Judge David Densford, 60, of California was appointed by Governor O’Malley to the bench last December and according to Maryland law has to stand for election by the voters to serve a full 15-year term. He is opposed in the November 6 election by Assistant State’s Attorney Joseph Stanalonis, 41, of Hollywood. (Editor’s Note: Mr. Stanalonis was offered an interview via phone call to his office twice and in person three times. The final request was made following the League of Women’s Voters Forum on October 18. He was provided with a business card with a phone number and was also told that his secretary had the phone number in case he misplaced it. He was offered a Monday, October 22 date at a time of his convenience although another date could have been arranged before the opening of early voting. He said he would have to check his schedule and promised a return call to arrange a specific time for an interview in his office. He never called). Judge Densford was interviewed in his office by Bay Net Editor Dick Myers on October 23.

The Bay Net (TBN): Reflect back to that initial decision, I don’t know what age you were, that you said “Ah Hah I want to be a lawyer?”

Judge David Densford: Well it takes long-term memory, I tell you that. My dad was a judge and lawyer for the Navy. So from the time I was born talking to my father about the law, things like the Vietnam War and presidential elections I very much admired his thought process. That which we talk to our parents about and expect kind of instant answer, this is obvious isn’t it, but it was not so obvious to somebody trained in the law. He would always say, “Well let’s consider this.” I went off to get educated and my brother Joe came back before I did to practice law in Leonardtown. He was good at it then and he is now. I was in journalism for a good while. And as I said at the forum the other night, when Charlie Molitor (the late former publisher of the Enterprise) said, “Son you need to go back to college,” I went back to college. I enjoyed journalism very much, but when it was clear I wasn’t going to get a call from CBS or NBC to be their nightly anchor… Maryland Public Television hired me while I was in law school and I did “Up on the Farm” and enjoyed every second of it. I liked being in broadcasting and television. I did radio for WMUC at the University of Maryland. I was a writer for the National Law Journal. I enjoyed that. I have always joked that since journalism and law are often held in low esteem by the public that I left journalism and went into the law because I wanted to be loved. Well if that were the case it sure is not working out (laughs).

TBN: Do you think that at some point Joe said he was enjoying what he was doing and you might want to consider it?

Densford

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