THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:
ELECTION UPDATE .....
Last week we began our nine week series covering the contested races for judge in Miami-Dade County. As we reported on May 2, 2008 on this blog, there are nine contested races here in Miami-Dade County; eight in the Circuit Court and one in the County Court. In last week's post, we analyzed the County Court contest of Lindsay vs. Lesperance. Today, we move into the Circuit Court arena.
Our goal will be to attempt to provide you with a weekly contest overview and then let you have at it and give us your opinions on why we should or should not vote for a certain candidate.
Today we look at the candidates in Group 11 of the Circuit Court. The candidates vying for this seat are Jorge Cueto and Josie Perez Velis. This seat is presently occupied by retiring Judge Eugene Fierro.
JORGE CUETO .....
Attorney Jorge Cueto has already experienced two careers during his lifetime and he now seeks to experience a third one. For 16 years, he was a police officer with the Miami-Dade Police Department. For the past 15 years, he has been a member of The Florida Bar. He has been working at the State Attorney’s Office and was last assigned to the Public Corruption Unit.
The question Cueto will need to answer is, how much money can he raise or what amount of money is he willing to lend the campaign to beat an opponent who will not shy away from spending lots of money to try and get elected; (see below). As of the last reporting period, Cueto had raised only $4,450 from 10 contributors and loaned his campaign an additional $500.
An interesting note about Cueto; he can converse in six different languages. Cueto has been married for 30 years and he has three daughters.
You can read all about Jorge Cueto on his web site at jorgecuetoforjudge.com.
JOSIE PEREZ VELIS.....
Josie Perez Velis, (or should I say Josefa) has been a member of The Florida Bar for 19 years. She is in private practice with her husband and she handles real property, probate and trust cases.
Josie clearly wants very badly to become a judge. You have to give her credit for not being a quitter.
In 2004, she ran for Circuit Court in Group 40 against three other candidates. In that election, she came in third to the eventual winner Judge William Thomas. In the September primary, the voters gave Thomas 30%, Catherine Parks 30%, Velis got 23% of the vote and Don Cohn garnered 17%. In that election, Josie raised only $3,270 from contributors. She loaned her campaign an additional $55,000 and she spent it all.
In 2006, she again ran for the Circuit Court. This time she filed in Group 25 against incumbent Judge Dennis Murphy. In an effort to win over the voters this time, Velis raised $14,570 from private contributors; and, she added an additional $330,000 of her own money. Despite that obscene amount, she lost to Murphy. The voters gave Murphy 79,810 votes (56%) and she received 62,275 votes (44%).
I have not located a web site for Velis’ campaign.
Please do your homework on the two candidates. Help out our readers by giving us your comments, pro and con, on each of the candidates.
The election takes place on Tuesday, August 26, 2008.
CAPTAIN OUT .........
Jorge, you gotta win this. Some advice, when you're out, consider talking to people you dont know.
ReplyDeleteWhen two tribes go to war, a point is all that you can score.
ReplyDeleteThe third time's a charm...
ReplyDeleteIs it true that Bennett is going to clean house before Carlos takes over in January so as the New PD, Carlos will not have to and thereby making enemies early in his term?????
ReplyDeleteNot to change the subject, but does anyone know the 3d DCA law clerk who was at oral arguments this week? Ooo la la.
ReplyDeleteNorth of the Border reader here. Is the defense lawyer in this case (http://www.4dca.org/Jan2008/01-23-2008/4D06-3745.op.pdf) the one you all call the Big O? Nice win in the 4th DCA, but even better job of preserving the error for appeal. I've seen way too many defense lawyers screw up preserving a denial of a cause challenge. Who says South of the Border lawyers can't prosper up here? Give us some love Rumpole!
ReplyDeleteI don't buy the rumor that Bennett will clean house for Carlos. Bennett is spineless.
ReplyDeletealthough i dont know either one , on paper cueto has the qualifications. the trialmaster
ReplyDeletethe trial master has taken a kinder gentler tone since his return to the blog. i miss the old trial master.
ReplyDeletewhat about judge ward taking a swipe at ole man brummer in the daily biz review article on don carlos...
finally, you got to lov kenny w.. he is a great guy and living the good life south of 5th,,,
THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:
ReplyDeleteRumpole. I expect a full investigation and of course, I expect you'll be getting rid of that wig now.
See below .....
It may seem strange that although survey after survey indicates that a majority of barristers and members of the British public favor continuing the 300-year-old-tradition of wigs and gowns in court, the lord chief justice of England and Wales remains implacable. He has decreed that, starting in October, the wigs will disappear from judges in civil and family cases. But why?
Cap Out ....
People who deal with Cueto like him. He will make a very good judge.
ReplyDeleteIs anyone reading GamePolitics? Or is all that REG news not up to Rumpolian, minus the wig, standards? Come on people, its going on in our own 6th floor.
ReplyDeleteL&L twins' associate looking better with each passing day.
ReplyDeleteI deal with Cueto....I don't like him. Complete and utter phony!
ReplyDeleteNeither of these two are qualified to be circuit judges. Look what we have been redueced to.
ReplyDeleteThere has been much alluding to Bill Barzee being a super delegate. If you look up the list of super delegates, young Bill is mentioned nowhere. Please provide proof otherwise, please stop lying, it's pathetic.....
ReplyDeletebarzee is a super delegate, he is a very powerful man. he made carlos martinez the man he is today....
ReplyDeleteDollar Bill Barzee is a SUPER DUPER DELEGATE who is also on DOUBLE SECRET PROBATION and due to Florida's status, his name is only half listed, since he only has half a vote.
ReplyDeleteLive those dreams
ReplyDeleteScheme those schemes
Got to hit me
Hit me
Hit me with those laser beams
I read the aforementioned opinion from the 4h DCA. I am curious who the judge was who let the juror on the panel who said he would favor cops testimony over a defendants. thats a pretty basic mistake.
ReplyDeleteIn case you want to see the 14 page diatribe Happy Jack wanted to read to "oh so prim" Judge Tunis, it's here.
ReplyDeleteHey sour grapes on Cueto cause you lost a motion to him when the judge did a flip flop. Try having an intellectual discussion with Josie, or better yet with her mouth piece the Vidal! You have got to be kidding about her on the bench! At least Cueto has common sense and an understaning of the systme, I hear Josie got lost in the elevator, and was looking for a courtroom at Cedars, until she was properly directed to the RGJB.
ReplyDelete@ Jack's fact checker,
ReplyDeleteAND
@ Rump: need for a change of scenery; it's getting too boring. Liven this up to the 2006 days.
@ Jacks fact checker, thanks for the link. Assuming your 'oh so prim' comment about Judge Dava Tunis was tongue in cheek, after reading about JT's amputees who create orgasams by placing their stumps in anuses and issues of anal/oral sex. Do you see any pattern here in the pleadings?
Now to Rump: Bottom line is yesteryear, there were posts about which female judges could be which months' calendar pic of the month. Judge Tunis was definitely among that group.
Back to Jack's fact checker, let's face it, among other issues, she's been getting 1 1/2 years of pleadings about the case, including gay sex, naked men having sex with each other and porn websites. So has she "learned" more about pornograghpy since then from 'pleadings', maybe so.This is what forced Judge Moreno to adopt new filing policies and the Supremes to be offended by pornography filed. Problem is: the bar case we've read about has nothing to do with Judge Tunis determining what constitutes pornography. That's why JT has been shut down in federal and Supreme ct.
My guess here is JT has no clue what she's really like. You'd have to sit through a trial, or even a long, long and thorough plea colloquy to even know she's very aware of the appelate record. As a PD, I've seen her reverse herself when given caselaw that shows we could take a writ. I've been sidebar when she wants to offer a below GL plea, and asks the ASA if they will appeal.
Bottom line is JT doesn't know his audience.
Plus, Rump, here's where you come in off the Yacht. We need NEW blood in this blog. New topics to talk about. Can we get back to the calendar issue from 06-07? Put her in a summer issue, tan legs and all. Add Mary Barzee, Ada Pozo & Carol Kelly (county ct),and let the list begin and assign months.
Can we get back to some fun on this blog? It's dieing. We need new topics. Don't drown,just dock, walk on shore and start some fun discourse. Gas prices are high, we are still in war (conflict), come to our rescue Rump.
Velis thought it wise to place her (Hispanic) name in the race gainst Murphy in the hope voters would not care about credentials and vote for the name. Big mistake. Cueto gets my vote and hopefully many others.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe I just read all of JT's 'Formal Objection.'
ReplyDeleteIt did out a smile on my face, though. Sorry, JT, laughing AT you, not with you.
Where does he come up with some of this stuff?
And why does he think it's relevant?
Gotta go, it's Friday and my multiplayer online game of GTA is starting soon. See you on XBox.
Izzy and Reemberto have nice legs too. Can' t compete with Dava, but sometimes life is unfair. BTW Orlando Prescott has a great smile; seems the calendar is half filled now.
ReplyDeleteThis is what our justice system is about,kiss asses.nice legs,but.n ugly heart.
DeleteJust want to add that Stan Blake, Will Thomas & Dennis Murphey also have nice legs. Even though it makes J. Reyes jealous! The male winner from county court is Sam Slom. None of them wears the Tunis ankle braclet. (you'd only know this if you were at a sidebar, or seeing her give certificates to jurors, after a verdict where she comes down from the bench to thank jurors for their service.)
ReplyDeleteEither way, throw Rosa Rodriquez, Rosa Figarola, Carmen Miranda, Luise K-Martin, and Norma Lindsey to add to smart, calendar candidates.
It is often said that the Bar Poll is nothing more than a popularity contest. That could be true , for isn't an election a popularity contest? The most popular contestant wins! The person with the most votes wins. That's what an election is all about. People from all over the world have sacrificed their lives for the opportunity to do just this ritual. You get a ballot, you punch in your choice, return your ballot so you can be heard and the most popular candidate will win! You have probably received your ballot by now. Take a few minutes out of you oh -so-busy schedule so your favorite candidtes can earn your vote and then you can boast that they got a vote based on merit! PLEASE DO NOT FORGET TO VOTE AND RETURN YOUR BALLOT!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteReturn your ballot as you say,but look at how desperate youve become. Ha,Daisy Cabrera and some of yous are on El Nuevo Herald,So return those ballots.Wow,Cnn story only in The Gables?
Delete