Two Democrats are running for Clerk of Superior Court, following Clerk Steve Cogburn‘s unexpected retirement in January 2023, announced shortly after his 2022 reelection.
The role is a hybrid administrative and judicial position. Along with filing, processing, indexing and preserving court documents, the clerk supervises more than 60 employees and serves as a probate judge. When on the bench, the clerk determines the legality of wills, appoints and removes representatives for family estates, and presides over incompetency and guardianship proceedings. The position is a four-year term.
Jean Marie Christy
Website: christyforclerk.com
Occupation: Clerk of Superior Court
Why are you running?
I’m running to keep this position because I love the job!
I grew up in the Buncombe County Courthouse. My dad, Bob Christy, was the Clerk of Superior Court from 1990 to 2008. What I saw then and continue to see now is that the clerk’s office has the greatest impact on courthouse culture. If we are helpful, courteous, professional and compassionate to all who come in the courthouse, then we set the tone and can make the often overwhelming legal processes and experiences more understandable and positive.
How will you make the court more efficient?
The N.C. Administrative Office of the Courts system is transitioning from a paper-based system to an electronic-based system and will go live in Buncombe County in July, and I will be the leader at the courthouse for this change. To prepare for this exciting transition, I have accessed trainings to eCourts online and in person in Raleigh at the AOC office. I have workshopped challenges with counties where eCourts has already gone live and have prepared our staff as best as possible for this change. This transition will require energy, tenacity and positivity, and my staff and I are excited for this challenge.
What in your background makes you well qualified for this position?
I was born and raised here in Buncombe County, where I went to Reynolds. Go Rockets! Growing up here, I learned that treating people kindly and hearing their problems, even if you don’t have the ability to solve them, is one of the most effective ways to serve the public. Before becoming clerk, I was an assistant public defender. I loved being a public defender because I served people in their time of great need. This offered an unparalleled education in understanding the courthouse, the legal system and how to work within a larger framework while addressing individual needs.
How will you balance being an independent judge and elected official in a partisan race?
The clerk’s job is to serve all citizens of Buncombe County and anyone who has business in the Buncombe County Courthouse. We are dedicated to maintaining an office that focuses on access to justice. It’s critical and required to follow the rules of evidence, and I think it’s also important to allow people to tell as much of their story as they can. Only then can you get a picture of what is really going on in the case, in order to make the most equitable and fair decision possible.
Johanna Finkelstein
Website: johannaforclerk.com
Occupation: Attorney at Sneed & Stearns in Black Mountain
Why are you running?
I worked for 10 years as the chief hearing officer in the clerk’s office. I would like to continue and expand the work I accomplished working for Clerk Steve Cogburn: to improve and ensure the office’s public-service culture and coordinate and expand communication with all offices in the courthouse. This is crucial for the efficient running of the courthouse. I have the experience and reputation to ensure that cooperation occurs.
How will you make the court more efficient?
The upcoming transition to eCourts will help with efficiency, however office systems and practices must be modernized. We must have improved and expanded conversations with the public and employees regarding the various responsibilities, functions and limits of the office. We must improve community service and satisfaction. No one wants to lose an hour, much less a day, traveling from office to office in the courthouse trying to get an answer to a single question. If you spend less time in a courthouse, your voice is heard, equal respect is given, and just results are reached, then the clerk’s office is doing its job.
What in your background makes you well qualified for this position?
Experience matters. For 10 years I was the chief hearing officer for the clerk. I judged cases concerning estates, probate, partitions of real property, bank foreclosures, adoptions and name changes, among other things. I earned a reputation as a judge who listens closely, reasons carefully and makes the right decisions. My work as an attorney has taken me to every type of court at the Buncombe County Courthouse — criminal, juvenile, family law, civil, small claims and matters before the clerk. All of this experience makes me most qualified to be the next clerk of Superior Court for Buncombe County.
How will you balance being an independent judge and elected official in a partisan race?
There is nothing partisan in determining matters such as does this person need a guardian? Is this name change reasonable? Or does this real property need to be sold to pay estate debts? When hearing cases, I believe in allowing all parties the opportunity to be heard. I then assess the credibility of the evidence and apply that evidence to the law. While the position of clerk of court is decided in a partisan election, there should be nothing partisan in the office. Not in hiring, not in how we decide cases and not in how we treat the public.
Editor’s Note: This article was updated on Feb. 15 to correct a candidate’s title. Jean Marie Christy is the Clerk of Court. The position is not interim.
I crossed paths with Johannah in the Clerk’s office when I was being stalked by an angry neighbor illegally abusing our quiet neighborhood for her nuisance flophouse motel, an AIRBNB toxic nuisance. I have to level with you that Johannah is a genuine offspring, or by-product, of Steve Cogburn — condescending, hateful, obnoxious, dishonest, and a fierce enemy of due process of law. It’s hard for me to fathom she would have the audacity to run for this office.