Candidate Starts Campaign With Her Own $400k

 

BY BUDDY NEVINS

 

 

 

An old saw peddled by political consultants states:

If a judicial candidate puts a lot of money in their campaign, challengers will stay away.

Not really.

Kenneth Patrick Hassett filed for Broward Circuit Court this week, although Kristin Weisberg Padowitz was already running and had put $400,000 in her race.

Both are criminal defense lawyers.

 

 

Kristin Weisberg Padowitz

 

Kristin Padowitz is the wife and law partner of Ken Padowitz, also a criminal defense attorney. Ken Padowitz’s own race for judge 11 years ago is a clue to why a candidate should not be worried about challenging someone who puts a lot of money in their race.

When Ken Padowitz ran for judge in 2006, he put $101,000 of his own money in the race.

But he used only around $10,000 of that money. He repaid himself the rest.

With that history in mind, Hassett shouldn’t worry.

Kristin Padowitz’s $400,000 is like flash money at the club.  It’s a big roll flashed around to impress.

Most likely a big slice of Kristin Padowitz’s $400,000 won’t be spent.

I’m guessing that once Kristin Padowitz starts raising money, she will take a big part that flash roll back.

 

(A flashback on that 2006 race:

 

Ken Padowitz’s campaign may have been the last one handled by the late Anthony “Tony G” Gargiulo, a fabled political consultant whom I dubbed “the Judge Maker” in my Sun-Sentinel column.

Ken Padowitz’s opponent was Charlie Kaplan, whose campaign was handled by Ashley Walker. Walker at the time was largely unknown. She later joined the presidential campaign of an underdog Illinois U. S. Senator and became one of Barack Obama’s key operatives in Florida.

Ken Padowitz’s campaign treasurer was Stuart Rosenfeldt, who was later sentenced to 33 months in prison for his role in his law partner Scott Rothstein’s $1 billion-plus Ponzi fraud. Ken Padowitz worked at the Rothstein firm, but was not accused of wrongdoing.

Kaplan’s campaign treasurer was his law partner Raag Singhal, who is now a Broward Circuit judge.

Kaplan beat Ken Padowitz in a landslide – 61.5 to 38.5 percent. 

Tony G and Kaplan died two years laterthe autumn of  2008. )

 

 



9 Responses to “Candidate Starts Campaign With Her Own $400k”

  1. Broward Attorney says:

    Surprised she’s running…Another future train wreck on the bench if people are uninformed enough to cast a vote for her. Scary to think she might sit in judgement of another person!

  2. Looks like, walks like, sounds like... says:

    The second coming of Leah Krause…big money, Jewish centric campaign, lots of endorsements and probably falls flat.

  3. Lawyer Lady says:

    She seemingly has great experience. Too bad she can’t run on that and has to pull this obvious ploy with the money.

    What’s with using the name Weinstein? Her license with Florida Bar uses the middle name Rae. Weinstein is her way of telling Jews that she is one of them? Is that really necessary today?

  4. city activist robert walsh says:

    400g huh. Pretty impressive . I could sure use 400grand right now.

  5. Womdering says:

    Is it true Brad Cohen is running for district 2?

  6. Churcherilla says:

    #5, I hope not. Not a good climate for a pro-development candidate. Check out his P & Z record.

  7. Charlotte Greenbarg says:

    I remember the 2006 race well. Both came to speak at our Broward Coalition meetings. Ken seemed confident but later looked worried with good reason as it turned out. Charlie was very outgoing but I thought that if he didn’t lose weight he was going to have health issues. He perspired profusely even though it wasn’t warm.

    There has to be a better way to get judges. The Bar should have a contest to get one. Who knows…we might find some good ideas.

  8. Rick Weisberg says:

    Middle name is “WEISBERG”. Moron

  9. Name it says:

    Thanks, I thought it was WeisbergCohenSchwartzGoldbergKaplanPadowotz