A Question And An Answer About Mike Satz
Here is an e-mail exchange I had with Sunrise Commissioner Sheila Alu about her boss, State Attorney Mike Satz.
Satz
It was triggered by widespread rumors in the courthouse that she is gearing up for a campaign against Satz in 2012.
Any campaign might make things uncomfortable for Alu. She works for Satz as an assistant state attorney.
Alu is a savvy campaigner who beat an incumbent in 2001 to win her seat on the Sunrise commission.
Alu
Satz would be no pushover. He raised $132,778 last year without breaking a sweat and without an opponent.
He’s been in office for 33 years and knows everybody in politics. It is that longevity that is a problem to some of his critics.
In addition, you can’t be in office as long as Satz and have not made some enemies.
Alu has been embroiled for the past year in a she-said she-said courthouse scandal with Circuit Judge Ana Gardiner concerning a death penalty case.
Alu accuses Gardiner of discussing the case with the prosecutor outside of court — a no-no. Gardiner denies it.
The scandal wouldn’t effect Alu one way or another if she ran. It is an inside baseball courthouse story voters only care that a dirt bag was locked up and not if Gardiner did something wrong. Or if Alu is lying.
Here is the e-mail, which I reversed the order for easier reading. Her answer is ambiguous and you can read into it what you will:
From: Buddy Nevins
To: SheilaDAlu
Sent: Thu, 14 May 2009 4:09 pm
Subject:
SO WHAT’S THIS ABOUT YOU RUNNING FOR SATZ’S JOB? TRUE? KEEPING THE DOOR OPEN?
From: SheilaDAlu
To: Buddy Nevins
Yeah I saw that on the blog. No I’m not running for state attorney not at this point anyway…
May 17th, 2009 at 1:52 pm
the race is 5 years away, a lot of time to reconsider….
FROM BUDDY: A little over three years to the 2012 Democratic primary.
May 18th, 2009 at 5:05 am
Mike Satz is a very steady and responsible guy. He doesn’t fly off the handle, he’s not someone that seeks headlines. He’s a professional prosecutor who only jumps on a case when the evidence is sufficient. He doesn’t try to invent cases where they don’t exist, he doesn’t pull sensational stunts in court and with people’s lives. That’s how a good State Attorney is supposed to act. Mike Satz is a professional.
He’s good at what he does and has been doing it a long time.
Relatively speaking, Sheila Alu just got on the scene. Her reputation is for being a highly political, confrontational party girl, OK at her work but by no means a legal star, in a hurry to get somewhere other than the Sunrise Commission. That’s a very sharp contrast to Mike. That’s anything but steady and not nearly the frame of mind any of us should be looking for in a State Attorney.
Could there be candidates for State Attorney that are as good or better than Mike Satz? Sure. Is Sheila Alu one of those people? No way.
May 18th, 2009 at 5:55 am
I saw the Ana Gardiner transcripts on Jaablog, this woman has knowingly had affairs with two married men, thats not going to play well with women voters.
FROM BUDDY: Warning — I believe this is not from Bill Gellin or any of the folks at JAABlog.
Here is the link to the transcripts the writer discusses: http://www.dailybusinessreview.com/images/news_photos/55081/07-1799_051509_MotAmendRelinqOrder.pdf
Number one, who says Ana Gardiner is running again? If I were her, I would go into private practice and forget all about the courthouse politics. She made a good living in the past and can do so in the future. But I don’t speak for her. That will be her decision.
Number two, Sheila Alu is alleged in the depos to have had an affair with a married guy, too. And I thought the newsroom was like Payton Place! Apparently the courthouse is really steamy.
The political problem would be how to use personal information like that. Attacking a woman with those type of allegations has a good chance of backfiring. And even if true, does that make either woman a poor public servant?
I think not.
May 18th, 2009 at 6:07 am
Until we have merit appointment of judges, we will continue to be disappointed with the local judiciary. That method simply will never bring out the best possible judges. We cheat ourselves in every way with electing judges. Merit selection is the far superior method.
May 18th, 2009 at 6:15 am
Sheila Alu is a newbie lawyer. State Attorney Sheila Alu? Let her work as a lawyer for at least 10 years, then consider it.
May 18th, 2009 at 6:43 am
Buddy — given the issues between you and Bob Norman, I don’t think you’ll post this, but people interested in the Alu/Satz, etc. issues should read this.
http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/pulp/2009/05/judge_ana_gardiner_lied_under_oath_loureiro.php#more
FROM BUDDY: I guess you were wrong.
May 18th, 2009 at 7:39 am
Apologies Buddy on my part. You’re definitely the bigger man then, and I give you props for that.
May 18th, 2009 at 8:37 am
who are the person or people at jaablog since they only write under the name of jaablaw? If he she or they are going to post something that may offend why should they get a disclaimer and a free pass to deny it if the tide goes against them? Who really knows who writes what? people guess all the time who ip freely or the courthouse guy is who rips on sam but no one really knows. why should those at jaab be protected. if its not them let them speak for themselves.
May 18th, 2009 at 12:05 pm
The only way Alu will ever beat Mike is if he is caught with a dead goat, a live boy or a bag full of money. Mike is a straight arrow. Alu?
May 18th, 2009 at 5:33 pm
I followed the link above. All this stuff about Alu and Gardiner just makes me never want to vote for Alu.
They both should be out of office.
Mike Satz is a dedicated public servant who has served us well. We shouldn’t give up that.