Latest / Chuck Douglas / More With Candidate For Probate Judge Chris Junga

Transcript

More With Candidate For Probate Judge Chris Junga · Chuck Douglas

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  Speaker 1: Chuck Douglas to the power hour continuing on six, 10 WTVN. Uh,
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  Speaker 1: this guy wants to be a probate judge, which is probably, I,
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  Speaker 1: I won't say overlooked, but it's not a glamorous, you're
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  Speaker 1: not going to see, you know, reporting from the probate
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  Speaker 1: court on any new, they don't go down there and
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  Speaker 1: cover the big trials. It's, it's, it's not a headline
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  Speaker 1: judge job. It's kind of a behind the scenes. Wow.
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  Speaker 1: I didn't even know that was happening position. Um, Is
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  Speaker 1: your calling that strong to try to improve a system
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  Speaker 1: that you kind of like that whole behind-the-scenes thing? It is.
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  Speaker 1: I do.
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  Speaker 2: And I've kind of done quite a combination, quite a
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  Speaker 2: mix of practice. I've handled a lot of criminal defense
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  Speaker 2: in my day. I've done those cases where the news
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  Speaker 2: was reporting the verdict at noon. And while those are exciting,
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  Speaker 2: I feel that you should– I've always wanted to give
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  Speaker 2: back to the community. I've always wanted to be a
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  Speaker 2: public servant, but I didn't want to do it for
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  Speaker 2: the title or just the experience. I wanted to do
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  Speaker 2: it to where I could utilize my most– most of
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  Speaker 2: my experience. And at this point in my career, which
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  Speaker 2: has been 26 years long now in the legal community
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  Speaker 2: here in Franklin County, I have basically– two parts that
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  Speaker 2: kind of come together to form what I would think
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  Speaker 2: would make a court strong, or any court, or especially
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  Speaker 2: a probate court. And that is the trial experience, being
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  Speaker 2: in front of a court, knowing what works, what doesn't,
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  Speaker 2: the actual act of representing clients and knowing what your
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  Speaker 2: clients' expectations are. But more than that, probate, as I
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  Speaker 2: mentioned before, is its own island. It has 57 employees,
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  Speaker 2: seven magistrates. It's one of the only courtrooms that have
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  Speaker 2: its own dedicated clerk of courts. So in addition to
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  Speaker 2: the courtroom, the trial experience, you also have to have
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  Speaker 2: administrative experience. And I bring that to the table as well.
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  Speaker 2: I've been the head of two public defender offices, one
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  Speaker 2: in Ross County, which is down the road south in Chillicothe.
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  Speaker 2: I ran that office during COVID, which one of the
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  Speaker 2: things I was very proud about is we didn't shut down.
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  Speaker 2: We did what we were supposed to do. We looked
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  Speaker 2: after the safety of our employees, but we didn't stop
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  Speaker 2: trying cases. We didn't stop going to court. I didn't
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  Speaker 2: stop going to the jail to visit my clients and
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  Speaker 2: keep them informed about their cases. We kept the process going.
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  Speaker 2: Things screeched to a halt here in Franklin County, and
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  Speaker 2: unfortunately in some courts they never got back going again.
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  Speaker 2: So I have that administrative experience where I've managed good employees.
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  Speaker 2: I've surrounded myself with good people. I've hired good people.
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  Speaker 2: I've managed budgets. I've worked with the county in creating
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  Speaker 2: a better environment. county office. And those are skills that
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  Speaker 2: probate court needs in addition to being a judge and
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  Speaker 2: doing judge things at contested hearings.
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  Speaker 1: We talked off the air about, you know, my frustrations
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  Speaker 1: in the real estate capacity with the speed of the
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  Speaker 1: probate court. Are you empowered as a probate judge to
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  Speaker 1: have assistance like, you know, city council has their legislative
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  Speaker 1: aides that will read through and so forth that might
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  Speaker 1: speed that process up where they go, okay, Here you go, judge.
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  Speaker 1: This one's non-contested. The house is on the market. They
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  Speaker 1: want to sell. And you can say, yep, that's good.
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  Speaker 1: Sign off. And move those things along quicker because this–
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  Speaker 1: I literally have seen it take five months after an
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  Speaker 1: offer on a house which is still in probate before
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  Speaker 1: it's finally approved. And it just– that seems extraordinarily long.
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  Speaker 1: It is.
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  Speaker 2: And I think that can– a lot of that can
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  Speaker 2: be solved in-house in the probate court itself. We certainly
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  Speaker 2: obviously work with other government agencies. But I think the
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  Speaker 2: biggest problem and the biggest time saver is Stop having
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  Speaker 2: things set in a tray going unlooked at for weeks
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  Speaker 2: on end. I spoke earlier. One of my motivations for
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  Speaker 2: running for this office was practicing in probate as a
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  Speaker 2: pro se individual, as a grieving family member who was
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  Speaker 2: trying to get things done and trying to get things
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  Speaker 2: done in an expedited way. When I handled those matters,
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  Speaker 2: there are things that took me an hour and 10
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  Speaker 2: minutes by going down to the clerk of courts explaining
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  Speaker 2: what I needed, having some documents filled out. Even if
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  Speaker 2: I made an error, I was able to correct that here.
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  Speaker 2: Sometimes you put the wrong number in the wrong blank.
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  Speaker 2: As I said, it can sometimes be form-driven. You get
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  Speaker 2: that corrected. You get it filed. It goes in the back.
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  Speaker 2: It gets signed by the judge. The clerk stamped that,
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  Speaker 2: give you a certified copy, and you're off to the bank.
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  Speaker 2: You're off to your real estate agent. You have the
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  Speaker 2: document you need to make something happen. And I have
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  Speaker 2: seen that take an hour and 10 minutes. I've seen
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  Speaker 2: that take four or five weeks. And that's what motivates
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  Speaker 2: me to change.
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  Speaker 1: All right. Away from the candidate stuff, tell me about you.
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  Speaker 1: I know you're from Toledo. Aside from that, I don't
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  Speaker 1: know much about you.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, I'm from Toledo. But I've lived in Franklin County,
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  Speaker 2: pretty much Columbus and the surrounding areas for the past
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  Speaker 2: 26 years. My entire professional career has been here in
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  Speaker 2: central Ohio. I am married. My wife, Sarah, and I
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  Speaker 2: are a blended family. She has three children of her own.
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  Speaker 2: I have two. So we're juggling five children, and we
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  Speaker 2: got ranges from three in college and two in high school.
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  Speaker 2: So we got one at the University of Tennessee, one
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  Speaker 2: at Miami of Ohio. My daughter is a member of
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  Speaker 2: the best damn band in the land here at Ohio State.
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  Speaker 1: What's she play? The baritone. All right. Got some muscles
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  Speaker 1: on her, too.
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  Speaker 2: It's very exciting. She switched from a flute to a baritone,
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  Speaker 2: and we knew it would be kind of a challenge
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  Speaker 2: because she switched instruments, but she's on it, and she's
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  Speaker 2: been out on the field this season, and I'm amazingly
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  Speaker 2: proud of her. We got two in high school doing
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  Speaker 2: their own thing as well. One in the band, one
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  Speaker 2: who does competitive gymnastics, so I enjoy doing the dad stuff.
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  Speaker 2: We're pulling a lot of directions, but that's a good thing.
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  Speaker 1: And you really do resemble Treat Williams.
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  Speaker 2: You know, I do know who Treat Williams is. When
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  Speaker 2: I first heard that comparison was like a month or
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  Speaker 2: so before he unfortunately passed away. And I had to
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  Speaker 2: look him up and I was like, OK, I kind
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  Speaker 2: of remember those shows. And then literally a month later,
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  Speaker 2: he was all over the news. And that kind of
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  Speaker 2: stands out because up until then, I had not gotten
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  Speaker 2: that comparison. But since then, I get it all the time.
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  Speaker 1: He did. Was it with Kurt Russell? There was something
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  Speaker 1: where they were they were cop partners. I think it
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  Speaker 1: was with Kurt Russell. And I can't even remember the
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  Speaker 1: name of the movie. That was back in the probably
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  Speaker 1: late 80s. And the last role he had was playing
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  Speaker 1: a friend of Tom Selleck's on Blue Bloods who kept
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  Speaker 1: getting himself into trouble.
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  Speaker 2: I kind of remember that. All good 80s shows.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, you know, if I like it, it's from
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  Speaker 1: the 80s. If I really like it, it's from the
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  Speaker 1: early 80s. I never– nothing past 1987 pleases me. It's
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  Speaker 1: just how I am. Family on board with this? I mean,
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  Speaker 1: this– You're the candidate, but there's a stress level that
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  Speaker 1: comes with doing this kind of thing. The wife, the kids,
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  Speaker 1: they all have to adjust. Oh, my gosh, dad's out
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  Speaker 1: talking to somebody again. Dad's out. Are they doing okay
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  Speaker 1: with this? Are they behind you and helping out?
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  Speaker 2: They're doing great. They've been really supportive. I think that
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  Speaker 2: every now and then when I say, go put on
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  Speaker 2: a Jenga for Judge shirt again, they're like, really? You know,
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  Speaker 2: I'm picking them up with the car, with the magnets
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  Speaker 2: on it. I think my son gets a little tired
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  Speaker 2: of seeing his name displayed on so many things. But
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  Speaker 2: they took part in parades. We had some fun with that.
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  Speaker 2: We went to some church festivals all summer. We tried
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  Speaker 2: to be everywhere we could and get the message out.
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  Speaker 2: I have to give a huge shout-out to my wife.
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  Speaker 2: She's been incredibly supportive, kind of my de facto campaign
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  Speaker 2: manager as well. So she's come up with some great
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  Speaker 2: ideas to share our message, and she's been incredibly supportive.
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  Speaker 1: It's your first time out as a candidate for something,
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  Speaker 1: isn't it?
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  Speaker 2: You know, second.
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  Speaker 1: Second? Really? Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: I actually ran for judge here in Franklin County in 2010.
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  Speaker 2: I was not successful and then took some time off
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  Speaker 2: for work, school, family, life. I'm older and wiser now,
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  Speaker 2: got more experience behind my belt, both in the trial
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  Speaker 2: court level and the administrative level that I talked about.
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  Speaker 2: So I said I wanted to get back into it
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  Speaker 2: when I could do it right and do it the
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  Speaker 2: right way and make sure that I could really have
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  Speaker 2: the experience that I want to bring to the court.
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  Speaker 1: And a lot of door knocking? Are you going through
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  Speaker 1: the neighborhoods like so many candidates do?
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  Speaker 2: We've done a fair amount of that. I think some
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  Speaker 2: of the candidates in smaller jurisdictions probably have covered more ground.
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  Speaker 2: I know that I've worked with them and we've sort
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  Speaker 2: of split some responsibilities. There's a lot of doors in
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  Speaker 2: Franklin County.
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  Speaker 1: Yes.
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  Speaker 2: When you're running for state rep or state senate, I
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  Speaker 2: think you can cover a little bit more ground. I've
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  Speaker 2: done the best that I can do. But, again, I've
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  Speaker 2: relied a lot on– I've got some digital media going out.
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  Speaker 2: We just wanted to all summer just get out everywhere
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  Speaker 2: we could, every festival. If you're a church festival, I
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  Speaker 2: think I only missed two this summer. So I ate
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  Speaker 2: a lot of fair food, enjoyed that. But and again,
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  Speaker 2: we're down in early voting. So if you're coming out
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  Speaker 2: to early vote, look for me. I'll be I'll be
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  Speaker 2: in the parking lot. Feel free to ask me any questions.
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  Speaker 2: That's what I'm there for. So I'm happy to to
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  Speaker 2: meet you and to see what your concerns are.
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  Speaker 1: I was just wondering how you were received if you
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  Speaker 1: were doing the door knocking, because, as you said, you've
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  Speaker 1: got a county wide election as opposed to a district area.
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  Speaker 1: And just wondering how I my nature tells me that
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  Speaker 1: people appreciate. That face-to-face, one-on-one, couple of minutes on the doorstep,
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  Speaker 1: if they're not so partisan and so dedicated to one
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  Speaker 1: frame of mind that they don't listen to you. I
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  Speaker 1: don't want to hear it. Door slams. Okay, fine. But
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  Speaker 1: those who actually come out and say, who are you?
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  Speaker 1: What are you doing? And engage in that conversation. I honestly,
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  Speaker 1: I think that helps because people feel so disconnected from
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  Speaker 1: government at all levels these days that the fact that
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  Speaker 1: you bother to come out and say, hey, can I
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  Speaker 1: talk to you for a couple of minutes? No. I
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  Speaker 1: think that's meaningful to voters.
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  Speaker 2: We've been well-received. Sometimes I'm a little nervous because I'm
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  Speaker 2: afraid that people are going to think that I'm trying
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  Speaker 2: to sell them a new roof or put new windows
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  Speaker 2: on their house because I get a lot of those
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  Speaker 2: folks at my door. But no, when you do connect
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  Speaker 2: with somebody, they're happy to ask you questions. They're happy
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  Speaker 2: to see. When I'm at early voting, I've gotten a
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  Speaker 2: lot of response where people are like, you know, I'll
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  Speaker 2: hand somebody a literature that highlights my experience and my
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  Speaker 2: picture will be on it and they'll They'll look at me, wait,
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  Speaker 2: is that you? I'm like, yeah, of course. They're like, oh,
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  Speaker 2: my gosh, that's great.
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  Speaker 1: We are essentially down to about, what, 13 days now.
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  Speaker 2: I know. It's getting there.
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  Speaker 1: Do you have any events coming up this week or
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  Speaker 1: any places where people can come out and meet you,
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  Speaker 1: see you?
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  Speaker 2: Early voting is going to be the big thing. There's
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  Speaker 2: a couple of events where some campaign volunteers are hosting
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  Speaker 2: us at their house. We're trying to get some more
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  Speaker 2: yard signs out. So, again, if anybody wants a yard
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  Speaker 2: sign– You can Google me. It's electjungajudge.com on the website.
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  Speaker 2: You can click there and find out ways that you
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  Speaker 2: can message me to get one place there. So we
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  Speaker 2: have a number of things set up like that, that
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  Speaker 2: I have some volunteers just kind of having some picnics
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  Speaker 2: and meet the candidate mornings, coffee and donuts. But we're
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  Speaker 2: just going to be trying to be out everywhere that
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  Speaker 2: we can.
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  Speaker 1: You and everybody else running for office right now is
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  Speaker 1: truly blessed with what's happening with the weather because we
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  Speaker 1: should be cold, windy, and wet right now. And we've got,
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  Speaker 1: you know, an entire week, week and a half of
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  Speaker 1: nothing but beautiful. So if you have to be out there,
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  Speaker 1: at least it's nice.
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  Speaker 2: It's fantastic. We're out at early voting the past two days.
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  Speaker 2: And it's so warm that I actually got stung by
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  Speaker 2: a bee while I was campaigning. So while I enjoy
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  Speaker 2: being out in the sun, I think it's still keeping
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  Speaker 2: the bugs out a little bit.
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  Speaker 1: All right. As has been my tradition this year, we
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  Speaker 1: get toward the end of the show. And I want
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  Speaker 1: to make sure that I give a couple of minutes
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  Speaker 1: at the end, basically, for you to just make your case,
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  Speaker 1: how people reach you. Anything that you feel is pertinent,
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  Speaker 1: folks need to know. I get out of your way
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: and let you go. And I think we've reached that
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  Speaker 1: point of the Power Hour this time around. So his
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  Speaker 1: name is Chris Younga. Here he is. Well, thanks, Chuck.
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  Speaker 2: I appreciate the time and the opportunity to get my
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  Speaker 2: message out. And again, if you're looking on the ballot,
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  Speaker 2: it's going to be spelled with a J. So I'm
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  Speaker 2: going to go with Chris Younga, which is what all
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  Speaker 2: my teachers ended up calling me, even though it's really Younga. Again,
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  Speaker 2: you know, I want to. I want to improve government.
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  Speaker 2: I've wanted to do that since before I went to
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  Speaker 2: law school. I went to law school. I fell in
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  Speaker 2: love with the law. And then I still had that
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  Speaker 2: desire in me to serve the public. And I wanted
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  Speaker 2: to do it in a way that my experience and
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  Speaker 2: what I felt I was good at would come into play.
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  Speaker 2: And I believe that's probate court. I think it needs improvements.
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  Speaker 2: I think I'm the guy to get those improvements through.
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  Speaker 2: I have the trial practice. I've been in court pretty
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  Speaker 2: much every day.
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  Speaker 1: I've held off.
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  Speaker 2: I've served as two public defender directors. In that capacity,
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  Speaker 2: I have.
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  Speaker 1: Looked at budgets.
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  Speaker 2: I've hired good people. I've ran offices. It takes both
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  Speaker 2: of that to be a good probate judge. So that's
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  Speaker 2: what I want to bring. I want to bring accessibility
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  Speaker 2: and responsiveness again. I've had some good experiences and some
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  Speaker 2: bad experiences in different probate courts, and I want to
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  Speaker 2: make sure those good experiences happen here. I've represented clients
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  Speaker 2: over the years, hundreds of thousands of clients. I know
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  Speaker 2: what the expectations are. And the one thing that kind
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  Speaker 2: of stays true, no matter what type of law it is,
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  Speaker 2: they want their case to be adjudicated quickly. They want
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  Speaker 2: to get it behind them. They want justice to be served.
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  Speaker 2: They want it to be fair. But they don't want
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  Speaker 2: a lot of delays, and they want things to happen.
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  Speaker 2: They want somebody who can get things done. And I
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  Speaker 2: believe I'm that get-it-done candidate.
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  Speaker 1: All right. Social media presence. You're on Facebook.
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  Speaker 2: We're on Facebook, electjungajudge.com. We're on Instagram, also electjungajudge. So
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: look for those two things. Web page, www.electjungajudge.com. It's got
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: my bio. It's got a way to reach out to me.
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  Speaker 2: I'm going to answer any questions that anyone might have.
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  Speaker 2: Any listeners out there, if you've got a question, shoot
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  Speaker 2: me an email. Give me a call. There's ways to
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  Speaker 2: contact me. And the same way that I'm going to
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  Speaker 2: be in court, I promise I'm going to be responsive
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  Speaker 2: to everybody. I'm going to do the same as a candidate.
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  Speaker 1: All right. If you missed any of this or you think,
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: what did he say? I miss whatever that Zach will
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: have the podcast posted shortly after the show ends tonight.
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: All you have to do is go to either 610
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  Speaker 1: WTV and dot com or I heart media dot com
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  Speaker 1: and put Chuck Douglas up there in the thing. And boom,
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: you'll see Chris Junga and you can listen to the
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: podcast that way, as well as all the other candidates
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: that we've had in here for the past few weeks.