THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:
ELECTION CENTRAL - 2024
On August 20th, voters in Miami-Dade County will head to the polls to elect several new judges in both the Circuit and County Court. As I have for the past 19 years, your Captain will be on top of all of the races, bringing you the breaking news that our readers have come to expect from your humble Blogger. You won’t get this kind of coverage in the Miami Herald, nor the Daily Business Review, the Miami News (now I’m aging myself), or any other local thread. Thanks to Rumpole and the Justice Building Blog our readers know that they will obtain their best election coverage from The Captain.
Today, we bring you the filings from the Circuit Court.
CIRCUIT COURT JUDGE:
There are a total of 24 Circuit Court Groups up for election in 2024. The deadline for filing is Friday, April 26, 2024. With 11 days to go, we currently have three judges who are retiring. Group 8, where Incumbent Judge David Miller is retiring, has drawn two candidates, and one name should be very familiar to most of our readers as he has been a Judge and ran in two contested elections in the past. In Group 29, where Incumbent Judge Pedro Echarte is retiring, that Group has also drawn two candidates. In Group 49, Incumbent Judge Terera Pooler is retiring, and only one candidate has filed so far.
The other 21 Groups have Incumbent judges currently facing no opposition.
***In the contested and open races we are providing you with information on how much money the candidates have raised as well as how much they have loaned their individual campaigns.
GROUP 8 (Judge David Miller retiring)
Raised $0.00 Loan $575,025
Jason Bloch has been a member of The Florida Bar for 30 years. He spent 20 years working for Miami-Dade County as an Assistant County Attorney. He was appointed to the Circuit Court bench by Governor Rick Scott in 2014. He ran in his first election in 2016 and lost to Judge Marcia del Rey 52% to 48%. He has spent the past seven years working pro bono on legal matters. He ran again for Circuit Court Judge in 2022 against Incumbent Judge Oscar Rodriguez-Fonts. He lost by 1,851 votes out of 262,589 votes; 50.4% to 49.6%.
Raised $28,526 Loan $25
Ms. Jones-Peabody has been a member of The Florida Bar for 33 years. She is currently working as an Assistant Public Defender in Miami-Dade County as a supervisory and training attorney. She has been with the office of Carlos Martinez for the past 20 years.
GROUP 29 (Judge Pedro Echarte retiring)
Raised $107,313 Loan $11,000
Ms. Correa has been a member of The Florida Bar for 14 years. She is originally from Brazil. She began her legal career as an Assistant State Attorney in Miami-Dade County working there for nearly four years. She spent three years working for a law firm before opening up her own law office. She concentrates her practice in the areas of commercial litigation, complex business litigation, and construction litigation.
Raised $2,700 Loan $120,000
Mr. Padron has been a member of The Florida Bar for 12 years. He is a solo practitioner working in the areas of family law, dissolutions of marriage, paternity actions, domestic violence matters, as well as complex civil litigation and appeals.
GROUP 49 (Judge Teresa Pooler retiring)
Raised $133,884 Loan $10,100
Ms. Mato has been a member of The Florida Bar for 24 years. She has dedicated her entire legal career as an Assistant Sate Attorney in Miami-Dade County where she currently handles the most serious felony cases in the office.
GROUP 2 Ariana Fajardo Orshan
GROUP 13 Jose L Fernandez
GROUP 14 Vivianne del Rio
GROUP 15 Maria Elena Verde
GROUP 24 Mindy S. Glazer
GROUP 25 Yery Marrero
GROUP 31 Carlos Lopez
GROUP 36 Lisa Sharon Walsh
GROUP 42 Miguel M. de la O
GROUP 43 Ellen Sue Venzer
GROUP 47 Maria de Jesus Santovenia
GROUP 53 Jason Emilios Dimitris
GROUP 54 Antonio "Tony" Arzola
GROUP 56 Javier A Enriquez
GROUP 58 Diana Vizcaino
GROUP 61 Christine Bandin
GROUP 66 Lourdes Simon
GROUP 68 Victoria del Pino
GROUP 71 Charlie Johnson
GROUP 78 Valerie R. Manno Schurr
GROUP 80 Marisa Tinkler Mendez
We will monitor both the local election office as well as the office in Tallahassee for any Group movement by the candidates as well as any new filings over the next 11 days.
TOMORROW, THE COUNTY COURT RACES.
Captain4Justice@gmail.com
37 comments:
What higher compliment can be made to the integrity and fairness of an ASA who has spent her entire career in public service but was able to raise $133,000. She is very special and so are we if she is elected, and if anyone chooses to run against her, they will discover how many more admirers she has.
Strong group of potential new Judges. Miami is fortunate to have such a brilliant pool of candidates with just a wealth of knowledge, experience and trial experience.
NOT.
Miami is a joke.
Jason Bloch has the kind of deep civil experience, in many substantive areas of law and with respect to the twists and turns of procedure, which the DeSantis "former prosecutor" appointees simply do not have. Lawyers from the county attorney's office get that kind of exposure. That depth and breadth is critical to the administration of civil justice, which occupies a large portion of the courts' work.
General comments about judicial candidacies: Lack of experience/training in the civil side is a problem for APDs who are running, as well as for prosecutors. I urge all potential applicants/candidates coming from the criminal side to add to their expertise in civil procedure, and be able to mention that in candidate meetings. For circuit court candidates, who might be assigned to juvenile courts, in addition, knowledge of Chapter 39 and the Juvenile rules is crucial to intelligent judicial practice.
Family court expertise is fine, but it is important to note that there are no juries in Family, or in Juvenile. So it makes sense to inquire of candidates/applicants whether and where they have obtained some jury experience, maybe even as a second chair.
What a group of winners. So sad this is the best there is for the bench.
Spot on 12:34 and 3:23.
Spot on 12:34 and 3:23.
Judicial elections or appointments of people with limited or zero jury trial experience or of specialized lawyers (e.g., immigration) are a disservice to the community and to the system as a whole. You chose not to be a jury trial lawyer. You chose legal careers in areas where jury trial are non-existent and where the rules of evidence are loosely applied (e.g., family law, dependency, etc.). You pigeonholed your practice to one or two areas (e.g., traffic ticket defense). But now your self-inflated ego believes that the next logical step in your limited career is to be a judge, and not just any judge, but a trial judge. You’re a joke! And soon everyone will know how incompetent you are for the bench. It will show in your preparation. It will show in your demeanor. It will show in your rulings. It will show in your ratings. And it will show in your reversals. Anyone can be a bench trial judge, just like anyone can practice one type of law, but not everyone has what it takes to be a jury trial judge or to be versatile in various practice areas.
THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:
In Group 29, candidate Heloiza Correa has paid her QUALIFYING FEE, of $7,646.52.
In Group 49, candidate Marie Mato has also paid her qualifying fee.
None of the other candidates in the open seats have paid their qualifying fee as of today.
One interesting note. Candidate Cristobal David Padron petitioned the Elections Department to qualify by PETITION instead of by paying his qualifying fee. He needed to submit a total of 15,295 signatures. (Petition signatures of at least 1% of the total registered electors (1,529.439) in the geographical area represented by the office sought for the immediately preceding general election are required).
According to the Department, he has so far submitted two signatures.
The Rule states as follows: As an alternative to paying a qualifying fee, candidates may qualify by the petition process. Candidates have the option to waive the payment of a qualifying fee by collecting petitions instead. The number of signatures required is based on the number of registered voters as of the immediately preceding general election's book closing.
CAP OUT .......
THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:
The Board of Bar Examiners reported today that only 334 of 593 test-takers passed the Bar exam in February (56%). FIU Law School led the way again with 19 of 23 passing (83%). Coming in at the bottom, Ava Maria with 1 of 6 passing and Florida Coastal where 0 of 2 law students passed. The University of Miami fared very poorly with 15 of 37 passing (40.5%).
Cap Out .....
OH boy we get Jason Bloch back.
What a jerk.
GO BONITA!
At least 4 people that probably should not be on a bench.... running unopposed. So sad.
Mato---YES.
Would someone please run against Joe Fernandez, Jason Bloch and Ellen Venzer? They need to go.
SAO is a joke.
Getting out of dodge
THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:
The only candidate filing for State Attorney in Miami-Dade County is Katherine Fernandez Rundle. She has raised $317,728 from 560 contributors to date and loaned her campaign an additional $170,000.
Carlos Martinez is the only candidate who has filed for Public Defender. He has raised $141,895 from 307 contributors. He loaned his campaign an additional $100,000.
Cap Out .....
SAO would be great if everyone was like Marie. I have the utmost respect for her. I wish her the best of luck.
Ms. Mato was a pleasure to work with. Well deserved Marie. I wish all the young ASA’s would follow in your footsteps. You carry yourself well. You respected all your co-workers and staff. You’re a great human being. God bless.
The SAO is a sinking ship. I believe Kathy is is a good person at heart but she’s lost control of the office. The environment is completely unprofessional.
Sad that no opponents. Democracy not at its best.
So what was the strategy for this Padron guy? Other than saving a few hundred bucks (poor guy maybe isn’t doing well) or believing that he was more popular than he actually is (judging by 2 signatures) what was the brilliant idea behind this move?
When did Teresa Pooler first become a Circuit Court Judge? Can’t be that long ago.
Venzer? Seriously?!? I’ve been in front of her for years and she is one of the best of the bench. She knows the law, gives a great trial for both sides, is efficient when it comes to handling her calendar, and is immensely experienced. I think you need to re-evaluate your list of judges who need to go…
Judge Venzer’s courtroom is one of my favorites, no complaints at all when I have a case in front of her. Fernandez was great in ROC for a long time, but he needed to get out of criminal, I hear he’s doing great in his spot. PD Jones-Peabody is running against Bloch, honestly neither are good choices for the bench, Bloch needs to give up and Jones-Peabody is not well liked in DV
We should be talking the GREAT group of Judges who need to stay on the bench - de la O, Vizcaino, Venzer, Walsh, Simon. Those are the ones we need to make sure stay!
Dear Jason Bloch at Monday, April 15, 2024 1:55:00 PM, so obvious it is you who typed that up LOL
to 11:45 PM
The Captain Responds:
Judge Teresa Pooler ran for Circuit Court judge in August of 2012 against Victor de Yurre defeating him 56% - 44%. She ran unopposed in 2018 and her term ends on January 7, 2025.
Cap Out .....
People the run the SAO are a joke
Jason Bloch, he is very intelligent
Rooting for Bonita Jones Peabody!
Team Bloch here. Racking up endorsements and funding like there’s no tomorrow.
Woo hoo. That’s the whistle. All aboard on the circuit court express. No late comers or non ticket holders allowed.
Bloch has the who’s who of the civil bar behind him, not to mention the cash. In other words, all the necessary qualifications to be one of the finest jurists in the state. 🤦♂️
Doesn’t make him qualified
Jason Bloch was widely disliked when he served as a circuit judge. He was curt, pompous, and inconsiderate. His support group is heavy, but not terribly diverse. I do not much care as long as he is not assigned to Criminal. perhaps Family. Everybody over there is a bit sharp.
I think 5:42’s post was meant to be sarcastic. Did you miss that?
Jason isn’t a jerk. He respects the law and I guarantee understands it better than you. Did he hurt your feelings? Rule against you perhaps?
He’s actually very kind and has selflessly done a tremendous amount for a lot of people. He just doesn’t brag about it. He deserves to be on the bench more so than any candidate mentioned and he’s more qualified than any other candidate. He also has a hell of a campaign committee.
He’s beyond qualified and for the life of me I can’t figure out why he would want to subject himself to another campaign against unqualified opponents and the Latin cabal.
Post a Comment