PORT ANGELES – Someone will be shopping for judicial robes by year’s end, now that Clallam County commissioners have approved a third judge for Superior Court.

Whoever it is, he or she may deserve a spending spree, even if it’s only for clothes in basic black.

The county’s newest judge must run for the $131,988 job at least once this year – but possibly twice – and faces another round of elections to keep the post beyond 2008.

Commissioners on Tuesday officially decided to fund the position.

The vote was 2 to one, with Commissioners Steve Tharinger, D-Dungeness, and Mike Doherty, D-Port Angeles, voting for “funding for the existing and third judicial positions for 2008 and beyond.”

It was the “beyond,” they’ve said, that had made them reluctant to fund half the judge’s salary – the state pays the rest – and the wages of support personnel.

Commissioner Mike Chapman quietly said, “No” when asked to cast his vote.