Mr.

Huber.

- Yeah.

Again, good question.

So currently in the Sheriff's Office, we are fully staffed, and we have been fully staffed for a number of years.

And you do that by creating a culture that people want to come to.

We currently have 110 folks on our list to be hired.

Got to provide training, you got to provide quality supervision, and you got to create that environment where they want to grow and learn and they want to stay and they want to serve the community.

That's the other thing that we have an advantage for the Sheriff's Office is we have a great relationship with our community.

A lot of folks can't say that across the country, but we can.

We have tremendous support for the Sheriff's Office across our community.

And it's because of our folks and it's because the job that they do and they go out and they build those relationships just as I've done in the last 23 years.

We just keep doing that, and that's why folks want to come and work for the Sheriff's Office is because of that culture.

And I want to keep that going as the next sheriff.

- Thank you, Mr.

Huber.

You will go first for this next question.

- [Monty] Thank you.

- Franklin County's population is almost 60% Latino.

There are a lot of essential agricultural and service workers.

Now advocates have brought up concerns that local law enforcement cooperating with ICE, immigration and customs enforcement, could make immigrant communities reluctant to call 911 or even report crimes at all.

So how will your office ensure that all victims and witnesses feel comfortable coming forward and safe regardless of their legal status?

- Again, great question.

For the Sheriff's Office, immigration is a federal law enforcement duty.

The job of the sheriff is to make sure that the citizens of Franklin County's rights are protected.

We as the Sheriff's Office, we go out into the community.

We're involved in the schools and we talk to our kids at very young ages and we build that rapport.

So there's not a fear in law enforcement when we walk into schools.

They know us.

And a lot of them will come up and give us a big hug because they're familiar with us.

And we open those, we bridge the gap of that communication with our deputies, and we have, you know, our DARE program, you know, our DARE officer goes in and bridges those gaps.

And then I get involved with the Farm Bureau, and I go and speak to those folks and offer assistance and a pathway to feel comfortable in reporting crimes.

So we're going to, in the Sheriff's Office, we're going to investigate the crime regardless of your legal status.

That's not what we look at.

We look at the elements of the crime in doing a great investigation and getting to the root of the issue.

- [Tracy] Thank you, Mr.

Huber.

- You're welcome.

- [Tracy] Mr.

Lee?

- Thank you.

I have heard this undertone of fear throughout this campaign and I've asked a ton of questions because I don't know all of it and I don't know where it's coming from, but like what's already previously been said is that in the state of Washington, no peace officer in the state enforces any federal immigration laws.

So people can rest assured right off the bat is that we're not going to engage in any immigration activities, whether they're documented or not, but see people for people, and we need to address that.

And so there's going to be generational fears.

There's going to be families that naturally have these things, and how can we break that barrier down?

And the only way that we can do that, in my opinion, is by we engage them, have them in conversation, support them.

And my biggest concern is, I don't want anybody, anywhere in the state, but most importantly and in Franklin County to be afraid to call law enforcement because they don't know the difference between local law enforcement and federal immigration.

Don't want anybody not to pick up the phone and call 911 when they need us to respond and provide that exceptional service that they expect.

But we got to do it by going and meeting them where they're at, wherever that may be.

- [Tracy] Thank you, Mr.

Lee.

And you'll go next, first for this next question.

- Sounds good.

- Besides the current training that staff receive, are there additional trainings or trainings that should be emphasized that you believe?

- I don't know if you've heard much about my stuff through my campaign.

I heavy focus on leadership and being effective within leadership.

So I think that we need to look at stuff beyond the state requirements as far as first level supervision, middle management, executive, those types of things and getting down to what does an individual need to be able to develop themselves and improve.

I'm a lifelong learner.

I love to keep learning whether that it's formally through academics or it's informally through just developing yourself and expanding your skillset.

And the only way that you can do that is if you get to know your people and you know what their hopes, wishes, and desires are, and you figure out what it is that they need and they want to develop them in order to make sure that we are stronger going forward than we were yesterday.

This kind of one of my personal mottoes is better tomorrow than I was today.

And that should be with anything that we personally do or we professionally do is just constantly advancing whatever that is.

So we need to get outside of the typical box thinking when it comes to training and looking at what can we really do to develop their skill sets in those various things.

And it starts with first assessing and having critical conversations as to where each individual can develop and improve and help them succeed with getting there.

- [Tracy] Thank you, Mr.

Lee.

Mr.

Huber.

- So for us currently in the Sheriff's Office, and that would be my advantage is, I do know the people in the Sheriff's Office.

I was present on their first day, so I know what they're good at and what they need to train on.

The way we currently have things set up is every two months we have an eight-hour Kelly Day training where we put in the trainings that, well, there are some state have to trainings, but then we have an opportunity to provide additional training.

So we keep improving upon our training.

We've created and developed a more reality-based training so that it combines a whole bunch of skills to include deescalation and those things that are very important when it comes to community interaction and making sure that the level of force and the level of response is correct.

Also, I agree with the leadership and promoting the leadership.

And I've currently had my sergeants go through middle management training, and they're all certified at least at middle management, which is great for a first level supervisor because now they can see what's being asked of them from the administration and they have that connection, that understanding, and then they can pass that down.

Training is critical in any organization.

- Thank you, Mr.

Huber.

Next question begins with you.

The Franklin County Jail is one of the Sheriff's Office's biggest responsibilities.

What measures will you put in place to ensure inmate medical and mental health care reduce in-custody incidents and protect corrections officers?

- Okay.

Currently, the Franklin County Jail is under the control of the commissioners, and it's managed by a chief of operations, does a great job.

But having a corrections background, I understand what all is involved in making sure that policies and procedures are in place and protocols are in place.

If there's an incident in the jail, it's investigated by the Sheriff's Office.

So having that background is important.

How do you mitigate those things?

Training.

You know, stay focused and good supervision.

You make sure that your folks are doing exactly what they're supposed to be doing, and which they are.

They do a great job in there.

So that's how you mitigate those risks.

It's a jail.

There's liability around every corner, so whatever you can do to mitigate that.

- [Tracy] Thank you, Mr.

Huber.

Mr.

Lee.

- Can you repeat the question, please?

- Yes, and maybe not pertinent exactly right now, but potentially again someday.

The Franklin County Jail is, was, could be again, one of the Sheriff's Office biggest responsibilities.

So what measures will you put in place to ensure inmate medical and mental health care as well as in-custody incidents, reducing those and protecting corrections officers?

- Yeah, like it's previously stated, it currently doesn't fall underneath the Office of Sheriff, but one of the number one questions that I get asked is, if it was to go back, what would you do?

So I guess I will respond in that regard 'cause it's currently not as it's currently structured.

I will continue to support the Franklin County Jail and their mission and making sure that they're accomplishing what they need to do in order to make sure that we have highly trained and well-equipped individuals that are in there facilitating the jails.

But I'm going to work with other staff because that's an area of my expertise that I don't have in where Chief Harmon is there currently and then the other rest of the command staff there.

They do a great job, and I'm going to lean on them in order to see what is needed, where can we improve, and how can we make sure that certain areas, like whether it's healthcare or inmate incidences are addressed and figuring out what the root cause of the problem is so that way we can address the root cause of the problem, not just the symptoms of what we're seeing.

- Thank you, Mr.

Lee.

And you'll go first for this next question, kinda getting to the part of that issue.

Over the last couple of years, the Sheriff's Office has been caught up in legal standoffs with the county commissioners over budgets and governance and labor disputes with teamsters.

So how do you plan to reset those relationships in your first 100 days as sheriff?

- First and foremost, as a majority of my career, I've been a relationship maker, a bridge builder.

So I think that naturally comes to me in my capacity, and that's what I'm going to do as a sheriff is that figuring out those relationships that have been fractured, how they need to be amended, and keep moving forward.

But it comes back to the underlining, what I talked about earlier is, it's effective leadership, and leadership isn't just from top down within the Office of Sheriff, it's leadership all around you.

It's a 360 degree leadership.

While still maintaining and preserving the roles and respecting the roles of the different elected officials, but we have to be able to work together as a county in order to make sure that we're doing what we're supposed to be doing, which is serving our people.

Absent that effective leadership, that communication and that ability to build bridges and remend bridges that have been destroyed.

We're gonna have a continued pattern that keeps going on, and we can't keep doing that.

- [Tracy] Thank you, Mr.

Lee.

Mr.

Huber.

- I think it starts with open and honest communication and getting back to the idea of serving the citizens of Franklin County.

If that's in the forefront, then your decisions can't be wrong.

If you have that in mind, that's your goal.

Having a city council background, I understand the roles of the county commissioners in terms of budgets and being responsible for tax dollars.

I know that's important, but it's also important that you have a great relationship with the other departments because that's where the information comes back.

So the commissioners currently have two main responsibilities, the infrastructure of the county and public safety.

So the best source of that information regarding public safety is the sheriff.

So building that relationship and maintaining that open communication gives them a better idea of where they can effectively put their money to keep the citizens of Franklin County safe.

And that's very important and that's everybody's objective is to serve the citizens of Franklin County, and that's what I intend to do.

- Wonderful.

closing statements now, you'll each get two minutes.

And this time we'll begin with Mr.

Huber.

- Okay.

So like I said, I've been with the Sheriff's Office for 23 and a half years.

I've come up through the ranks.

I know the Sheriff's Office.

I know the inner workings of the Sheriff's Office.

I've said before, I know the folks in the Sheriff's Office.

I know what they do well and what needs to be worked on, and I know where to put people to make the Sheriff's Office successful.

I have a plan.

It's not just a vision.

It's a plan that we can hit the ground running January 1st, and we don't have to come in and figure anything out.

We have a plan established, and we're ready to go to work.

It's important that we stay focused on the things that we do well, and we keep building on those community programs like the Big Buddy program in the schools, Bi-County Sheriff's policy.

We keep those things going.

We have our Explorer program.

We have a DARE program.

It's important to the community that the sheriff keeps those things going because the benefit you don't realize, especially with kids until years and years later.

I started a Big Buddy program when I was a deputy.

These young men and ladies are 30 and 31 now to date myself a little bit, but they come back and they're like, "The conversations that we had were great, and we really appreciate that, and it steered me on the right path."

And it's those kinds of relationships that you continue to build in the community along with the other agencies.

You know, we have a great working relationship with the agencies in the Tri-Cities.

That's an advantage for us here in the Tri-Cities.

Executives across the Tri-Cities work well together.

And I plan to build upon that and do some cross-training with some other agencies and keep building a good thing that we have here in the Tri-Cities.

- [Tracy] Thank you, Mr.

Huber.

- Yeah.

- [Tracy] Mr.

Lee, two minutes of closing statements.

- Thank you, I appreciate it.

And most importantly I appreciate all the hard work that you guys have done putting this together.

We've got an opportunity for change, not to keep doing the same thing that we've always done is we can look at from an outsider's perspective to say, what can we do differently, and how can we make things better?

We do a lot of things great, but at the same token, we can be better with the things that we are doing.

I don't come with a history that there has been over the last several years, and I come with a different view and a different leadership style.

I'm a practicing servant leader, and I call it practicing because I'm not perfect.

I aspire to be a servant leader as best that I possibly can, but that's an area where growth and development that I'm also working on.

I bring that aspect plus my 25 years in law enforcement, the breadth and depth of my experience that I bring to the table isn't like I'm starting at day one.

I've got a depth of experience that I should have probably talked about on the first question, but didn't, that I bring day one in a different style and different philosophy on how to lead.

And I think that is exactly what Franklin County needs.

We need integrity, we need effective leadership, and we need accountability within the Sheriff's Office.

So when the sheriff speaks, people know that what's coming out of the sheriff's mouth is on point and they can trust what is being said.

I'd love to earn people's votes.

- [Tracy] You two are concise.

Thank you so much for your time.

- Of course.

- Thank you.

- And that does conclude the forum for Franklin County Sheriff.

Thank you again, Chris Lee and Monty Huber.

- Now, let's meet our next candidates.

Two locals are vying for a Franklin County District Court judge.

Both grew up here, both hope to serve as judge on the ballot and in the studio today, Trinity Orosco and Michael Nguyen.

So the two of you are aware of the debate rules for today.

We'll begin with opening statements, and Ms.

Orosco, you'll go first.

- Well, thank you for having me here today.

For nearly three decades, I've dedicated my career to the law and to serving the people of this community.

I have served as paralegal, attorney, and now as Franklin County District Court Judge.

Every role has strengthened my understanding of the justice system, but more importantly has reinforced why I chose this profession, to help others, to uphold the law, and to ensure that every person who enters the courtroom is treated fairly and with respect.

While candidates always stand up and make a lot of promises, I've made good on my promises from my last campaign.

I've delivered and will continue to deliver.

I've improved access to justice, excuse me, justice with physical building modifications, hired a full-time interpreter, created a number of programs to better serve our community.

I've improved alternatives to incarceration by expanding our work crew program, brought in over a million dollars in state funding and grant funding to Franklin County.

I'm a member of the DMCJA, education and therapeutic court committees, participated in Law Day events, judges in the classroom, and host courthouse field trips.

I believe accountability and rehabilitation are not conflicting ideals.

A strong justice system can hold people accountable for their actions while still providing structure, resources, and opportunities for change.

I am proud of what we've accomplished together, and I'm asking for the opportunity to continue my work and the work that Judge Roach started and the work that I built upon, thank you.

- Thank you, Ms.

Orosco.

Mr.

Nguyen.

- Yes, hello, everybody, hello, TV world.

My name's Michael Nguyen.

Some of you might know me as Anthony.

Hi, Mom.

I'm running for Franklin County District Court Judge because Franklin County is me.

Born here, raised here, everything I learned was here.

I had a few short stint where I went to Georgia to go to law school, I came right back.

During my law career, it has all been serving, you know, what they call public defense.

And that is long hours, as I'm sure Judge Orosco knows.

She was also a public defender before becoming judge.

I've worked in Benton County, Juvi, both in Benton County and Franklin County, Pasco Municipal, the Franklin District Court.

And now currently I'm in the Superior Court of Franklin County.

Another part, one of my big things is I'm a part of what's called a preliminary appearance docket, where I'm in court every day, fresh new felony arrest comes, and I got about 30 minutes to deal with whoever got arrested the night before, to read through reports, come up with legal arguments, and argue bail.

During all of this, I encounter every aspect of the criminal justice system, whether it be clerks, judges, other attorneys, the jail, heck, even like maintenance staff, the state OPD office.

These are all integral parts of the system, and I think with my passion for Franklin County as well as my experience of all these different avenues, I think I can put together and expand on some of the great ideas that Judge Orosco has implemented.

- Thank you, Mr.

Nguyen.

And you will get the first question.

Let's put two minutes on the clock.

And for this first question, this is in response to concerns about the effectiveness and fairness of the justice system.

How do you maintain impartiality and work to assure public trust and confidence in what you do?

- So we're good, can I begin?

Okay, perfect.

So obviously, as my work as a public defense attorney, you know, I see it one side per my job, but in reality I see it in all sides.

I think in terms of getting effectiveness both for rehabilitation as well as, you know, avoiding recidivism and addressing, you know, the law properly, I think it's in the details.

Taking time to look at what both sides present, both the prosecutor and defense.

Again, I've never served as judge, but you know, I've seen the importance of getting the point across from my side to a prosecutor's side.

I've had clients where, you know, on a police report it looks bad, but when we look into the specifics, their home life, exactly what the, you know, alleged victim, what their impact on was, where the true story comes about.

I'll shout out a great prosecutor.

Well, she used to be a prosecutor over in muni court, but Bailey, I would say, "Hey, this person that is being charged is actually a victim of a bigger crime."

And then we would sit down and look at that.

As a judge, I'd make sure that both defense and prosecution would instill like addressing what's deeper in each individual case.

And then I as judge look into that as well, and kind of within the bounds of what the law allows me to do, you know, not just try to sift through each individual case, but look at what other external factors are going within that case.

Long story short, it's in the details and I think every case has an answer.

And I think a big criticism, you know, public defense work gets is that it is a case mill.

And I think as a judge, we have a duty to make sure that, you know, we're not just running cases.

That's about it.

- Thank you, Mr.

Nguyen.

Ms.

Orosco, - Can you repeat the question, please?

- Certainly.

This is in response to concerns about the effectiveness and fairness of the justice system.

How do you maintain impartiality and work to assure public trust and confidence in what you do?

- I think one of the big issues is that people don't understand the reasons behind why you're making the decision that you're making.

I think they also get concerned that maybe you didn't hear what they had to say.

So when you take the opportunity to sit down and to listen to the person before you, whether or not that takes a little extra time, you're allowing them to present their case to you and allowing them to be heard, which I think is really important.

Once people understand that you're willing to hear what they have to say, that you're willing to consider the information that they provided, that you've encouraged both sides to have a conversation, to maybe go back out on the hall or take a continuance to give them a chance to present more information, I think they understand that you're not there to specifically judge them as a person, but to judge the case, the facts of the case that have been presented to you, as well as the law.

And really, I think one of the misconceptions is that the judge has all the information in front of them.

We do not.

We have the police report and maybe a couple statements.

Realistically, the prosecutor is the one that has that information.

So we don't know the information that maybe everyone else knows but us.

So we're simply going to treat people fairly.

We're going to explain our reasonings.

We're going to allow somebody to speak with us and to let us know why they think that things should be a certain way.

You're never going to cut somebody off in the middle of a sentence unless you maybe have a question to clarify or you want to encourage them to not speak because something may be impactful to their case.

There's a lot of times where people will get in front of the court not realizing, or I guess remembering, that it's being recorded, and say a lot of things that are going to be really detrimental to their case.

So there's times where we do have to make sure that we say, "Hey, just a second, you're being recorded and maybe speak to your attorney first."

But I really think it's all about making sure that decisions are made within you, in front of your court, and make sure that the reasoning is very clear and solid for that individual.

- [Moderator] Thank you, Ms.

Orosco.

And you'll go first for this next question.

- Okay.

- How do you plan to ensure fairness, impartiality, and equity for all who come before you regardless of their background, including race, economics, culture, religion?

- Well, I think one of the issues is that we need to remember not to treat anybody differently based on whether or not they have an attorney who's retained or court-appointed.

We meet people where they are, and there's no reason to treat anyone differently because of the fact that maybe they have a different race.

In Franklin County specifically, we have a lot of Hispanics that come in the courthouse, and of course there's a different culture involved with that.

Fortunately, I understand the culture, but it's about treating people with the respect that they deserve regardless of where they come from.

It's about hearing each case on a case-by-case basis and understanding that somebody may have a difference of opinion or a different reason why they've done something, or believe that it was appropriate and accurate.

We have to, as far as fairness is concerned, it's really important to make sure that you're imposing the appropriate costs, jail, treatment, treatment requirements.

Are we going to impose a treatment requirement that maybe isn't offered in a language that they speak?

Are we then setting somebody up for failure?

So it's really looking at the person as a whole and then kind of directing them to the right way without causing any issues with the court further.

There's been a number of people where we've, you know, referred them to, I don't know, maybe a theft offenders course or something to that effect, and we discover that it's not offered in their language, and now they're in violation, and it puts us in a really bad spot.

So just making sure you take your time, you listen to them, and you treat them just as you would anyone else.

- [Moderator] Thank you, Ms.

Orosco.

Mr.

Nguyen.

- yes, again, when these cases come in front of us, they are cases.

And I think, you know, and maybe in a perfect world, we have blindfolds, you know, i.e., the scales of justice, and make it based on arguments that we hear or the report, but that's just not how it works.

Again, I reiterate this a bunch, but you know, I grew up here.

It's always been diverse and it only gets more diverse.

That's not something we could ignore, but in terms of ensuring justice and equality, we put those factors aside and we hear out, you know, the clients, the defendants, the prosecutors, the victims, of course, to ensure equity.

Now, when we get to the point, I'm glad you brought this up, things, you know, on the offset, like treatments or sentences or you know, cost of attorneys and stuff, I think, you know, we should consider that, and hey, maybe this person can't afford this, maybe we'll waive fees.

And I know Judge Orosco does do that.

I know there's case law that gets brought, you know, up by other attorneys to do that.

And that's something that, you know, clients and other attorneys should know about.

Hey, if your client has a problem with can't afford it given their, you know, their situation, maybe they're the sole bread earner of their family and they got a large family, or you know, they're sending money to family.

Those factors I think we should definitely take into play, more socioeconomic factors.

But in terms of, you know, race, religion, gender, creed, et cetera, just look at the case itself.

And then when we go to those other things, sentencings, fines, fees, then we kind of hear them out.

It's not necessarily judging them on what we see, but what they have to say.

So maybe it's not totally based on their socioeconomic, but what they let us know about their socioeconomic issues, and we kind of address that to ensure fairness, because I agree, you know?

You know, being a public defender, you know, sometimes we feel like we're the small dog here, because, you know, we got the fancy attorney, you know, getting paid 10 grand a case, but you know, that isn't, as a judge, we should treat 'em all fairly.

- Thank you, Mr.

Nguyen.

And you'll go first for question three.

If you are successful in this race, what new ideas or processes would you like to implement?

Are there any changes to the judicial process for which you would advocate?

- All right, so Judge Orosco has implemented a fantastic program that if I'm elected, I'll continue.

It's fantastic.

I think I had either the first or second graduate of that therapeutic court, and I followed it with that individual, and they're doing fantastic.

Some of my other clients that I referred down there, I see them all the time at the Grocery Outlet Bargain Market sometimes.

So that is fantastic.

That's staying, that's absolutely going to stay.

In terms of other things I want to implement, having worked in some of these other courtrooms, I have noticed maybe kind of evening out the cost of you know, say probation and stuff.

You know, in Superior Court, you know, fines and fees, they all get dismissed.

And of course this is something that we have to look budget-wise, and if feasible, maybe match it with something that we have over in muni court, where it's like $100 a year for probation.

Again, if feasible, if not, you know, leave it be.

Big thing though I want to implement is communication.

And maybe this is not something as far as programs go or changing, you know, implementing the law, because it's the law, it's hard to like kind of change that as is, but just hearing out other sectors of the law, like I said before, you know, the jail, the clerks, OPD staff.

I know there's all certain concerns there, you know, maybe trying to streamline, because the jail I know is extremely busy, and I'm not blaming this all on the court itself.

I just think maybe the conversation needs to happen where we have a fine line schedule.

And again, it's not placing fault on anybody.

Sometimes fault's on me, because I'll arrive, or me and other attorneys will arrive for visits while docket's going on.

Maybe we need to like make more firm rules about that to our other attorneys.

In terms of implementing other stuff, that would be it.

But for the most part, I think it's just improving on some of the great ideas Judge Orosco has implemented.

- [Moderator] Thank you, Mr.

Nguyen.

Ms.

Orosco.

- Well, as I've said, we've created the therapeutic courts, and we're working on a veterans track.

I think that is an important portion of the therapeutic court system that we hadn't yet achieved.

We are currently in a pilot program for driving license suspendeds.

That's a great number of our cases and taking up a lot of those case counts, case numbers for defense attorneys.

And really the issue comes down to: somebody is going to continue to drive because they have to go to work, they have to pick up their children, they have to go to the doctors, and they're getting stopped.

And we're getting this revolving door of individuals coming in, going to jail, having more fines, fees, or whatever that may be, and having another criminal offense on the record.

So if we can stop that at the beginning, we can help them get their license back, and we're going to prevent then unlicensed or uninsured drivers from being on the roadway, which is causing other issues for people who are insured.

So if you're struck by an uninsured driver, you're going to be responsible for the costs associated with it.

So right now, we're giving a pilot program out through the state, which is going to last for 12 months, and hopefully we can show that this is effective.

Within the first month of our program, we had two, I believe, licensed drivers.

Since then, I believe we've had four or five new licensed drivers, and that's getting through all of the issues that they had to get through the Department of Licensing to simply become relicensed.

And now we know that they're insured, they're driving, and they're driving safely.

One of the other issues that we're working on is we obviously work with Office of Public Defense, the prosecutors, and so forth.

There's a lot of communication, and there's a lot of issues Mr.

Nguyen is talking about over here that we've attempted to address, but there's only so much that we can do as far as directing others, because if we upset the balance, if we upset the applecart, we're going to lose prosecutors, we're going to lose defense attorneys.

So the court is always ready to go on time, and we need to make sure that everyone else is willing to do that as well.

And other programs, let's think.

There's been a lot of other programs.

I do still engage... - And your time is up, sorry, Ms.

Orosco.

- Oh, okay, we're great.

- [Moderator] All right, you get to go first for the next question now.

- Fantastic.

- Does precedent in previous state and/or national cases play into those that may come before you in Franklin County?

And if so, how?

- Wow, well, (sighs) let's see.

We obviously only get gross misdemeanors and misdemeanors primarily, so we're not getting a lot of cases that are on a national level that people would consider.

There are maybe some issues that are brought in nationally that are concerning.

We do have a bind-over docket, so we sometimes get the felonies that are referred down that are potentially removing that felony from their record.

But at this point, we take what we're given, which is hopefully not a national concern, and reviewing it according to the laws and determining whether or not there's sufficient probable cause, and then proceeding on through the defense attorneys and prosecution.

So while we don't have those national cases, we don't have a lot of cases that are coming in that are on the radar, so to speak, there are a few, and thankfully I've had to recuse myself from those cases, so I'm not having to address some of those greater issues.

But overall, that's not a place for district court.

I mean, really it isn't.

We would be happy to apply the law, but other than that, we're not going to address any sort of national concerns.

- [Moderator] Certainly, thank you, Ms.

Orosco.

Mr.

Nguyen.

- Yes, so again, I currently practice in a Superior Court, though she mentioned the bind-over court, that's actually where I started.

But with Superior Court, you know, case law's always coming in.

Things are always changing.

I actually have a hearing for later this next month in October for, you know, a new law that happened this year.

Completely changed the case that we're waiting, you know, five years on.

I inherited from another attorney.

District court's a little different (laughs) Now, there is some case law, some precedent we can use, like I mentioned before, you know, and arguing other things like, you know, fines and fees, can they be reduced or waived for indigencies, you know, with insurance companies that are victims of cases?

You know, are they owed restitution?

Cases like that.

But when you mentioned the national, you know, there might not be national precedent that, you know, affects lower courts.

One thing that strikes me, and maybe this is what you were digging for, maybe I'm reading this wrong, but, you know, with the implementation of Flock cameras, I know on the Superior Court level, me and other attorneys are looking, trying to crack that puzzle on how we can implement on our crimes, you know, where, you know, are attempting to elude, which is kind of like an evolved version of you know, reckless driving, which we see as a gross misdemeanor.

You know, though it doesn't happen often, I think that is things like that.

With new technology comes new ways we look at past law, which gives birth to new law.

So if need be, yes, I'll make the proper recommendations.

You know, I just got upgraded to the newest system of our case law system, so, you know, super, super charged.

So, you know, that is something that I've typed into there is, how do Flock cameras affect this case?

So definitely something I would look at.

- Interesting, thank you, Mr.

Nguyen.

Question five begins with you.

Voters in Franklin County are curious to hear a little more about your experience with the justice system here.

Can you talk about that experience referencing, if you can, a case that you've been involved with in the county, and what was your role in that outcome?

- Yeah, so I'm just rifling through all of them.

It might not just be one, but it'll be a few.

I'm not going to use names just for confidential reasons, but earlier I alluded to an individual that, you know, went through therapeutic court and is doing fantastic now.

Not necessarily a case that strikes me from a legal standpoint, but from just a pure, you know, spot of, he really wanted help.

And this was right at the precipice of the implementation of the therapeutic program.

I said, "Hey dude, you're gonna be the first one in there, don't let me down."

Said, "Mr.

Nguyen, absolutely not."

And he didn't let me down.

I mean, I'm friends with him on Facebook.

You know, I wish him the best.

I wrote him letters.

You know, I really root for that guy and I keep up with him.

He's doing great, he's enjoying life in the proper legal way.

Other cases, man, there's a case today, I won't get into it too much, but this is where it strikes the importance of talking to the client, knowing your client, knowing the individual, because you know, we got a felony, you know, amended all the way down to a gross misdemeanor because you know, both sides understood, you know, the external circumstances.

And honestly, you know, she was going through a lot, and that's somebody that was able to guide.

It no longer went from, "Hey, I'm representing this defendant."

It's, "Hey, like there's this kid that kind of fell and I got to have to like lead them to right path and like let them know that you're doing a good job.

This was a slip-up."

A lot of cases are like that.

Other cases are where I've, this sounds crazy, but you know, people always ask me, "How do you know if they're guilty or not?"

There's one case again.

We fought it via case law and you know, pulling up records and stuff, but I knew deep down he was absolutely innocent.

He had no idea what was going on.

You know, he gets pulled over and a bunch of crazy stuff happens.

And you know, despite all this evidence the state thought they had, we kept pushing and pushing, and you know, the cases were dismissed.

So those are examples of cases that affected me.

- [Moderator] Thank you, Mr.

Nguyen.

Ms.

Orosco.

- Well, as far as experience is concerned, as I said, I've had almost 30 years, I think about 26 1/2 years at this point experience in the community.

I started as a paralegal and worked as a paralegal for nine years, so I got to kind of see the inner workings of how an office works.

And I got to kind of watch attorneys that maybe mentored me and that I respected.

I became an attorney and I was an attorney for 13 years.

In that time period, I did work in all of the counties, Benton, Franklin, Yakima, Walla Walla, Columbia, and also federal court.

So I have a breadth of experience there as well, working with individuals in different courts.

I've handled cases from arraignment through sentencing and probation.

I actually did the docket that Mr.

Nguyen does right now, and I think I did that probably also for five years.

It's a pretty great docket.

As far as cases that have impacted me, it's pretty much all of my therapeutic court cases.

They are very impactful, and it's not whether or not they were successful, which really does hit us.

I think I know who he's talking about.

And he is a fantastic individual and he was always a great person and a great candidate for our courts.

He still visits us actually and just came to our barbecue.

There's other ones though that we see that maybe weren't ready for change, and that impacts me as well.

I just recently had to make the very difficult decision to not accept somebody into the program after a few weeks of their attendance.

And that was based on the fact that they were really not willing or not ready to take the opportunity presented to them.

And because of that, I really struggled with the decision that I made, and I really wanted to help this person, but had to acknowledge that they weren't ready, and maybe the next time they're ready, we can help them again.

But you know, either way, good or bad, that therapeutic court really does, you know, do an impact on my heart.

- Thank you, Ms.

Orosco.

Then you'll go first for this next question.

What do you see as your biggest challenge as a district court judge?

- Oh, funding, funding is the biggest challenge.

There is always a fight for funding for programs, employees, just new employees, how to improve a system that's overburdened.

We have a need for courtroom space right now with the moving over of our juvenile to Franklin County, that's taken up a courtroom.

We actually currently have a contract with Superior Court to use their courtrooms for trials, which is going to be problematic now.

So the funding to get another courtroom, space for another courtroom.

When we finally get that solved, if ever, and hopefully soon, we still have the issue with, you know, defense attorneys, prosecutors.

We're down, what, five prosecutors right now, which is kind of slowing the system up.

Every time we get a new defense attorney or a prosecutor on a case, that kind of puts it out a little bit longer because that person's starting fresh and new, and we can't have the expectation that they step in and know exactly what's going on.

We have to allow them a chance to review and to get investigators or do whatever it is they need to do at that point.

But what happens is it all comes down to, are we going to be able to support our programs?

Are we going to be able to give our employees a raise, which hasn't happened in quite some time?

Are we able to build a new courtroom?

I mean, what are the options here right now that we can do without the funding?

And it's very limited.

If there was one magic button I could push, it would be to make sure that we are fully funded.

We're in a rural court right now, which makes security challenging, because even though there are grants for security equipment, which we've received, and we've had new metal detectors and cameras and so forth, we don't have it for security staff now.

So we kind of changed one for the other.

So now we have a law enforcement agency that's really struggling to make sure that they have enough people in the courtroom.

And so there's just, it's a lot of lack of funding.

And if we could solve that problem, I think that everything would probably go a lot more smoothly.

- [Moderator] Thank you, Ms.

Orosco.

Mr.

Nguyen.

- Yes, and obviously, you know, I've never served as judge before, so that is a brand-new avenue, but I've never met a challenge that I haven't hit straightforward.

You know, when I passed the bar exam, it was COVID and I worked about two years working at Target, sleeping in my car, and then working at the Marshalls next door.

I was about a year and a half out of law when I got an actual opportunity.

Shout out to Harry Zeigler for giving me a shot.

And then from then, I just, I hit the books, I hit the case law, I observed, and you know, I picked it up, and from there on just rolled in, and now I cannot stop being busy.

But I mentioned this before, we can reiterate on this point, is you know, just kind of communication.

Again, this kind of, I totally agree with the funding issue.

Again, I don't know if that can be something that could be talked out, or maybe we go more creative avenues, but Judge Orosco already spoke on that, so I'll kind of leave that point being.

But you know, that is something that I kind of need to work on, making sure that we get back to a spot with all the craziness that's happened in the county with the lack of funding and stuff, that you know, I encourage us all to have communications and try to retain attorneys.

I know that Office of Public Defense, we try to have some type of, you know, recruiting, going outwards.

I know I've tried to bring some people in.

They haven't even, you know, joined us, but, you know, at least we got 'em on the hook a bit, maybe kind of expand on that or encourage that as judge, have them maybe come watch court before, you know, signing a contract.

I know that was kind of a quick answer, but you know, the challenging part is going to be adjusting to it, and I'm pretty good at adjusting, and then just communication to address, you know, the learning curve.

Ask my clerks, "Hey, how you do this?"

Ask the jail, "Hey, is this a good time?"

Ask Office of Public Defense, "Hey, is everything going good?"

We got some time left.

Just shout out Franklin County OPD and the prosecutors as well.

You all doing a great job.

(chuckles) - Thank you, Mr.

Nguyen.

Now time for closing statements and we'll leave two minutes on the clock.

Mr.

Nguyen, you will go first.

- Yes!

So again, hometown boy, grew up here, went to school here, left, came back, spent all my time, you know, working public defense, sometimes doing district and Superior, sometimes doing district and muni, sometimes doing muni, district, and Superior, you know, also doing prelims.

I'm at the courthouse a lot.

If you're there, you'll probably see me running around like a maniac on days where I don't have to appear in front of a judge.

I usually wear sneakers 'cause I'm moving around so much.

You can see my New Balance, probably not, but you know, my heart is in this.

You know, I've always wanted to be a judge, and when an opportunity came up, you know, if I were to tell people in the future, "Hey, you know, I really want to be judge.

Well, why didn't you run during that last time?"

You know, ever since I can remember, I've been telling people, I know both my dentists know that I've always wanted to be a judge.

You know, I know my whole family does, and you know, it's a learning curve.

I'm not going to sit here and lie like I know how to run a campaign, because I don't.

And it's a small project here, but the fact of the matter is, I want to be your Franklin County District Court judge to serve and to oversee and to you know, provide equity and proper implementation of the law, while still, you know, having attention to details of our clients and our courtroom actors as well, simply because, you know, I love this place, you know?

Every day when I drive to the courthouse, I drive by the little park I used to play as a kid, or you know, it's not a pickup pop anymore, but where I used to ride my bike past from my aunt's house to my grandma's house.

So if you see my name in little pamphlet, just read my bio.

Those are all my credentials, all the stuff I've done, and just know that my heart's in it.

My name is Michael Anthoni Lee Nguyen, and I'm running for Franklin County District Court Judge.

- [Moderator] Thank you, Mr.

Nguyen.

Ms.

Orosco.

- Serving as your District Court judge is an honor, and I do not take it for granted.

I am proud of the work that we've accomplished, and I know there's still a lot more work to do.

I will continue to work hard, pursue resources for our community, improve the efficiency and accessibility of our court, hold people accountable while recognizing the opportunity for meaningful change.

Continue to approach every case with fairness, impartiality, and preparation and respect.

I will follow the law, listen to the people who come before me, and remain committed to doing what I believe every judge should be doing, serve the community with integrity.

I've worked hard for Franklin County, and I'm ready to keep working hard.

I'm endorsed by the entire Benton-Franklin Superior Court bench, the Benton County District Court bench, former Franklin County District Court judge, Judge Roach, judges across the state, law enforcement, prosecutors, defense attorneys, other elected officials, and community members.

I'm recommended by the Franklin County Republicans, endorsed by the Mainstream Republicans, and endorsed by the Franklin County Democrats and the Teamsters 839.

And while these groups have very different political beliefs, their support reflects a shared confidence in my experience, fairness, work ethic, and commitment to Franklin County.

I respectfully ask for your vote to continue working as Franklin County District Court judge.

I thank you for your trust, your support, and your opportunity to serve.

To learn more about me and my campaign, you can visit my website at Trinityforjudge.com, or Facebook or Instagram, @JudgeTrinityOrosco.

Thank you.

- [Moderator] Thank you, Ms.

Orosco, and thank you, Mr.

Nguyen.

- Thank you.

- Again, these two are running for Franklin County District Court Judge.

And thank you to everyone who has watched this program.

For those watching on television, stay tuned for more "NWPB Vote 2026" coverage.

Our next forum will feature candidates for Richland City Council.

And I would like to use some of this closing time to address some key dates and deadlines ahead of this election.

October 16th is the beginning of Washington's 18-day voting period.

If you still need to register, that deadline, that's coming up on October 26th.

You can register in person through Election Day, which is on November 3rd.

Ballot boxes close that day at 8:00 PM.

Now, we do have plenty more coverage.

All of that can be found at nwpb.org and on Northwest Public Broadcasting's YouTube page.

There you can find our recent debates with candidates from both the 4th and 5th congressional districts in Washington.

And thank you, a big thank you to our collaborators with the League of Women Voters, our crew here at NWPB, and all of you watching.