Donnie, it's Jim Jones and Bill Peach (speaking for judge Rick Porter) who want to appoint a current (appointed) judge to the newly-created County  job of selecting who plays for the defense  --  exactly the situation you deplore.

Listening to the advice of our real judges  --  the ones we elected  --  is nothing  like what you describe.  It's just acknowledging that the local experts, and local lawyers  --  whom the County is assuming will step up and fill in behind Clallam PD even though they have said repeatedly they will not  --  know what makes sense in our small legal community.