An Open Letter To Buddy By Judge Feren
Dear Buddy,
Wow…must have been a really slow weekend for news, Buddy.
I could defuse the entire story by saying that the e-mail was sent out by my wife, who is certainly entitled to belong to any groups she wants to…and I would think that you would check on something like that before you allege that I did anything wrong.
Da Judge
(From Buddy: I did send a message to Feren’s e-mail address before the previous post. The address was the same one this e-mail was sent from. I received no answer until after the post was published. )
But I’m the one who sent the email, wishing my friends a Happy and Healthy New Year.
To put your mind at rest, I do not belong to any partisan political organizations.
As far as I know, the web address I sent to is not a club or committee or any other kind of organization chartered or incorporated as a political entity by the Laws of the State of Florida. There is no membership list that I know of, no dues are collected, there are no meetings to go to, and no membership cards are issued.
Therefore, I see no violation of any rules, as you suggest. I just used the mailing address as a convenient way to send out good wishes to as many people as I could.
If I had an email list that was all Republican, and I was friends with a lot of the people on the list, I would have used that also.
Or an email list for the Chamber of Commerce, the Rotary, my homeowners’ association, or the 4-H club. In fact, I don’t believe it would be against the rules to send a real political club a season’s greeting card or email, although that is not even the case here.
I don’t select my friends according to whether they are Democrats or Republicans or Independents or anything else. And my email was sent out to my friends and family without such labels.
Until it becomes against the rules to speak to someone because they are a member of some political party or group, I think this is safe. I even wish you a Happy and Healthy New Year.
(No signature)
January 5th, 2010 at 7:42 am
With respect to Judge Feren, to suppose that you could diffuse the situation by LYING as a simple route that you actually gave more than a moment’s thought to shows you lack the ability and judgment to serve. Moreover, it would have been stupid since the email message to your Democractic Club associates stated “Sandy and I” rather than “Steven and I”. So unless you wanted to say that your wife was sending emails in your name as you, I don’t think that would have been the way to go.
Also, please enlighten everyone as to where in the Canons that the prohibitions against partisan political activity by judges is limited to participation in a “club or committee or any other kind of organization chartered or incorporated as a political entity by the Laws of the State of Florida”? I don’t see that carveout.
If that were the case, why doesn’t someone just create a website or organization that doesn’t charge fees and isn’t “chartered or incorporated as a political entity by the Laws of the State of Florida” called “Cyberdemocrat Florida Judges” or “Cyberrepublican Florida Judges”, etc. and have all the judges join up so we all know which “side” they support? Because that would be stupid and a violatio of the Canons.
While I can appreciate you sending your holiday wishes, and if you wanted to blast an email to BREC, or the DEC, or Cyberdems, or any email list you so chose, I’d have no issue. But your email address is shown as part of this particular Yahoo Group (i.e., the Cyberdems) so just say, whoops, I need to remove myself from this Partisan Online Group and just do it.
You only make it worse by trying to parse and do a dance that because this partisan group is not a “club or committee or any other kind of organization chartered or incorporated as a political entity by the Laws of the State of Florida”, it’s ok for you to be an active participant.
Admit the error of staying in an online group you joined when you were an active partisan politican and move on.
January 5th, 2010 at 11:54 am
Steve, you know better than to blame it on your wife. That sounds horrible. Your excuse is Clintonesque. Be a man, fess up and move on.
January 5th, 2010 at 12:34 pm
Judge Feren still didn’t address the issue about giving yourself a nickname (“Da Judge”).
That looks lame and pathetic.
Nicknames are GIVEN to you by others. So I now give you your official judicial nickname — Da Douchebag.
From your actions in this matter and innumerable others since taking the bench (commenting that there is a trial penalty for exercising a constitutional right to confront your accuser, taking lengthy vacations, going to the World Series of Poker, etc. etc. etc.), I am sure that the nickname I have given you is not only fitting, but likely already used regularly before today.