JUDICIAL ELECTIONS 2016 - UPDATE

THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:

ELECTION CENTRAL 2016 ...................

COUNTY & CIRCUIT COURT RACES

A lot of movement has taken place over the past few days in both the County Court and Circuit Court judicial races.

COUNTY COURT

GROUP 5

Let's start with the "People's Court" where Incumbent Judge Fred Seraphin has finally filed his papers seeking reelection.  He already has opposition in the name of Milena Abreu as we have previously reported on this Blog.  Ms. Abreu filed back in November of 2015 and while Judge Seraphin emailed us many months ago announcing that he would be seeking reelection, it took him until February 23rd to file his paperwork.

GROUP 15

Judge Judith "Judy" Rubinstein has decided to hang up her robe after 16 years on the bench.  She began her career with the Miami-Dade Police Department and worked as their Legal Advisor for 12 years.  If you are as old some of us are, then you remember going up against her in forfeiture hearings when she represented the County Police Department.  Judge Rubenstein has spent most of her recent judicial career in the Domestic Violence Division.

Judge Rubenstein had filed papers in January announcing her intention to run for one last term; (she even deposited a cool $100k into her reelection account).  Last week she changed her mind.  As soon as Judge Rubinstein announced her intention to retire, two attorneys who had filed to run in Circuit Court jumped at the opportunity for a less crowded field and filed in her County Court Group.

Attorney Antonio G. Jimenez, who had previously filed to run in Circuit Group 34 against four other challengers, (Mark Blumstein, Renee Gordon, Denis Martinez-Scanziani, and Luis Perez-Medina) has now officially moved his candidacy to Group 15.

Attorney Raul Perez-Ceballos, who previously filed to run in Circuit Group 52, is now challenging Jimenez.  Group 52 still has three candidates remaining including: Jodie Breece, Elena Ortega-Tauler, and Oscar Rodriguez-Fonts.

There remains four contested Circuit Court contests along with David Young who is running for an open seat and remains with no opposition.  And there are now three contested County Court races.

Only one incumbent, Judge Wendell Graham, has yet for file to run for reelection in his Group 35 of the County Court.  When we spoke with Judge Graham this past October, he indicated to us that he intended to run again.  Judge Graham has been on the bench since 1994.

No doubt there will be much more strategery involved among these candidates for Judge between now and the filing deadline, which is Friday, May 6, 2016.

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