"My judicial philosophy is 'be fair,'" said judge who later signed warrants in sheriff’s election probe

This article is in reference to Southern California News Group's article: ‘We’re so fortunate to have Chad Bianco,’ said judge who later signed warrants in sheriff’s election probe_._

Jay Kiel praised judicial impartiality when running for a seat on the Riverside Superior Court bench.

Since then, at Riverside Sheriff Chad Bianco's request, he has approved a search warrant that authorized a recount of the Riverside ballots submitted in the November election, under the court's supervision.

Inland Empire Law Weekly has joined a coalition of media that have petitioned the Supreme Court to unseal the warrants, affidavits and other court documents related to the recount.

The Southern California News Group published an article April 6 that implied Kiel should have recused himself from the approval of search warrants because Riverside Sheriff Chad Bianco endorsed Kiel. Almost every judge elected to local office has been endorsed by either the county sheriff, the public defender, or the district attorney.

The article implies that Kiel's comments regarding Bianco on a podcast three years ago while running for office gave his ruling a perception of bias.

A more complete version of Kiel's comments on the podcast have been transcribed below.

"My judicial philosophy is be fair. That's what it really comes down to. I always pride myself on my character, my work ethic, and my integrity. My judicial philosophy, I want to take all of that, that I developed over 15 years of being a prosecutor, and bring it over to the bench. Be fair. Be impartial. You're no longer an advocate at that point in time. You are now the one that has to listen. You have to listen. You have to have that open ear to each individual as they're going through a very tough time in their life. At that point in time, you can't be one side or another."

"You have to follow the law. You have to be willing to stand on your own. You have to be willing to stand up. You're in the position to protect the people of Riverside County. That's what it comes down to. Not every sentence deserves the hammer, by any stretch of the imagination. But you have to look at each case on its own, and be willing to stand up for what's right, and what is in the best interest of the citizens of Riverside County."

"As a judge, you have to try to find, and stick with the law that's written, and what we have, and do the best you can, but not be afraid to just lay down because it's difficult."

"I think that accountability is key. If you're going to stand up for something, then you have to be willing to back it. I would have no issue with any sentence that I have ever handed down, that I couldn't stand up, and be like, 'this is why I did it,' and have every reason for it. I think if you're going to hand out a sentence, you should be able to justify it."

"I think the major change we need to bring what now, we need to bring a bit of balance back to the bench. We're losing that perspective. We're only seeing one perspective right now. We're seeing a lot of legislation coming out of Sacramento that happens to be one-sided. Then when you have a judicial bench that is also that same one-sided, I don't think you're getting perspective from the other side. I think that's one the reasons that we're (Kiel and other prosecutors in the race) running, is, we're trying to bring that balance back to the bench. I've always held my career out as being a silent professional. I've never come in this looking for notoriety, to be famous, none of that. But after a while, and seeing what's going on, at some point in time, we have to make a decision to step up, and bring some balance to the bench."

"I think there is some change that needs. I think we need judges who are willing to stand up, not be afraid, I think they need to follow the law as it's written. We see so many judges that are legislating from the bench. We need judges that are willing to stand up and say, this is the law, and I'm going to follow it."

"I want to be held accountable. I want to be held accountable to the people of Riverside County. That's who I serve. I've served the people of Riverside County for the past 15 years, and I want to continue serving them, but in this capacity, I want to be held accountable. If they do not think that I am doing a good job, that I am making their community a better place, then, absolutely, in six years, run somebody against me."

"The people of Riverside County, I don't think sometimes they realize how fortunate they are. They have Sheriff Chad Bianco, then they have District Attorney Mike Hestrin. These two are unbelievable when it comes to enforcing the law. People may give them a hard time because they are doing their jobs. They enforce the law. Chad Bianco and all his deputies, they go out, and they aggressively enforce the law. We have a district attorney that enforces the law as it's written. You go now to LA, where the law enforcement is not getting the respect from the district attorney's office. They're out working hard. They're not getting the respect of the community, because it's coming from the district attorney, who is refusing to follow and enforce the law. So as I said, being the Texas in California, we're so fortunate to be in Riverside County, and you can absolutely see the changes. That is why Riverside County's population is blowing up, the money is coming to Riverside County, it's leaving the other counties, because what we have here is so different from what's in Los Angeles County. We are so fortunate to have Chad Bianco. We are so fortunate to have Mike Hestrin. I think if we stick with that path, and we continue, we will always be different from Los Angeles and we do not need to become another LA."

"All four of us (prosecutors running for judge) are aggressive prosecutors. I'm not going to sugarcoat it. I'm going to stand up and tell you what I am, but I've always been fair. That's what I can say about Natalie Lough, Jason Stone, and Kristi Kirk. They're aggressive, hard-charging prosecutors, but they've always been fair. It's not about winning. It's about doing what's right. We all share that same mentality. This isn't a partisan race. This isn't about conservative, this isn't about liberal. This is about doing what's right."