Stan Blake said...
As a prior administrative judge in the Criminal Division for 9 years, the average person has no idea about all the extra work with no additional pay. Almost daily meetings and putting out fires are just a small part of the job. Because of the experience, administrative judges often teach others and sit on commitees. I know personally how hard Judge Kelly and Judge Sayfie work.
This is Rumpole. We want to thank the Captain for doing a great job staying on top of this ever-changing judicial election landscape. The thought that comes to us is....where is Albert Zemlock when you need him?
THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:
BREAKING NEWS ROUND THREE .....
INCUMBENT JUDGE SARDUY HAS AN OPPONENT
AND
INCUMBENT JUDGE SAYFIE LOSES HER OPPONENT
AND
INCUMBENT JUDGE KELLY HAS AN OPPONENT .....
Incumbent Judges beware. No seat in safe in Miami-Dade County. Today, very quietly, Circuit Court Judge George Sarduy, currently assigned to the Family Division, drew an opponent. That opponent is none other than attorney Elena C. Tauler AKA Elena "Ortega"-Tauler; which is the name she used to file for Judge.
Judge Sarduy was in private practice until April of 2006 when he was appointed to the County Court bench by Governor Jeb Bush. Less than two years later, Sarduy was elevated to the Circuit Court bench by Governor Charlie Crist. He ran unopposed in 2010 to retain his seat and he is currently running for reelection.
Elena C. Tauler is an attorney licensed by The Florida Bar since 1988. On the other hand, Elena Ortega-Tauler is not an attorney licensed to practice law in the State of Florida. Despite that, Elena Ortega-Tauler is running for Circuit Court Judge.
Tauler filed to run in Group 52 more than one year ago, and until today, was running against Carol "Jodi" Breece, Raul Perez-Ceballos, and Oscar Rodriguez-Fonts. This afternoon, Tauler jumped into Group 74 filing against Incumbent Judge Sarduy.
We have written several posts about Elena Tauler, including on April 24, 2008 and March 8, 2015, that can be found here and here.
We were recently sent a brochure from Florida Mediation Group where Tauler is a Mediator. The brochure touts "Elena C. Tauler", Esq as a Florida Supreme Court Certified Circuit Court mediator. It does not mention anybody by the name of Elena Ortega-Tauler in the brochure.
INCUMBENT JUDGE SAYFIE .....
Also happening this afternoon, Judge Sayfie lost her opponent, Rosy A. Aponte. Aponte has now decided to run against Incumbent County Court Judge Carroll Kelly in Group 23.
And thank you to the alert reader who pointed out that Sayfie's campaign account has grown since last Friday. On Monday she reported that for the month of April, 2016, she raised an additional $41,990, bringing her total raised to $96,000. It is also remarkable how the legal community rallied around her candidacy in opposing the filing by Aponte. I say that because, of the $41,990 raised in the month of April, $41,465 was donated on Friday, April 29th, the day Aponte filed. Sayfie also loaned her campaign an extra $25k on the same day).
INCUMBENT JUDGE CARROLL KELLY .....
Judge Kelly has been on the bench since 1998. Since getting elected that year, she was reelected in 2004 and 2010, and she is running for reelection this year. Her web page can be found here.
Judge Kelly is currently the Administrative Judge of the Domestic Violence Division. She previously served as President of the Florida Conference of County Court Judges, teaches as an Adjunct Professor at the UM law school, and serves on the faculty of the Florida Judicial College and the Florida College for Advanced Judicial Studies.
Her opponent is Rosy A. Aponte, who we wrote about on Friday, April 29, 2016.
Three days left until filing closes and by all accounts there will be a lot more action in the final 72 hours.
CAPTAIN OUT .....
Captain4Justice@gmail.com
