On the November 2 ballot you will have a choice of candidates for several District Judge positions. District Judges are elected based upon their judicial district and each judicial district has a set number of positions. In Tulsa County and Pawnee County for example, there are three judicial positions on the ballot. Judicial races are non-partisan. Candidates running for District Judge are not identified by political affiliation and cannot take a position on any given issue. Voters choose among the candidates by looking at their qualifications.
You, or someone you know, is more likely to come in contact with a Judge than a legislator or governor. Look around your shop, at your family members, friends, and acquaintances – how many have been involved with the judicial system, whether as a party, witness or a juror. Judges make their decisions based on the facts and the law. In order to understand the facts, a judge needs a wide range of life experience.
Carl Funderburk is a candidate for District Judge, position 13, in Tulsa County and Pawnee County. He is currently a special judge in the family division for Tulsa County. Before his legal career began, he worked at the Westside YMCA from 1980 to 1996. It was there that he met his wife, Cassandra. Cassandra is now a principle at Remington Elementary in Tulsa. After graduating law school in 1995, he continued working at the YMCA and worked part-time as an attorney. In 1996 he started practicing full-time and in 1997 he was hired by then District Attorney, Bill LaFortune, to work as an assistant district attorney.
Judge Funderburk was hired in 2002 as a referee to the Juvenile Courts. He was promoted to Special Judge in 2005, where he continued in the juvenile division. One of his big accomplishments while working in the juvenile division was the establishment of the on-site Juvenile Court at the Tulsa State Fair. You may have read about this in the newspaper recently.
Judge Funderburk knows what it is like to work for a living and volunteer in the community. He knows from experience that it is difficult to take off of work or to lose a day’s pay because of court. As a result, he is known for his innovative thinking. Judge Funderburk will often hold court after 5:00 p.m. to accommodate work schedules. He also staggers his dockets so that parties and their attorneys do not have to wait as long in court for their case to be called. These are the reasons that TWU Local 514 has endorsed Judge Funderburk.