Hoquiam attorney Ray Kahler received the highest ratings from Grays Harbor County Bar Association members who considered among four candidates to fill a coming judgeship vacancy on the Grays Harbor County Superior Court. Judge Mark McCauley is retiring at the end of this year.

Last week, Bar Association Secretary Jason Quackenbush released a statement that said 50 of the Bar Association members out of the active 67 total members returned evaluation forms ranking the four candidates in a number of categories, and those results were tabulated and sent to Gov. Jay Inslee, who will make the appointment late this month or early in November.

All four candidates — Kahler, Jean Cotton, David Mistachkin and Andrea Vingo — were interviewed by the governor’s general counsel, deputy general counsel, County Prosecutor Katie Svoboda and the three current Superior Court judges in late September. The evaluations will be another tool Gov. Inslee can use to base his final decision.

In the survey, candidates were ranked in the categories of legal ability, judicial temperament, integrity and relevant legal experience. Kahler far outpaced the competition, placing first in every category, with Cotton a distant second and well ahead of third- and fourth-ranked candidates Mistachkin and Vingo.

The results were tabulated Oct. 11 by a committee made up of Quackenbush, Grays Harbor Bar Association Vice President Geoff Arnold and Grays Harbor County Bar Association Past President Zach Edwards at the Law Office of William Stewart in Montesano.