Supreme Court hopefuls Bob Bastress and Menis Ketchum fared best among West Virginia lawyers quizzed about the 2008 judicial candidates.

Chief Justice Elliott "Spike'' Maynard received the lowest overall score in the Supreme Court field. He also elicited more responses than any other candidate in the survey.

More than 1,620 lawyers, about 35 percent of the West Virginia Bar's in-state membership, rated candidates for Supreme Court and circuit judge in the Bar's latest survey.

Bastress, a West Virginia University law professor, and Ketchum, a Huntington lawyer, each rated "good'' for their overall qualifications for office.

The survey asked lawyers to rank the candidates from "outstanding'' to "poor'' in such categories as legal ability, diligence, decisiveness and courtesy to others. Two of the Supreme Court's five seats are on the ballot this year, along with the state's 66 circuit judgeships. Family Court judges are also up for election this year, though the survey did not include any of those candidates.

Republican Beth Walker scored next highest among the high court contenders, followed by former Justice Margaret Workman and then Maynard. The trio's scores placed each between "adequate'' and "good.''

A Charleston lawyer admitted to practice in 1990, Walker also received the fewest responses among the Supreme Court candidates. About 660 of the participating lawyers rated her in the survey.

Maynard also received the lowest score of any sitting judicial officer in the survey for the category covering integrity, moral courage and impartiality. Seeking a second term, the Democrat has faced conflict-of-interest questions since a photo surfaced showing him in Monaco with Massey Energy Co. chief executive Don Blankenship.

Several Massey-related appeals were at or headed to the Supreme Court at the time of the July 2006 Riviera photo. The two men have since cited their decades-long friendship, saying they decided to meet up while traveling separately in Europe.

Maynard has recused himself from several cases featuring the coal producer in the wake of the photo's January release. He blames the resulting "public perception'' for his stepping down, maintaining that he could otherwise continue hearing those appeals. Alleging a political conspiracy for driving the story, which has grabbed national media attention, Maynard has also argued that he has ruled against Massey's interests in cases before his court.

A Maynard campaign spokeswoman could not immediately comment on the survey results Tuesday.

Candidates for circuit judge were rated by lawyers from within those districts. Judge Alan Moats, in the circuit serving Taylor and Barbour counties, received the survey's top scores. With all responding lawyers from his circuit weighing in, Moats received rating at or near "outstanding'' in all seven categories.

G. Todd Houck, a candidate for circuit judge in Wyoming County, garnered "poor'' ratings for the lowest score of the survey.

In Kanawha County, Judge Irene C. Berger received the highest rating of the circuit's seven judges, scoring between "good" and "outstanding" in every category, as did Judge Jim Stucky. The remaining five judges all ranked between "adequate" and "good" in overall qualifications.

Charleston lawyer John Hackney Jr., the only non-incumbent in November's general election, received the lowest overall rating of any Kanawha candidate.

In Putnam County, Judge O.C. "Hobby" Spaulding fared the best, with ratings between "good" and "outstanding" in every category. The other three Democratic candidates - Rosalee Juba-Plumley, David Hill and Phillip Stowers - all rated between "adequate" and "good" overall.

Judge Ed Eagloski, a Republican who faces no opposition in next month's primary, had the lowest ranking of any Putnam County candidate. His scores include a rating between "poor" and "adequate" in the category of Intelligence/Reasoning Ability.

The firm R.L. Repass & Partners Inc. conducted the survey by e-mail and regular mail for the state Bar, which oversees West Virginia's lawyers and has been querying members on judicial candidates in primary elections since 1976.

Gazette staff writer Andrew Clevenger contributed to this report.