JUSTICE BUILDING BLOG

WELCOME TO THE OFFICIAL RICHARD E GERSTEIN JUSTICE BUILDING BLOG. THIS BLOG IS DEDICATED TO JUSTICE BUILDING RUMOR, HUMOR, AND A DISCUSSION ABOUT AND BETWEEN THE JUDGES, LAWYERS AND THE DEDICATED SUPPORT STAFF, CLERKS, COURT REPORTERS, AND CORRECTIONAL OFFICERS WHO LABOR IN THE WORLD OF MIAMI'S CRIMINAL JUSTICE. POST YOUR COMMENTS, OR SEND RUMPOLE A PRIVATE EMAIL AT HOWARDROARK21@GMAIL.COM. Winner of the prestigious Cushing Left Anterior Descending Artery Award.

Monday, August 17, 2015

WORKING NINE TO FIVE ...............



THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:

A Reminder that the tribute to Judge Tam Wilson is tonight:

A TRIBUTE TO JUDGE THOMAS "TAM" WILSON ..........................

There is a Tribute to Judge Wilson scheduled for Wednesday, Aug. 19, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., at the History Miami Museum, 101 West Flagler Street, Miami, 33130. Parking is available across the street in the Cultural Center Parking Garage, at 50 NW 2nd Avenue.  The Museum will validate your parking ticket, for a discounted rate.  Hope to see you there.  Call with any questions.  Bruce Alter, 786-497-7078.

AS THE SONG GOES, "WORKING NINE TO FIVE ......."



Well, not anymore, if you are working for the Clerk of Court, in Broweird County.

According to a story that appeared in the DBR last week, don't expect to get any service from any of the employees at Howard Forman's office after 3:30 PM.   Clerk's offices are terminating employees, placing a hiring freeze on current staff, and going to the shorter hours, all to compensate for the decrease in funding from the Florida Legislature and their 2015-16 budget.  Those moves, along with requiring all employees in Broward taking one unpaid furlough day every month through October, are some of the ways Clerk's offices throughout the State are using in an attempt to balance the budget.

According to Forman's office, Broward needed to slash $2 million from its $40 million budget by Oct. 1.   To do so, they cut daily operating hours beginning on July 20 to close their offices to the public at 3:30 p.m. instead of 4 p.m. in a move likely to affect court filings across all divisions in the long run.

The Florida Bar News covers the story in their August 1, 2015 edition under the headline: "Clerks struggle with $22-million shortfall".  In the article, it starts off with quotes from officials in Palm Beach and Leon County. 

We are well aware that these drastic measures will cause disruption to our court operations, including substantial delays in docketing times and issuance of defaults and summonses.” ­— Palm Beach County Clerk Sharon Bock, in a memo to Chief Judge Jeffrey Colbath.
We have no options but to change the way we do business and deliver services. . . .We would anticipate that there will be delays in the delivery of services, reductions in the hours we are open, and, to some extent, the quality of work we do.” — Leon County Clerk Bob Inzer, in a memo to Chief Judge Jonathan Sjostrom and other court managers. 

No word from our Clerk of Courts, Harvey Ruvin on what affect the budget cuts will have on our court system locally.

ALSO NORTH OF THE BORDER, JUDGE ROSENTHAL WORKS OUT A PLEA DEAL WITH THE JQC .....

What is the penalty for getting popped for a DUI, later pled to a Reckless Driving, and then appearing before the JQC and providing them with misleading and incomplete statements during her testimony on an ethics investigation based on the DUI case?

If the Florida Supreme Court accepts Judge Lynn Rosenthal's plea deal worked out with the JQC, (and there is no guarantee they will, having rejected two other recent plea deals on other state court judges), the penalties would include: a 90 day unpaid suspension, a public reprimand, 12 hours of continuing legal education in ethics, family counseling, and repayment of fees and costs related to the JQC investigation.

ELECTION CENTRAL .......

Here in Miami-Dade County, Judge Gill Freeman has announced that she will not be seeking re-election in 2016.  Judge Freeman, who worked for the firm Ruden, McCloskey from 1981-1997, was appointed by Governor Lawton Chiles to the Circuit Court bench in 1997.  She ran unopposed in Group 34 in 1998, 2004, and 2010, serving on the Circuit Court bench for the past 18 years.

As a result, Group 34 has seen two attorneys file for that open seat.

Attorney T. Renee Gordon,  the T stands for Thejuana, has been a member of The Florida bar since 1995.  She is currently working in the Juvenile Division of the PD's office.

Attorney Denise Martinez-Scanziani, has been a member of The Florida Bar since 2000.  She runs her law practice in South Miami with her husband Paul.  They handle a wide variety of cases ranging from family law, to foreclosure defense, immigration, etc.

Many of my loyal readers may remember the name Scanziani.  I blasted candidate Scanziani in a February 2008 post that you can read here concerning what I perceived as the candidate appealing to the lowest common denominator in our community - her ethnicity.  I accused Scanziani of changing her name within five days of filing in two different seats, filing first as Scanziani and then as Martinez-Scanziani.

To Scanziani's credit, she responded to my post.  In her unedited response that can be found here, Martinez-Scanziani explained the reasoning behind her name-changing decision.  As a footnote to that 2008 filing against Judge Hendon, Martinez-Scanziani eventually withdrew from the race and Judge Hendon went on to win, unopposed.

YOUR NEXT CIRCUIT COURT JUDGE IS .....

TBD (to be determined) by Governor Scott, sometime in the next couple of weeks.  Gov. Scott has six names on his desk:  Judge Wendell Graham, Judge Lourdes Simon, Judge Jason Dimitris, Judge Charles Johnson, and attorneys Ayana Harris and John Wylie.

Enjoy the next seven days of our not so bad traffic, because, beginning next Monday, August 24th, school is back in session, and with that comes the oh so fun one hour plus commutes to and from the courthouse.

CAPTAIN OUT .......
Captain4Justice@gmail.com

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Team Harris.

Anonymous said...

No way does the Supreme Court accept that punishment with those admissions. She admitted to being dishonest with the investigation; that will not end well for her.

Anonymous said...

An extremely qualified and wonderful Judge is retiring only to be replaced by one of several inexperienced hacks seeking to further debase the composition of the judiciary in Dade County.

Anonymous said...

Charlie Johnson for Circuit Judge: Get a Regular White Guy on The Bench

Anonymous said...

GO TEAM HARRIS!!!

Rumpole said...

Good post captain. I've been away in the Scandinavian countries. Back soon

Anonymous said...

again Johnson or Simon are the obvious choices here.

Anonymous said...

Let me see if I have this right.

Judge commits crime and still is a judge.
Judge is asked under oath about it and commits perjury and still is a judge.

Judge is not liked by anyone.

Am I missing something.

Kissimmee Kid said...

Rump,

Did you find Noma as boring as I did. Best in the world, it ain't even the best in the city. Torsten Vildgaard's Studio was way better and the service was not condescending. Kadeau blew Noma away!

Anonymous said...

6:51 why don't you put your name in the pool of candidates? Or did you and not get selected? Tired of miserable quacks, and some excellent attorneys, always mouthing about the quality of the bench while doing nothing to improve it because "I make too much money."

7:02 I think you have everything...lets hope the SC sends her packing.

El Capitan, Harvey will be laying off 42 Clerks per the DBR article.

Scot Saul said...

8/18/15 @ 6:51 am, "replaced by one of several inexperienced hacks" ?

Charley Johnson was a veteran and very admired prosecutor and has been a great judge and Wendell Graham was also an experienced prosecutor and has been a respected judge for a long time. Your comment is ridiculous.

Anonymous said...

If there is documented proof that the judge committed perjury (as it looks like there is) then how can that judge sit on the bench?! This is beyond the "appearance of impropriety"

the trialmaster said...

Too bad to lose Gill. Definitely a "TAMMER". A qualified attorney who gave up a lucrative practice with a major firm to take a cut in pay. Unlike those of today who get to the bench with a hyphened last name and no civil trial experience after dwelling at the sao for years. She will be missed and the two running for her seat are jokes.

Anonymous said...

Bill Clinton lied under oath TOO

Anonymous said...

Scot Saul: Isn't it obvious that the post to which you referred was directed to the two hacks seeking to run for the seat to be vacated by Judge Freeman? Gilda Radner would be proud of your petulant frenzy. Never mind!

Anonymous said...

I agree with Mr. Saul. The comment is ridiculous. I am on (as they say) "TEAM HARRIS" Ms. Harris has been a pit attorney both as a State PD and Federal PD. She is respected by colleagues, prosecutors, and judges. She is active in our community, actively mentoring young girls. She has the perfect demeanor for the job. Plus, she will bring diversity to the bench. It is unconscionable that there are no woman of color on the circuit court bench and have not been for quite some time. A deserving woman.

Anonymous said...

4:41: you too are an idiot. the post refers to the two hacks running for the open seat to be vacated by Judge Gil Freeman -- Renee Gordon and Denise Scanziani. Keep up the good work with you thriving County Court practice, bozo.