Kristin Judge Resigns from County Board
Kristin Judge is resigning from the Washtenaw County board of commissioners, effective Oct. 9. She went public with the news on Friday morning, sending a formal letter of resignation to board chair Conan Smith. A Democrat who was first elected in November 2008, Judge represents District 7, which covers Pittsfield Township. She was re-elected in November 2010 to a two-year term, which ends in December 2012.
From left: Washtenaw County commissioners Dan Smith (R-District 2), Kristin Judge (D-District 7), and Wes Prater (D-District 4), attending a meeting earlier this year of the county reapportionment commission. Judge announced her resignation from the county board on Friday.
Judge has accepted a job with the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC), which could put her in conflict with her elected role.
“My new position will focus on outreach efforts and will involve working with local governments across the nation,” Judge said in a written statement. “In my current role as county commissioner, I have been involved in cyber security initiatives at the local, state and federal level. To avoid an appearance of conflict between my role as commissioner and my new position, it is best served that I resign from elected office before beginning work with local governments across the country.” [.pdf of press release] [.pdf of resignation letter]
At a county board retreat earlier this year, Judge cited issues of public safety, and her activism against Walmart – because of safety issues the store in Pittsfield Township posed – as reasons prompting her to run for office in 2008. She’s been active in public safety issues on the local, state and national levels, and more recently in efforts related specifically to cyber security. [Full Story]