Neither Levey or Cohen Should Be Judge

BY BUDDY NEVINS

Shame on you, Mardi Levey.  

Or should I say, shame on you, Mardi Cohen.

Your use of your maiden name on the ballot triggered a lawsuit.  It wasted thousands of dollars in taxpayers’ money to print and reprint ballots.   

Your charade complicated an election already difficult to run.

Why?  An overwhelming desire to be on the bench?  Ambition that caused you to use the name Levey instead of the name you use in everyday life, Cohen?

I’m not a lawyer so I’m not going to second guess the Fourth District Court of Appeal.   On Wednesday, justices reversed a trial judge who said your use of the name Levey was wrong.
 
The judge ruled that you shouldn’t be on the ballot.  The justices said the judge was wrong and you can run in November

The appeals court may be right on the law.   Your candidacy, Levey/Cohen, still doesn’t pass the smell test. 

The state Constitution, Article V, states: “No person is eligible for the office of circuit judge unless the person is, and has been for the preceding five years, a member of the bar of Florida.

There is no person named Mardi Levey who is a member of the Florida Bar.   There is a Bar member named Mardi Cohen, but that is not the name that appeared on the ballot.

 The Code of Judicial Ethics states a judicial candidate “shall not knowingly misrepresent the identity, qualifications, present position or other fact concerning themselves.

Didn’t  Mardi Levey/Cohen “knowingly misrepresent her identity?

The appeals justices were reluctant to overturn the August primary, where Levey/Cohen narrowly came in second winning a place in the general election.

The appeal said a protest against her qualifications should have been filed before the election was held.

Maybe.  Probably.

But this is clear from reading the nine-page appeal court decision:

The justices never said Levey/Cohen should be elected judge.
 
I’m saying that Levey/Cohen threw her candidacy away.  She threw it away when she chose to run under her maiden name, a name she doesn’t use in her legal practice or in her life. 

We need judges who are above the sleazy tricks of politics, like switching your name to make it easier to get elected.

If the choice in November is between Bernard “Bernie Bober and Mardi Levey/Cohen, we need Bober to be elected.

 



7 Responses to “Neither Levey or Cohen Should Be Judge”

  1. anonymous says:

    Buddy, are you going to write an article after the 4th DCA throws out the law suit for having no merit? Are you going to write about how the Fat Cat Republican lawyers just waisted $75,000 of the Broward taxpayers money trying to manipulate another election. Isn’t this the same attorney who tried to prevent Al Gore’s votes from being counted in Broward. Isn’t this why people hate lawyers? Don’t forget Buddy, there are numerous high ranking female politicians in Broward who use their maiden name in public life and their married name in private life. Don’t be such a sexist. Write that article Buddy, write it!!!!!

  2. why? says:

    The big question – why? I know what her so-called explanation is, but really, nothing makes good sense here.

  3. Mister Courthouse says:

    Ms. Cohen needs to quit the race now, before her husband the judge has no friends left inthe courthouse.

  4. Someone please answer Mr. Why? says:

    If People are going off of Jewish surnames, then why? Is there a diff between Levey and Cohen I dont understand?

    FROM BUDDY: It beats me. I think the woman lost under the name Cohen, so she decided to run under a different name.
    She says she used the name Levey because she didn’t want to ride on the coattails of her husband, Judge Dale Cohen.

  5. Jared Anton says:

    Actually, the real “villan” in this legal episode is soon-to-be former Judge Pedro Dijoles. He testified that he knew that Levey/Cohen was using the wrong name but waited until after the election to challenge her. He wanted his second bite at the apple: beat her in the election (which he could not do) or wait until after the election to challenge her. No wonder he’s no longer going to be a judge. He comes in third in a fair election and then claims he was “defrauded” so he can try again to beat Bober. In truth, it’s all academic since Bober had more than enough support in the first election to beat both of them and he will beat Dijoles-on-the-ballor Levey-the-actual-vote-getter in the election.

  6. Marty Rubinstein says:

    This particular election cycle has once again shown Broward’s election system to be the joke of the nation and the average voter will not understand that their vote going to Dijols is for Levey/Cohen despite the printed notifications should they even bother to read it at all.

    There’s plenty of blame to go around, from Levey/Cohen to the courts to Dijols, and yes, even Brenda Snipes for continuing the printing of the bad ballot. Somebody needs to file an injunction in order to stop the count on this particular item and require a special election instead.

    Will it cost the taxpayer more? Considering the probable lawsuits that have yet to raise their ugly heads, probably not much of a differential. But at least those voters who do turn out for such a special election would know exactly who they’re voting for.

    …and to Anonymous, enough already with the complaints of Al Gore’s fiasco in 2000 and all of the conspiracy theories, real or imagined. Had Gore won his home state of Tennessee (11) or Clinton’s Arkansas (6), Florida would not have mattered at all.

    And, Buddy, there’s one person in Florida who could have swung the election in Gore’s favor. I know who, how and why.

  7. Johnnie Goods says:

    I am continuosly amazed at the corruption,stupidy and ignorance that BROWARD COUNTY cannot get rid of. From the Judges to the sherrifs
    and so on. We need to start over and get rid of this good ole boy network!