THE TRIALS OF JUDGE IVAN HERNANDEZ

Before we begin, remember: Its “Hernandez” with and “H” that stands for “a Hell of a lot of trouble”
Not Fernandez with an “F” that stands for “fine circuit court judge not involved in this mess in any manner and on his way to civil and starbucks.”

County Court Judge Ivan Hernandez was found by the Dade County Bar Association (motto: “Gives us a minute and we’ll figure out a way to tell you why we matter”) to be in violation of the Canons of the Florida Code of Judicial Ethics (number 2million and 4 on Amazon and rising).

The Ad:
In that widely read and influential publication: Libertad News ( June 2006 edition) an advertisement appeared with a picture of Judge Hernandez and our Governor Holly Go Lightly Bush.
There was some accompanying text indicating that Judge Hernandez met Governor Go Lightly on his recent shopping trip to Miami and that “Judge Hernandez hopes to be re-elected.”


The Accusation: That the Ad created the “illusion” that the Governor was endorsing Judge Hernandez.

The Finding:
“That the intoxilyzer 5000 is not held together with snips and snails and puppy dog tails.” Woops… that is obviously another finding by an equally ineffective and unimportant group of Judges and lawyers.

The Finding:
The Ad violates the Canons of Judicial “No No’s” by implying that the Governor has the ability to form intelligent thoughts on his own, and that the Governor endorses Judge Hernandez’s bid for re-election.

Obiter Dicta:
Here is what the Commission also said that seriously bothers us:
”The Commission does wish to note a perceived lack of candor in Judge Hernandez’s July 17, 2006 response in failing to disclose that Marixa Hernandez, in addition to being the Judge’s campaign treasurer, is also his wife.”

The Judge’s Defense:
When will politician’s ever learn? Didn’t Nixon teach everyone: It’s the coverup that gets you, not the original offense? Judge Hernandez is old enough to have learned this lesson, but like so many other failed politicians he ignored the lessons of history and has been doomed to repeat them (no offense or insinuation against the Governor’s mentally challenged brother is meant by this obtuse comment.)

The Judge’s defense was that he was “shocked! Shocked to learn that the Ad was placed.”

The Commission was equally troubled by Judge Hernandez simply writing “No” to answer a series of questions about if the Judge knew who placed the Ad, knew who paid for the Ad, and knew who he was married to.”

What this all means:
Judge Hernandez defended himself against the accusations by essentially stating that he did not know that his Campaign Treasurer, who is also his wife, placed the offending ad in the newspaper. It is also possible to read into the Judge's curt one word reponses, that the Judge does not know who his wife is.

Judge Hernandez is showing himself to be an unprofessional and uncaring politician who sadly demonstrated a complete lack of respect for an investigating body.
Judge Hernandez would not tolerate a Defendant displaying that type of lack of candor and disdain for his court when he conducts his extraordinarily complex and lengthy speeding ticket arraignment calendars in South Dade.

We have steadfastly supported Judge Hernandez in the past.
We sympathize that he has incurred the wrath of “he who must not be named” who is as easy to get rid of as a bad case of syphilis. Just ask any member of the Florida Bar being sued by “He who must not be named.”

But we judge the Judge on the facts, not on who his enemies are.

We invite Judge Hernandez to respond to the findings of the Dade County Bar.
Other Judges have used the pages of this blog to explain their actions and in each and every case we have given them open access to state their case.

Until that time we are left with the fact that Judge Hernandez is not in control of his campaign and does not supervise or have any say where his campaign money is spent.

The fact that Judge Hernandez’s wife controls the purse strings of his campaign may indeed put Judge Hernandez into the same category of an overwhelming number of married American men who can sympathize with his plight.

Understandable? Yes.
Acceptable? Not for a Judge.
Even a Judge In Miami.

See You In Court.