AUGUSTA -Gov. John Baldacci announced Wednesday he is nominating Bangor lawyer Warren Silver, the governor’s personal lawyer and political supporter who served as treasurer of the Baldacci inaugural and transition commission, for a post on the Maine Supreme Judicial Court.
Silver, 57, who has served on the board of governors of the Maine Trial Lawyers Association and is chairman of the state supreme court’s civil rules committee, would replace Paul Rudman, who is stepping down July 1.
Silver’s nomination is subject to review by the Legislature’s Judiciary Committee and to Senate confirmation.
“Warren Silver is highly regarded in the Maine legal community. I am proud to bring his nomination forward,” Baldacci said in a brief statement.
Silver, who is also known as a lawyer for author Stephen King, has been chairman of the governor’s judicial selection advisory committee since Jan. 8, 2003, which was the day Baldacci took the oath of office as governor, according to a Silver resume given to The Associated Press by Baldacci’s press office.
In a telephone interview, Silver said he would welcome an opportunity, if confirmed, to join in the deliberations of Maine’s law court and also in effect serve on the court system’s board of directors.
“Having been in the system a long time, you develop lots of opinions,” Silver said, speaking of his interest on the administrative side of a justice’s job.
Referring to his experience screening judicial candidates, Silver said, “I know what it takes to be a good judge.”
Silver said he had been active in Baldacci campaigns for governor and Congress.
Baldacci suggested Wednesday he had not always thought of Silver as a personal lawyer.
“He’s never sent me a bill,” the governor said.
But Baldacci, amid some back-and-forth in his State House office with chief gubernatorial counsel Kurt Adams, dropped any distinction between his relationship with Silver, whom he also called “a friend of mine,” and the ordinary relationships between clients and lawyers.
Silver is a graduate of Presque Isle High School and Tufts University, and received his law degree from the American University Washington College of Law in 1973, Baldacci’s office said.
Rudman, 70, on April 1 announced his intention to retire from the bench. The Bangor native, whose father was a law court justice, practiced law for 32 years before his appointment to the supreme court in 1992.
Rudman had been a campaign treasurer for then U.S. Rep. Olympia Snowe before he was selected for the supreme court by Gov. John McKernan, Snowe’s husband.
Maine’s seven-member supreme court is led by Chief Justice Leigh Saufley. Members serve seven-year terms.
The Legislature’s Judiciary Committee is co-chaired by Sen. Barry Hobbins, D-Saco, and Rep. Deborah Pelletier-Simpson, D-Auburn.
Baldacci’s office also announced two nominations to the board of the Maine State Retirement System, incumbent Catherine Sullivan of Portland and Kenneth Williams of Damariscotta.
Additionally, proposed for the Maine Land Use Regulation Commission were Gwendolyn Hilton of Starks and three incumbents: Stephen Wight of Newry, Ernest Harvey of Millinocket and Edward Laverty of Milo.
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