Governor Tim Pawlenty today announced that he has accepted the recommendations of the Commission on Judicial Selection for three trial court bench vacancies in the Fourth Judicial District in Hennepin County. 

The first vacancy occurred with the resignation, effective January 10, 2006, of the Honorable Lorie S. Gildea who was sworn-in as an Associate Justice on the Minnesota Supreme Court.  The second vacancy occurred with the Supreme Court's conversion of a vacant Fourth Judicial District court referee position into a new district court judgeship.  The third vacancy will occur with the retirement of the Honorable Isabel Gomez on March 15, 2006.

The finalists are Ronald L. Abrams, Gina M. Brandt, Peter A. Cahill, Margaret H. Chutich, William H. Koch, Anne K. McKeig, and Daniel C. Moreno.

Abrams, of Minnetonka, is a member of the Minnesota House of Representatives.  He has been a state representative since 1989, has served as Speaker Pro Tempore since 1999, and chaired the House Tax Committee from 1999 through 2004.  He was a Minnesota House of Representatives Committee Administrator from 1985 to 1986, an attorney and area manager with Group W. Cable Television in Minneapolis from 1980 through 1984, and an attorney with the law firm of Briggs and Morgan in St. Paul from 1977 to 1980.  Abrams earned his juris doctorate degree from Harvard Law School in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1977, and his bachelor of arts degree summa cum laude from the University of Minnesota in 1974.

Brandt, of St. Bonifacius, is an associate attorney with the Eagan law firm of Campbell Knutson, a position she has held since 1999.  She was an assistant Carver County Attorney from 1996 to 1999, an assistant Hutchinson city attorney and chief of criminal prosecution from 1995 to 1996, an associate attorney with the law firm of Arnold and McDowell in St. Louis Park and Hutchinson, as well as an assistant Hutchinson city attorney from 1993 to 1995, and a First Judicial District law clerk in Carver County from 1991 to 1993.  Brandt earned her juris doctorate degree from William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul in 1991, and her bachelor of arts degree from the College of St. Benedict in St. Joseph in 1988.

Cahill, of Plymouth, is the chief deputy Hennepin County Attorney in Minneapolis, a position he has held since 2000.  He has been an attorney in the Hennepin County Attorney's office since 1997.  He was the founder and chief executive officer of The Blue Pages, Inc., from 1996 to 1997, a solo practitioner in Wayzata from 1993 to 1997, an attorney and partner with the law firm of Colich and Cahill in Minneapolis from 1988 to 1993, an associate attorney with the law firm of Colich and Wieland in Minneapolis from 1987 to 1988, and an assistant Fourth Judicial District public defender in Hennepin County from 1984 to 1987.  Cahill earned his juris doctorate degree magna cum laude from the University of Minnesota Law School in 1984, and his bachelor of arts degree from the University of Minnesota College of Liberal Arts in 1981.

Chutich, of Minneapolis, is an assistant attorney general in the Office of the Minnesota Attorney General in St. Paul.  She was an assistant attorney general from 1992 to 1994, and again since 1996, serving as deputy attorney general from 1996 to 1998 and executive counsel in 1999.  She was an assistant United States Attorney in Minneapolis from 1994 to 1996; an attorney with the law firm of Tanick and Heins and its successor firm, Opperman, Heins and Paquin, from 1986 to 1991; and a law clerk for U.S. District Judge Diana E. Murphy from 1984 to 1986.  Chutich earned her juris doctorate degree cum laude from the University of Michigan in 1984, and her bachelor of arts degree from the University of Minnesota in 1980.

Koch, of Bloomington, is an assistant United States Attorney in Minneapolis, a position he has held sine 2000.  He was an attorney and partner with the law firm of Downey, Brand, Seymour and Rohwer in Sacramento, California from 1997 to 2000, an attorney and shareholder with the law firm of Leonard, Street and Deinard in Minneapolis from 1991 to 1997, an area defense counsel with the United States Air Force at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland from 1990 to 1991, and a special assistant U.S. Attorney in the District of Maryland, as well as a prosecutor with the United States Air Force from 1988 to 1990.  Koch earned his juris doctorate degree from George Washington University in Washington, DC in 1988, and his bachelor of science degree from Duke University in Durham, NC in 1985.

McKeig, of Brooklyn Park, is an assistant county attorney in the Hennepin County Attorney's office in Minneapolis, a position she has held since 1992.  McKeig earned her juris doctorate degree from Hamline University School of Law in St. Paul in 1992, and her bachelor of arts degree from the College of St. Catherine in St. Paul in 1989.

Moreno, of Minneapolis, is an assistant Fourth Judicial District public defender in Hennepin County, a position he has held since 1991.  He was also a law clerk in the Hennepin County public defender's office from 1987 to 1990.  Moreno earned his juris doctorate degree from the University of Minnesota Law School in 1990, and his bachelor of arts degree from the University of Wisconsin at Madison in 1986.

The Commission on Judicial Selection screens judicial candidates and makes recommendations to the Governor for district court vacancies that occur during the term of a judge.  The commission consists of 13 members: nine at-large members and four members from the judicial district.  The commission members include attorneys and non-attorneys appointed by the Governor and the Minnesota Supreme Court.  The commission received 49 applications for these three judicial vacancies.