Insiders Told They Can’t Save All Incumbent Judges

BY BUDDY NEVINS

There is gloomy news for the legal establishment.

Campaign experts say it is “highly improbable that all 15 incumbent judges facing opposition can be saved.

A high powered group of establishment lawyers are frantically trying to put together a plan to save the judges from defeat August 24.  Here is my previous post on this.

Working against any plan are four factors:

(1) Disinterest among voters.
(2) Voters confused by the crowded field.
(3) Most of the challengers are listed first on the ballot, which is an advantage in electons.
(4) Many of the challengers have Jewish names, which helps them with a major bloc of voters in the primary. 

The establishment lawyers have agreed to form an “independent committee to “preserve judicial integrity. 

I guess judicial integrity means that a small clique of insiders in glass-and-marble offices know better than voters who should be judges. 
 
The committee will be run by a professional political consultant.  Judy Stern is the name most mentioned.

It will be headed by some recognizable name in the community.  Former Florida Attorney General Bob Butterworth’s name was floated at the organizational meeting last month.

The committee’s primary effort will be to leaflet and distribute palm cards at the polls. 

“The vast majority of the public will have no information about the judicial candidates when they get to the polls.  If we can sway 5 to 10 percent of the vote with the cards, we could make a difference in a few elections, said one member of the group of insiders.

“At most we can save three or four judges who wouldn’t have won anyway, said another group member.

The committee will try to work in secret until the last minute.  They are rightfully fearful of the negative image of insiders trying to control who becomes a judge.

Here is my problem with this effort:

It’s the Republicans versus the Democrats.  This group is trying to protect judges who were largely appointed by Republican governors in a Democratic County. 

One of the key members of this group is Ed Pozzuoli, managing partner of Tripp Scott whose wife is on the Judicial Nominating Commission. For the past 12 years, there is a perception that the JNC refused to consider almost any Democrat for appointment to the bench.

It’s the Insiders Versus the Rest of Us.  It’s a bunch of old men trying to preserve the status quo that made them rich.

It’s the East versus the West.  Almost all the members are from downtown Fort Lauderdale.  They are trying to tell the rest of Broward who should be the judges.
 
It’s the Old versus the New. This is a group of codgers trying to hold on as the new wave of lawyers sweeps in.

Stay tuned.



14 Responses to “Insiders Told They Can’t Save All Incumbent Judges”

  1. political bs says:

    Judges Rodriguez, Rebollo, Destry, Porter, Hurley, O’Conner and McCarthy are not “old Judges” and I am sure, are not “all Republican”, in fact I think they have all been appointed by Mr. Independent, Charlie Christ.
    Agreed there are some “old judges” being run against, however, I believe many of them were democratic appointments way back when.
    Lets not forget, Ex-Judges Gardiner(the texter) and Gehl(the mouth) were both Gov. Chiles (D) appointees.

  2. Same old song says:

    This group is so tired and old.

    A palm card created by Judy Stern…

    Wasnt Judy Stern investigated by SAO a few years back for allegedly creating a palm card called the “Black Voters Guide”? It was alleged that the “Guide” was brought on behalf of well known black officials who in reality had nothing to do with palm card. I beleive the black officials had their own similar Black Voters Guide that supported candidates other than Stern’s purported “Black Voters Guide”.

    Of course if Mike Satz investigated this and found nothing wrong then it must not be true. Considering how tough he has been over the years on public corruption…

    FROM BUDDY:
    The election commission dropped the investigation of Stern concerning the phony election guides.

    The 2002 real Black Elected Officials guides were distributed in black neighborhoods and endorsed Darla Carter for School Board. The phony guides endorsed Paul Eichner.

    An official of the Public Defender’s Office saw a pile of the phony guides in a car outside of a printer’s office. The only customer in the printer’s office was Judy Stern.

    The print shop owner “could not remember” whether he produced the phony guides for Stern. Stern swore to state investigators she did not have anything to do with the guides.

    Thus, the charges were dropped.

  3. Times are a changin says:

    There are 42 judicial candidates in this cycle. 2 are working with Stern. You have to wonder why? With her success in Judicial races less than 5% will work with Stern? The other 40 probably do not want to get Egg(letion) on their faces.

    The old guard up in the ivory tower are the only ones not to see this.

  4. SouthFLGIRL says:

    Why are judges elected anyways? This system needs to be changed. They need to be appointed. Judges should be out there campaigning!

  5. SouthFLGIRL says:

    I meant they should NOT be out there campaigning.

  6. the Truth is says:

    Hey, either make the minimum qualifications to be a judge more stringent, ie. 10 years of experience, 5years of courtroom experience…
    or make the judicial seats appointed versus elected…OR

    SHUT UP AND DEAL WITH IT AND STOP THE WHINING. THIS WHOLE THE CURRENT INCUMBENTS SHOULDN’T BE RUN AGAINST IS ABSOLUTE BULLSHIT. THEN WHY ARE THE SEATS ELECTED IN THE FIRST PLACE? ANYBODY CAN RUN AGAINST ANYBODY…GET OVER IT, ESTABLISHMENT!!!!!!!!!!

  7. Legal Scrivner says:

    Judy Stern and “judicial integrity” … now there’s an oxymoron.

  8. Law firm man says:

    I don’t believe Judge Hurley is using Judy Stern. For that alone he deserves re-election.

  9. Not True says:

    Hurley is with Jack Schifrel not Stern

  10. Ze Kiss of Death says:

    Hurley is using Shifrel………………………………
    GUFFAW! LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSER!

    WHO IS WORSE, JACK SHIFREL OR BARRY HARRIS? ………………………….IT IS A TIE FOR WORSEDNESSSSSS!

  11. Broward Lawyer says:

    @ Political bs

    Rodriguez, Destry, Hurley, O’Connor
    and Porter are all Republicans.

    Mccarthy and Rebollo are Democrats.

    Gillespie is NPA and

    Elijah Williams is a Republican, Democrat, Republican, Democrat, Republican, Democrat, Republican…

  12. Law man says says:

    Some incumbents like Hurley and Merrigan deserve to be reelected. Others like Skolnik and Lebow should be thrown out of office. That’s why this effort to “save” all incumbents just because they are incumbents is dumb.

  13. Tyronne Steele says:

    I see Judge Hurley on TV almost every day. I heard his opponent went negative over the weekend at King’s Point and was cutoff. Why on Earth deposed Judge Jay Spechler was in the company of his opponent is another question. Jay quit the bench and is now supporting Hurley’s opponent. Is this not sour grapes or what?

  14. question? says:

    Candidate Alan Schneider represents that he works at Scherer’s law firm. Odd because Scherer is against what Alan is doing ie. running against an incumbent.

    FROM BUDDY: The address on Schneider’s Bar license is the same as Scherer’s firm. However, Scherer’s website does not list Schneider as working for the firm.
    I asked Bill Scherer and here is what he wrote me:
    “He was of counsel for one year ending in May of 2009. Since the(n) he has rented an office in our building. Bill”