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Tuesday, April 16, 2024

ELECTION CENTRAL - 2024 - COUNTY COURT RACES


THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:

CAMPAIGN CENTRAL - ELECTION 2024

Today, as promised, we bring you the County Court races.


COUNTY COURT JUDGE:

There are a total of 19 County Court Groups up for election in 2024. With 11 days to go, we currently have three judges who are retiring. Group 4, where Incumbent Judge Robin Faber is retiring, has drawn only one candidate. Group 12, where Incumbent Judge Steve Leifman is retiring, that Group has also drawn only one candidate.  In Group 29, where Incumbent Judge Myriam Lehr is retiring, that Group has drawn three candidates including one who is a former Judge who was defeated in the last election. 

There is one Incumbent Judge, recently appointed Judge Christopher Green, who has drawn one opponent in Group 31.

The other 15 groups have Incumbent judges currently facing no opposition.


Group 04 (Judge Robin Faber retiring)

Michelle Marie Urbistondo 
Raised $54,150 Loan $100,500

Ms. Urbistondo has been a member of The Florida Bar for 12 years. She is a solo practitioner who practices in the areas of civil litigation, focusing on real estate transactions, and marital and family law matters.


Group 12 (Judge Steve Leifman retiring)

Mariano Ariel Corcilli
Raised $43,801 Loan $120,000

Mr. Corcilli has been a member of The Florida Bar for 14 years. He is a member of the Military & Veteran Affairs Committee. He devotes a substantial amount of time to our vets. He formerly served in the U.S. Marines attaining the rank of Sergeant. He runs his own law firm where he concentrates on criminal defense and personal injury cases. He is a former ASA.


Group 29 (Judge Myriam Lehr retiring)

Christopher Benjamin
Raised $32,078 ($5,745 from State Rep election account)

Christopher Benjamin has been a member of The Florida Bar for 22 years. He is Of Counsel with International Law Partners, LLP. and a panelist with the ADR firm of Salmon & Dulberg. He works in the areas of general litigation and serves as an arbitrator, mediator, and special magistrate. He has been a certified mediator and arbitrator for 15 years and in 2010 he was appointed as a Hearing Officer in the 11th Judicial Circuit’s Traffic Division where he served until 2020. In 2020 (and again in 2022), he was elected to the Florida House of Representatives to represent the people of  District 107.

Scott Janowitz 
Raised $1,250 Loan $500

Former Judge Scott Janowitz has been a member of The Florida Bar for 18 years. He began his career as an ASA in Broward. He then joined a law firm before getting appointed to the bench by Governor DeSantis in 2020. He ran for election in August of 2022 and lost to current Judge Alicia Priovolos by 60% to 40%.

Alina Salcines Restrepo 
Raised $9,510 Loan $40,000

Alina Restrepo has been a member of The Florida Bar for 24 years. She has worked in a law firm with her brother who is also a lawyer and she has been a solo practitioner as well. She concentrates her practice in the areas of real estate, probate, criminal, civil, traffic, estate planning, and bankruptcy law.


Group 31

Rita Maria Baez 
Raised $9,500 Loan $200,000

Ms. Baez has been a member of The Florida Bar for 28 years. I was unable to locate any information about her other than she may practice personal injury law.

Christopher Green (I)
Raised $48,803 Loan $58,600

Judge Green has been a member of The Florida Bar for 31 years. He was appointed to the County Court bench in December of 2022 by Governor DeSantis.  He currently presides over civil cases in the South Dade Justice Center. This is his first election. Before his appointment, Judge Green was a trial attorney for 30 years with both civil and criminal jury trial experience.  He started his career as an Assistant Public Defender in Miami-Dade County.  For the next 22 years, Judge Green worked as an Assistant City Attorney with the City of Miami City Attorney’s Office litigation division. 


Group 01 Patricia Marino-Pedraza

Group 02 Kristy M. Nunez 

Group 06 Jorge Perez Santiago

Group 10 Diana Gonzalez-Whyte 

Group 14 Gloria Gonzalez-Meyer 

Group 18 Betsy Alvarez-Zane

Group 21 Jacqueline Michelle Woodward 

Group 22 Linda Singer Stein

Group 26 Maria De Fatima Ortiz 

Group 32 Lizzet Martinez 

Group 33 Eleane Sosa-Bruzon 

Group 37 Yara Lorenzo Klukas 

Group 40 Michael George Barket 

Group 41 Larry King 

Group 43 Milena Abreu


We will continue to 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.


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


40 comments:

Anonymous said...

Can I white Jewish male ever be elected again versus a Hispanic woman candidate?? Yes?

Anonymous said...

Can SAO be saved?

Anonymous said...

Can the SAO hire a sufficient number of staff. It’s currently running at a skeleton crew level.

Anonymous said...

@524, judicial elections are largely about identity politics.

As of 2020, Miami-Dade County was 68.7% hispanic.

At last count, there were about 121,000 jews in Miami-Dade County out of a population of about 2.7m. That's about 4.4% jews.

You do the math.

Anonymous said...

Depends on the candidate.

CAPTAIN JUSTICE said...


THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:

YOUR NEWEST COUNTY COURT JUDGE ....

Will be selected by Gov. DeSantis in the next two months from the following nominees:

Yaneth Baez - ASA Miami-Dade

Gabriel Charest-Turken - AUSA - SD Florida

Kevin Hellmann - APD Miami-Dade

Joanne Hernandez - private practice

Kimberly Hillery - US Homeland Security - Miami office

Jose Rohaidy - ASA Miami-Dade

The opening in County Court is a result of Judge Carlos Gamez' elevation to the Circuit Court.

Cap Out .......

Anonymous said...

Never forget two ASA’s were removed for prosecutorial misconduct.

Anonymous said...

Great to see ASA Baez on this list. I’ve had many cases with her, she’s professional, reasonable, and a true delight to work with.

Anonymous said...

Looks like the US Attorney’s office will have some vacancies any idea if they’ll nab a couple from SAO?

Anonymous said...

An outstanding outline CAPTAIN JUSTICE. Thank you. Will we see last minute contestants jump in ? I think so. Like the lady who started using the hispanic name "Teressa Maria Cervera", for the first time, weeks before the deadline in 2022. She got destroyed by Judge Lody Jean by 23.9 percentage points. It will get interesting CAPTAIN JUSTICE.

Anonymous said...

@7:11 There will definitely be some last minute candidates jumping in next week, which will make for some interesting fireworks.

BTW the Lody race was a lot closer, she only won by something like 47% to 52% which was actually pretty embarrassing considering how much more money she had than Teresa Cevera. Since winning what has she done rather than refusing to recuse herself in that commissioners case?

W Clermont said...

Rooting for Christopher Benjamin!

Anonymous said...

So sorry Judge Faber is retiring. Big loss for the defense bar. He was amazing.

Anonymous said...

Yes, I have heard rumors that one former ASA is jumping in next week to challenge a weak incumbent and Latino Cervera is coming back too, but apparently with a ton of $$ and a few endorsements.

Anonymous said...

10:06AM According to Ballotpedia ;

Nonpartisan primary for Florida 11th Circuit Court

Lody Jean (Nonpartisan) 56.8 151,235
Teressa Cervera (Nonpartisan) 43.2 114,998

Seems like a lot, considering the Hispanic name, plus being listed above her opponent on the ballot. I've heard that being above your opponent on the ballot, in a two person race, gives a 9% edge. I'm no expert, but I was curious about the actual percentages.



Anonymous said...

at least two county judges have over 200k in their accounts. One - who has a Mucho powerful brother civil lawyer raised over 100K in one fundraiser!!! (cowabinga!!!) and the same brother raised over 70K for another judge who is not Hispanic. Yikes!
Money counts in politics.

Anonymous said...

Why is everyone bringing up Tylman/Cervera? Is she running again?

Anonymous said...

Follow up story to the Corey Smith case?

Anonymous said...

State attys will not be hired anymore until Trump reappoints Ariana - she’s the all time goat.

Angry Dan

Anonymous said...

“Mucho powerful brother” I doubt it

Anonymous said...

Seriously you sound like boomer. Who says “Cowabinga”

Anonymous said...

Who is the next MVZ? There’s always a rogue ASA with damning behavior.

Anonymous said...

If wannabe Teresa Cervera comee back, she will be another Rosy Aponte. Being a law professional we should advise the community about this. Or is her husband Adam writing another review for her? Such a joke. She has no office and has a post office in Bird Road. Look it up.

Anonymous said...

Baez and Rohaidy have been lawyers for a whole 7 years...Jeez.

Anonymous said...

Maybe she just works from home.

Anonymous said...

Cap in

Anonymous said...

That’s yesterday’s news.

Anonymous said...

They are highly motivated.

Anonymous said...

7 years combined? They were on the accelerated program at the SAO. I’m six months you too can be a division chief.

Anonymous said...

It’s Cowabunga Dude

Anonymous said...

Rohaidy is an excellent lawyer and will be an excellent judge.

Anonymous said...

Cap is sleeping; the Third DCA list of candidates who were given interviews has been circulating for days. Is it too much to ask for a report?

Anonymous said...

I know Yaneth. Very nice. Very dumb. Arrogant dumb.

Anonymous said...

I don’t care how brilliant a lawyer you are, but anyone 7 years out of law school and having only practice one type of law all of that time isn’t qualified to be a judge. The fact that some of these people think they are qualified tells you all you need to know about them and the size of their egos. They keep getting younger every year. Soon we won’t only be dealing with an ASA problem, we will have another round of judges’ problems. Operation Court Broom Part Deux.

Anonymous said...

This is the list of 3rd DCA interviews. Considering that with Hendon's passing the court has no black members, one would have to think that Judge Trawick and Woody Clermont would have an inside track, though one never knows who Desantis will want.
9:00–9:20 a.m. Donald Barrett

9:30 a.m.–9:50 a.m. Woody Clermont

10:00–10:20 a.m. Margaret Correoso

10:30–10:50 a.m. Angel Cortinas

11:00–11:20 a.m. Kansas Gooden

11:30–11:50 a.m. Hon. Spencer Multack

Noon–12:30 p.m. Break

12:30–12:50 p.m. Hon. Joseph Perkins

1:00–1:20 p.m. Hon. Thomas Rebull

1:30–1:50 p.m. Hon. Daryl Trawick

2:00–2:20 p.m. Hon. Robert Watson

2:30–2:50 p.m. Hon. Laura Gonzalez-Marques

Anonymous said...

he’s only a felony A ASA. not in a specialized unit. not a division chief. not remotely ready to be a judge, he needs to just wait until he has more experience.

Anonymous said...

you’re basing his “excellence” off of what?

Anonymous said...

How many ASA’s trying to get out of dodge?

Anonymous said...

Obviously you don’t know her.

Anonymous said...

The mere fact that he was chosen to work at SAO is a clear example of excellence.