Judge’s Campaign Starts With No Money
BY BUDDY NEVINS
Many of you probably haven’t heard of Christopher Pole. He hopes to change that.
Pole wants you remember him in next year’s primary…if he is forced to run.
A county court judge handling criminal cases for less than a year, Pole was appointed by Gov. Rick Scott in June, 2012.
Judge Christopher Pole
He must run for election next year, but only if he draws an opponent.
Pole opened a campaign bank account in January.
Unlike many other judicial candidates, Pole did not pour a staggering sum into the account to scare away challengers.
He put in nothing. Zero. Zilch.
That’s his first campaign mistake.
Here is why it is a mistake:
A judge who has nothing in his campaign accounts appears to lack support. The candidate appears weak.
Weak candidates draw opponents.
A mistake is no surprise. Like many appointed judges, Pole is a novice to the nuts-and-bolts grunt work of campaigning.
“The next reporting period I’ll have something to report,” Pole said.
Campaign finances for the three months ending June 30 are due to be reported July 10.
I hope he spends some of that money to introduce himself to the public because he has a worthy story to tell.
Vetted by the judicial nominating commission before he was appointed, he is a very experienced lawyer.
A former Broward County prosecutor, Pole, 62, was in private practice since 1988. The Sun-Sentinel called him “a respected defense lawyer” when he was appointed.
He lost his last big case. In 2012, Pole defended Randy W. Tundidor of Plantation, who was convicted of murdering his landlord.
In addition to criminal defense, he also handled personal injury.
Since taking the bench, lawyers appearing before him have been impressed.
“He’s hard working, a nice guy and has good judicial temperament,” one lawyer said. “He’s a little conservative for me, but fair. I understand everybody can’t be (Fort Lauderdale liberal firebrand attorney) Norm Kent.”
June 3rd, 2013 at 8:18 pm
Pole’s campaign is being run by the coloring book man Norm Leonard himself. Look what he did for Randy Goodis, old Norm got that guy to spend 60k and he cam in third behind judge Diaz and Roshawn Banks.
June 4th, 2013 at 8:18 am
I still have my Miami Dolphins schedule from the Goodis campaign “flyer.” I may vote for him next time just for that
June 4th, 2013 at 8:53 am
@1, if that is true then, as Buddy would say, he is also a “typical” novice judicial candidate who gets taken advantage of by political hacks using campaign technology from the 1950s.
Unfortunately, there are plenty of rubes amongst people who run for judicial office in Broward that this kind of stuff still works.
Kevin.
June 5th, 2013 at 11:55 am
I’ve known Judge Pole for 12 years and you could not find anyone more honest, hard-working and dedicated. I hope everyone gets to know him.