We want to take moment to commend senior resident superior court judge Andrew “Andy” Hanford who took the all too infrequent occasion this week to elevate considerations of merit over partisanship.
As of earlier this fall (with the retirement of then-resident superior court judge Tom Lambeth), Hanford became the county’s top judge, i.e., its senior resident superior court judge.
Hanford, who is a Democrat – who, we might add, has done a commendable job as one of the county’s two superior court judges over the past six years – has chosen to elevate the assistant clerk, who happens to be a Republican, to serve as the county’s next clerk of superior court.
Kristie Culler, a long-standing and well-qualified assistant in the clerk of court’s office, will take over in January when the county’s current clerk, Meredith Tuck Edwards, takes her new post as a district court judge.
She will serve for the remainder of Edwards’ term, through 2026, and we wish her well.
In this age of seemingly increasing hyper-partisanship, it is refreshing, indeed, to see someone make a decision based strictly on the caliber of the candidate, rather than his or her partisan affiliation.
However, such impartiality is precisely the reputation we believe judge Hanford has demonstrated and which he reinforced this week.
