Judge Nina Di Pietro Gets A Challenger!
BY BUDDY NEVINS
Just days before filing closes on Friday, County Judge Nina Di Pietro drew an opponent.
Brenda Di Ioia has decades more experience than Di Pietro and apparently none of the baggage that surrounds the controversial judge.
Brenda Di Ioia
Di Ioia has been a Broward Traffic Magistrate for 23 years and an attorney for 25 years. She is currently the Chief Traffic Magistrate, in addition to being an arbitrator, an adjunct professor at Nova Southeastern Law School and Broward College and an instructor at the National Judicial College.
She will be running against Di Pietro, who has been the center of controversy since she applied for to be early appointed judge last year.
Public Defender Howard Finkelstein publicly opposed Di Pietro’s appointment by Gov. Rick Scott, alleging that when she worked in his office she didn’t have judicial temperament. Scott ignored Finkelstein’s complaint — no surprise — and appointed her anyway.
Her husband David Di Pietro was a well-known Republican fund raiser and had many friends in Tallahassee. It was husband David Di Pietro that raised another controversy in her campaign.
Judge Di Pietro raised significant money from firms and individuals connected to Broward Health. That’s the public health system where her husband David Di Pietro was commissioner on the governing board until he was suspended by Scott amid the scandal sweeping the agency. David Di Pietro since has resigned.
Despite all this, Nina Di Pietro has a significant head start in raising money — $267,661 reported as of today.
In the name game that decides many votes in the low-interest judicial race, it is a wash. Both women have hyphenated Italian names.
But Di Ioia has been a lawyer much longer and has significantly more experience.
Nina Di Pietro became a lawyer in 2006. Di Ioia has been one since 1989.
This one just shape up to be the most watched judicial race in Broward.
May 3rd, 2016 at 7:26 pm
I hope people vote for an experienced and NO DRAMA candidate.
May 4th, 2016 at 9:03 am
@1
Is this a tacit endorsement by the unpaid lobbyist Cuunt CooCooChocoLatte for whats her name?
May 4th, 2016 at 9:27 am
DePietro has a lot of problems. She was given her judgeship by pure political cronyism by n unpoular governor, not because of her qualificatons. The legal community doesn’t like that. She now has a JQC complaint. She is strongly opposed by the popular Help Me Howard. She will have to return Broward Health money……etc
May 4th, 2016 at 10:35 am
Brenda will have a difficult time against a very well connected and well funded opponent whose appointment was strictly the creation of connections to Scott. There is little doubt that DiPietro is not and was not qualified but that matters little in judicial race
May 4th, 2016 at 12:56 pm
And GOP Nixon was a lawyer for a very long time too!
May 4th, 2016 at 2:06 pm
Lets do some quick gumshoe research.
A search at the Broward Clerk of courts website reveals that Di Ioia has litigated 70 cases in Broward. 31 divorces and 14 evictions which comprises 64% of her cases. The rest are small claims actions under 15k. She has been a traffic magistrate for 23 years.
Di Pietro (formerly Weatherly) litigated a whopping 16 cases before Scott appointed her. 4 felonies, 2 misdemeanors, 4 traffic infractions and 1 eviction. She also handled a foreclosure and a probate matter.
As a voter, I have to wonder how a governor can appoint someone to a judgeship who only has 16 cases under her belt. But I also have to wonder how many times Di Ioia dismissed a ticket in those 23 years where the defendant appeared pro se. County court is the peoples court and it would be interesting to see if the people ever prevailed or is she just part of the money making system.
Lots of questions to still ask.
May 4th, 2016 at 4:47 pm
Brenda is tied to Bill and Dan Lewis two of the biggest bullshitters around. Brenda filed her paperwork today and not her check so she is not a qualified candidate. That means before Friday at noon she can do nothing an Nina gets a pass if she doesn’t file the check. If Brenda was for real, it makes no sense to not file the check today.
Brenda is a Courthouse Insider who gets a ton of mediation work from her good friend Judge Lee and the other Civil Judges. No way she is going to jeopardize that income for a long shot run against Nina. If anything, I would bet if Nina gets a pass, Brenda’s court appointed mediations get an uptick after the election.
Dan Lewis in his recent article about Broward Health was very complimentary about David DiPietro.
Everyone knows Dan and Bill are all about the money. Also, everyone who knows David knows his first move to resolve a problem is throwing money at it. David DiPietro and Dan Lewis were quite friendly during the 2014 campaign season and Dan’s Blue Democrat Card gave a big boost to David’s friend Chip LaMarca.
Poor Brenda, I hope she gets something nice for her troubles.
FROM BUDDY:
Brenda assured me in writing that she will be qualifying before Friday, noon’s deadline.
May 4th, 2016 at 5:01 pm
Buddy did Brenda file or not?
Di Oia Scam
MAY 4, 2016 AT 4:31 PM
Brenda filed her paperwork but did not pay the check to qualify. She is telling people she will put in the check on Friday. She will never qualify. This is a scam to make people believe that Nina has an opponent so no one else comes in. This has to be the plan since it makes no sense why Brenda would file all the necessary paperwork today without filing the check.
If McCarthy was smart she would go into this race and become a Judge without being branded as a racist
FROM BUDDY:
This from Facebook:
Brenda Di Ioia for Broward County Court Judge
May 3 at 5:25pm ·
After almost three decades as an attorney in Florida and serving many years as a Chief Traffic Magistrate in Broward County, I have become an official candidate for Broward County Court Judge in Group 7.
Please LIKE my Brenda Di Ioia for Broward County Court Judge Facebook page below.
This from a text to me:
Q: Apparently you have not qualified for office, according to the supervisor’s website.
A: I filed yesterday as you asked. That is on the page as of earlier today when I checked. Qualifying ends Friday. I will do so by then.
May 4th, 2016 at 5:27 pm
Who would be dumb enough to waste their money fighting Di Pietro? If you’re a viable candidate (politically gifted or endowed with money) pick a better race where you have a chance at winning. What a waste….
May 5th, 2016 at 1:22 pm
Wow! It seems like the Dipietro people are trying to buy or muscle their way out of an opponent. How inappropriate is that? Check out Gelin’s blog JAAB.
Glad this Dipietro guy is no longer on the Hospital District.
FROM BUDDY:
Brenda Di Ioia qualified for office on May 5, Thursday. This is from the supervisor’s website:
County Court Judge, Grp. 7 Brenda Di Ioia ( Active- Qualified)
County Court Judge, Grp. 7 Nina Weatherly Di Pietro ( Active- Qualified)
May 5th, 2016 at 1:50 pm
Judge with ties to Broward Health draws a challenger in reelection
bid | POLITICO
By Christine Sexton
TALLAHASSEE — Broward County Judge Nina Di Pietro, a former consumer member of the Florida Board of Medicine and wife of former Broward Health chairman David Di
Pietro, has a challenger in her bid for re-election.
Attorney Brenda Di Ioia, whose firm specializes in alternative dispute resolution work,filed paperwork this week to run against Di Pietro in the race for county court judge.
Di Ioia did not immediately return a phone call or email for an interview. Her Broward County Bar Association profile appears on YouTube. She appeared on the first season of
Speeders Fight Back, a nontraditional court show on TruTV that provides viewers with an insight into traffic court where drivers represent themselves.
POLITICO Florida reported last month that Judge Di Pietro collected more than $70,000 from health care providers who do business with Broward Health and their families,
along with the advertising agency that had pushed for a $71 million no-bid contract. Gov. Rick Scott suspended her husband, DavidDi Pietro, from the Broward Health board of
commissioners at the request of his chief inspector general who accused him ofinterfering with an investigation into contracts between the board and some of its doctors and
other vendors.
Though a Broward circuit court agreed with Di Pietro that the Scott administration did not meet the legal standard to remove him from the board, he voluntarily stepped down.
A complaint was filed with the Judicial Qualifying Commission accusing Judge Di Pietro of violating judicial canon for allegedly supporting a social media post criticizing Scott
for removing her husband. The complaint also notes the large amount of campaign contributions from health care providers that do business with Broward Health, calling
into question whether they are part of a review of Scott’s chief inspector general.
May 6th, 2016 at 2:11 pm
May I ask a question no one seems to ask: HAS JUDGE DI PIETRO BEEN A GOOD JUDGE?
May 9th, 2016 at 4:11 pm
No she hasn’t been a good judge. Her temperament horrible. She entitlement issues just watch her in action and you will see.