Letter: Quinn most qualified candidate for Superior Court Judge

I had intended to put out a yard sign for Anthony Quinn, vote for him for Dubois Superior Court judge, and leave it at that. Then I received a campaign mailing from John Birk and I couldn’t stay silent. Mr. Birk touts an endorsement from Judy O’Bannon (a former first lady of Indiana). I don’t know how well she knows Mr. Birk. But I know Anthony Quinn—I’ve worked as one of his deputies for almost eight years—and he needs to be our next Dubois Superior Court judge.

You see, unlike what is implied in Mr. Birk’s mailer, it’s not critical where a judge goes to church, where a judge went to school, or—though we can never honor our veterans enough— whether a judge served in the military. Those topics are distractions from the real question, which is this: does the candidate have the skill and the character to be a judge? Using that measuring stick, Anthony Quinn is the best choice to be the next judge of Dubois Superior Court. And, without wishing to be unkind in saying so, it’s not a close call.

Anthony’s skill set makes him uniquely qualified to preside over Dubois Superior Court; after years of leading the prosecution of Superior Court cases, Anthony probably has more familiarity with the workings of that court than any lawyer in the county, except for the outgoing judge. Am I biased? Absolutely. Therefore, I would urge you to find someone who has been around the Dubois County court system—a county employee, a defendant, a victim, another attorney—and ask them who has the skill to be the next Superior Court judge. Ask them; they will know.

With regard to character, Mr. Birk’s mailing insinuated that Anthony might be beholden to special interests. That idea is simultaneously offensive and laughable. In the years that I’ve worked for Anthony, I can count a grand total of zero times that he has instructed me to treat someone in a particular way based on their last name, their skin color, their native language, their bank account, or anything else. Justice is supposed to be blind.

It has been my privilege to work in an office where that has been modeled so well from the top down (i.e., from Anthony). I recognize that most citizens in Dubois County are happily uninvolved with our court system, and I hope that remains the case for you. But if you ever find yourself in Dubois Superior Court, you would want Anthony Quinn to be the judge.

Brian D. Lucchi, Jasper

Note: Political endorsement letters for the 2022 Midterm Election publishing cutoff is 3:30 p.m. on Friday, November 4, 2022. No other endorsement letters will be published after that time.