Local News

Curtis, Muszynski vie for probate, district judgeship

ALPENA -- November voters will choose who sits on the bench of the Alpena County Probate Court and 88th District Court come January.

Alan Curtis has claimed that seat since October 2021, when Gov. Gretchen Whitmer appointed him from among other applicants to fill the remaining half-term of retiring judge Thomas LaCross.

The victor in the Nov. 8 competition will fill the second half of LaCross's term and, if he or she wishes to retain the seat, have to run again in 2024.

Contender Cynthia Muszynski, current Alpena County Prosecutor, says voters should get to decide if Curtis keeps that seat.

Curtis said his experience, perspective, and ideas for bettering the court make him the better fit to retain the position.

Curtis brought experience with multiple aspects of the law to the judgeship, having previously worked as a district attorney -- the equivalent of a prosecutor -- in Colorado and having represented clients as a family law and personal injury lawyer and a defense attorney in Alpena.

Other work experiences in the private sector, including as an archaeologist and fighting forest fires, help him see court happenings from all sides, not just from behind the bench, Curtis said.

In the courtroom, he won't hesitate to hold parties accountable, he said, whether they be a person or entity breaking the law or the government levying accusations.

Probate court involves regular interaction with medical and housing centers responsible for the care of people struggling with mental illness or age-related health issues that might require the intervention of the court.

Curtis said he has prioritized building relationships with those entities to make sure they can quickly access the court to process mental health petitions or other health-related orders so the court doesn't become an impediment to swift medical care.

Curtis has begun gathering data from the court and police to determine whether the county could justify starting a mental health court. He plans to apply for state funding for such a court once the application period opens in spring, as long as the numbers show such a court to be in the community's best interest.

Until such a court exists, Curtis said, the county needs to bolster the mental health resources it already has and make sure those who need them can access them, connections he said he is trying to make by communicating with youth-run and other groups concerned about mental wellness.

To maintain its current drug court, the county must get that court's funding under control, said Curtis, who submitted a grant application to the state in hopes of creating a new position in Alpena County that would ensure more people complete drug court successfully and stay sober, he said.

With multiple retirements among longtime District Court employees recently, Curtis said he has used the turnover to analyze the court's routines and look for inefficiencies.

He invited the State Court Administrative Office to visit the 88th District Court to make sure that office works in compliance with state rules and provides appropriate transparency to the public, although the state has not yet been able to make that visit.

Since assuming the judgeship, Curtis revamped the court schedule to reduce overlaps with other courts that previously called for attorneys to show up in multiple courtrooms at once.

Curtis said he plans to continue in his current job for the next 25 years -- a plan challenger Muszynski hopes to upset.

The prosecutor said she wasn't intending to run for the judgeship until she learned of LaCross's impending retirement.

That change made the time right for her to try for a position she has had in her sights for a decade, Muszynski said.

Because whoever wins the November election will have to run again in two years -- when her prosecutor's seat will also be up for reelection -- waiting until then would mean she would have to run for only one of those positions, making now a better time to throw her hat in the ring, Muszynski said.

More importantly, she said, she ran now because voters didn't choose Curtis, and, now that they get to have a say in who fills the seat, she wants to give them a choice.

Thirteen years of experience working for the Alpena County Prosecutor's Office, and as chief prosecutor since March 2020, have exposed her to all sides of a court case, she said.

Prosecutors have to consider not only the law but also the life circumstances of the accused, the perspectives of the victim and other people affected, and the best interest of the community in making decisions, Muszynski said.

The prosecutor feels she has the required toughness to administer the law fairly and consistently and said she knows the law well enough to apply it from the bench.

Asked how she might improve courts as a judge, she said she doesn't yet have a clear understanding of the inner workings of that aspect of the court but would look to the community to tell her what they want and need from their courts if elected.

Muszynski said she has demonstrated leadership at the Prosecutor's Office by keeping the office operational in the middle of employee turnover and a resulting high case volume, exacerbated by changing state rules and a case backlog triggered by COVID-19 pandemic complications.

Saying she is passionate about the county's drug court and would like to increase her involvement with it, Muszynski said she wants to add a mental health court to the county.

While the prosecution and defense argue their sides based on what they think the law means, a judge focuses on what the law actually means, and, Muszynski said, she hopes to serve the county in that role.

This story has been updated after Alan Curtis was misidentified in a photo caption in an earlier version of this story.