THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:

ELECTION CENTRAL 2010 - THE VOTING BEGINS

Voting began on Monday, August 9, 2010 and in Miami-Dade County, voters will cast ballots in four contested judicial elections.

In the Circuit Court, Group 62, an open seat due to the retirement of Judge Paul Siegel, Assistant State Attorney Monica Gordo faces off against private attorney Robert Kuntz.

MONICA GORDO

Ms. Gordo attended law school at the U and graduated in 1999. Her entire legal career has been with the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office. She currently is assigned to the Gang Strike Force as a special prosecutor. She has tried 52 jury trials and an additional 57 bench trials.

Ms. Gordo is active in CABA and is Pres. Elect of the League of Prosecutors. She filed to run for Judge in March of 2010.

In the past five months, Ms. Gordo has raised a total of $69,010 from 333 contributors. She added an additional $2,000 in personal loans to her campaign. To date, she has spent $37,209. Some of her notable $500 donors include: Akerman Senterfitt, Sam Rabin (see Kuntz below), Ron Book, Dade County PBA, Miami Fraternal Order of Police, and Mark Lefcourt. Her expenses have gone to consultants Stephanie Bromfield $3,000; Angie Gold $500; Margarita Armona $500 and Lourdes Molina $500. Her campaign Treasurer is Hector Lombana.

You can visit Ms. Gordo's web site at http://www.monicagordoforjudge.com/ .

Take a look at her web site and view her "commercial" where her son professes: "vote for my mom; she's even fair to us".

ROBERT KUNTZ

Mr. Kuntz has been a member of The Florida Bar since 1996. But law was not his first career. He was a journalist for 12 years and spent the last two years of that career writing for The Daily Business Review (from 1991-1993). He covered the State and Federal Courts, including the Court Broom cases among others. It was that coverage of the courts that caused him to attend law school at the University of Miami. During his 14 year legal career, he worked for Holland & Knight for six years and has been with Devine Goodman Raco & Wells for the past eight years where is currently a partner at that firm.

Mr. Kuntz has tried two jury trials, four bench trials, and numerous arbitration hearings and mediations. His practice is evenly divided in that he represents 50% plaintiffs and 50% defendants. He is a commercial litigator. He is Past President of the Dade County Defense Bar Association.

Mr. Kuntz filed to run in December of 2008, some 20 months ago. In that time, he has raised $75,881 from a total of 383 contributors. He has added only $100 of his own money to the campaign. Kuntz has so far spent $61,861.

Notable contributors at the $500 level include: Lewis Tein, Ervin Gonzalez, Sam Rabin (see Gordo above), The Bail Bond Firm, Brian Tannebaum, and Richard Sharpstein. He has spent money on two consultants: Ruby Feria $6,800 and Armando Gutierrez $2000.

You can visit the Robert Kuntz web site at http://www.electrobertkuntz.com/ .

A good place to go to get some more insight into both candidates is:

http://www.floridabar.org/divcom/pi/jcandis.nsf/WDOCS. There you can scroll down to 11th Circuit, Group 62 and click on either candidate.

Ms. Gordo states in part:

"If elected, I will always strive to uphold the Constitutional rights of each and every citizen that comes before me with the utmost professionalism and attention to the highest standard of ethics. I will also carefully scrutinize each legal decision with unwavering attention to following the law at every juncture of my decision-making process. "

Mr. Kuntz' personal statement includes:

"I seek this position out of a desire to serve people who come into the daunting, even terrifying, world of the courts on the worst day of their lives. They are in trouble, or their family is, or their business is. They have faith that, when they get to court, there is going to be someone there to listen to them, to have compassion, to be smart enough and work hard enough to "get it right", while treating every person with the dignity they deserve. I want to vindicate that faith every day I serve on the bench."


The Miami Herald has endorsed Ms. Gordo. Who do our readers and bloggers think should wear the robe? Let's hear from you!

Next, County Court: Newman v. Alvarez & Seff v. Gonzalez-Paulson

CAPTAIN OUT .....