Dear Judge Kolokoff,
"The poorest way to face life is to face it with a sneer." Teddy Roosevelt.
You did not campaign with a sneer. You campaigned with a smile, with positive statements about the court system, and your love for the system you work for, and the people whom you serve so very well.
The grace and dignity you showed in a tight race did not go unnoticed by all who watched your race- lawyers, your colleagues, and the public.
You may have lost the race, but you won the admiration of those who count- and that is what will serve you well as you move forward.
We do not know what the future holds for you. We do not need to tell you that you can recover from this and get back on the bench. That decision is yours. What we can tell you is that you will have the strong support of all who matter should you try to get back on the bench. If that is your choice, all of Miami will be better for it.
No one will fault you for deciding that it is not worth it to become a judge again, when the politics of Miami in general, and Judicial races in particular, are so terribly skewered from merit and achievement, and towards a certain type of last name.
There are no better words for you, then these magnificent ones from Teddy Roosevelt:
It is not the critic who counts, who points out how the strong man stumbles. Or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The Credit belongs to the Man who is actually in the arena. Whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood. Who strives valiantly. Who errs. Who comes short again and again. Because there is no effort without error and shortcoming. But who does actually strive to do the deeds. Who knows great enthusiasms. The great devotions. Who spends himself in a worthy cause. Who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly. So his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither know victory nor defeat.
You have an admirer Judge Kolokoff. We are just one of many. And we wish you well.
HR
Well said Rumpole! I am sad that Jeff lost his race. He is a great judge that treats everyone fairly and has the respect of all of his colleagues. I have never heard of any attorney say anything negative about him. Through out this campaign, he never said a bad word about his opponent. Take not future candidates. This is how you run a judicial campaign. You do not need to stoop to such low levels to disparage your opponent to win. I wish him well with whatever he may do in the future. If he does decide to run again he has my vote.
ReplyDeleteI agree completely. As a Retired Judge, it was refreshing to watch a campaign that was run with pure class.
ReplyDeleteThis judge can, and should, apply to the JNC. I, and others, will strongly support him with the Committee and with the Governor’s General Counsel.
Keep your head held up high. Be proud. Adversity, handled with resilience, will only bring you back stronger and with greater wisdom.
He's a beautiful guy. Ronny d please reappoint him.
ReplyDeleteSigned,
A big baller
Excellent piece!!! VERY VERY VERY true! I saw him campaign and he was nothing but a gentleman and always smiling. I had never met him nor appeared in front of him but his demeanor was tremendous! So sorry he lost. He should get back on the bench, from what others in the legal community have told me.
ReplyDeleteWould be good to see him re-appointed very soon. He is a good judge by all accounts. Didn't deserve the opposition.
ReplyDeleteFunny that a blogger who takes cheap shots at others quotes "it's not the critic...."
ReplyDeleteHanzy- We couldn’t have said what Rumpole said better Coco.
ReplyDeleteCoco- actually Hanzy we could have. We often do. We just didn’t in this instance. You were busy with the Eth merge papers and scoring your new musical - Calvin Mapp a life in song and dance.
Hanzy- true. True.
Coco- but still we can feel sad for Judge K
Hanzy- I don’t have the luxury of feeling sad. You weep for Santiago, and you curse the Marines. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know -- that Santiago's death, while tragic, probably saved lives; and my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives.
Coco - Hey snap out of it. You’re back to quoting the Jack Nicholson speech in A Few Good Men.
Hanzy+ thanks. I hate when that happens. Anyway let’s see if we can A JNC nomination for him ASAP. Teddy Mastos lost a county court seat and Janet got him a circuit court appointment.
Coco. True. True. Quite the memory there Hanzy.
Hanzy- You don't want the truth because deep down in places you don't talk about at parties, you want me on that wall -- you need me on that wall.
Coco- Sigh. There you go again Hanzy Let’s wrap this up. I’m Coco and that’s Hanzy and this has been your Hanzy and Coc daily minute of fun.
He’s always been a class act whether as an ASA or a judge. Keep your head in the game Jeff, you belong in the game. I hope to see him re-appointed or campaign again
ReplyDeleteHe’s a great guy all around
DeleteNY TIMES ARTICLE ON NYCs hottest publicist Kaitlin Phillips - naturally had this Hanzy And Coco reference :
ReplyDelete“It’s Table 0,” she explained one night as she flitted from spot to spot, lap to lap, finishing her friends’ steaks and pouring from a steroidal, Instagram-friendly jeroboam of champagne. “They can never tell me they don’t have a table for me because technically, this table doesn’t even exist.”
Oh, but it does. On a recent Friday it was crowded with a smoking, drinking, carefully curated crowd that included the musician Dev Hynes; David Velasco, the editor in chief of Artforum; the cult comic Lauren Servideo; the artist Sarah Morris; and the doorman from the club Paul’s Casablanca, who looks like a skinnier version of the photographer Mario Sorrenti: same glasses, same hair, along with Miami’s hottest judicial Duo Hanzy and Coco who both said they couldn’t stay long
For whatever reason, she’s becoming, like, the most powerful P.R. person in New York,” said Ryan McNamara, an artist for whom Ms. Phillips has — without being paid — done publicity. “I literally don’t know how this person is becoming that thing but, like, I love her. I always used to tell her, ‘No one told you New York has died!’ She acted like it was still ‘Bright Lights, Big City’!”
Ms. Phillips, 32, is a publicist who started as a writer, and who still sometimes works as a writer, but writer is maybe overstating matters: Her work mostly consisted of her private Twitter feed (@yoloethics), party reporting for Artforum and a sex diary for n+1.
Over the past two years, though, her knack for attention gathering, and her determination to create the kind of off-kilter, exclusive, cooler-than-everything-else scene that has defined earlier moments in Manhattan — but this time with herself at its center — has eclipsed everything else- including her on again off again much rumored relationship with Coco. “No comment “ said NYCs hottest publicist with a smirk when asked about her relationship. “Somethings are private, even for me” she said.
Check it out. NY Times today.
I love the HANZY & COCO Show. I DVR it if we are out on Thursday evening.
ReplyDeleteHanzy and Coco 330 is pure comedic genius. Giving Hanzy an uncontrollable urge to quote from a few good men is the high level type of comedic writing you see on SNL. Whomever is doing this stuff has a real future Rumpole. I hope you tell him or her now g damn great it is.
ReplyDeleteHanzy and Coco is not exactly Seinfeld.
ReplyDeleteNo it’s not Seinfeld. Seinfeld was ground breaking. H&C are relevant and well written. It not ground breaking. Comedic duos go back to Laurel and Hardy. Abbott and Costello. Martin and Lewis. Rowan and Martin. Burns and Allen.
ReplyDeleteIt when you do something great and do it well it merits attention and consideration.
And a baba bouie to y’all.
Judge Kolokoff is the BEST. I hope he gets appointed ASAP. Very fair excellent Judge and human. Miami was so lucky to have him on the bench. And we all hope he returns. The average voters have no clue.
ReplyDeleteJeff was an excellent judge and treated everyone fairly. While his opponent has the correct last name, she is also well qualified to be on the bench. I know her personally and I have no doubt she will be a credit to the bench. In this instance, we are replacing one good judge with another who will be just as good and fair.
ReplyDeleteExcept she used bad judgment on who to run against. Strike 1.
DeleteWe could go a long way in solving this problem if we were to elect our judges by district, the same ones that we use to elect state reps. The judges would serve county-wide, but would only have to campaign in their own districts. All incumbent judges would keep their seats and could select any district to call home until such time as vacancies occurred in certain districts which could then only be filled by contestants who lived in those districts.
ReplyDeleteThis cycle saw an attack on Jewish judges. We see Judge Levitt, who is not Jewish, leaving Miami Dade and moving to a county where that identity would not be harmful but maybe a plus. We were lucky that our two judges of color were re-elected, but we know that has not always been the case, and we know that qualified Black judicial candidates shy away from elective judicial office.
I do not fault folks who know nothing about judges to make decisions within their comfort zones. In 1960, Catholics overwhelmingly voted for Kennedy, and now Catholicism is no longer an issue. By judges running in districts, they would have an opportunity in campaigns to get to know a segment of the electorate with greater thoroughness and maybe we could get away from the unseemly sight of judges with campaign badges on in grocery stores, and judges who are compelled to attend cocktail parties at law firms to raise money.
I doubt that we will ever abandon elections for circuit and county judges, but it would be nice if we could at least make it a little fairer, where each judge could be measured on his or her own merits.
I agree that anyone who has ever appeared before Judge Kolokoff or even have attended his investiture where his overwhelming positive qualities of openness, love of family, fairness, kindness, and love of the community were so very obvious. I believe he will apply for Judge Levitt's vacancy. Let's make sure that we all let the JNC and the Governor know that this is the kind of judge the community deserves and wants, and then let's fix the system so that he does not have to run as Jeffrey "Camacho" Kolokoff.
When my eyes see "Hanzy" in the comment, I move on to the next one. Silly crap.
ReplyDeleteI, too, would encourage Judge Kolokoff to apply for the soon to be open seat in the county court. You can come back from a defeat at the polls, as I did back in 1979. Judge Kolokoff has always handled himself with class, dignity, and a great legal mind. We all need to get behind him should he seek another appointment. For those who have no memory of 1979, the recent examples set by Fleur Labrie and Tom Rebull prove there is light at the end of a dark tunnel. Obviously, the choice is his. I hope he reapplies for a judicial position because he is a tremendous asset to the bench
ReplyDeleteJudges who lose elections can always get real jobs.
ReplyDeleteRowan & Martin? You are flirting with the Mendoza line.
ReplyDeleteHanzy and Coco shows are written by Alec Berg and Lloyd Braun - the same writers as Seinfeld.
ReplyDeleteThat is why their style and comedic timing is so similar.
12:11 If Judge Kolokoff's replacement is so great, why didn't she apply for a vacancy as opposed to running against a very good judge?
ReplyDeleteSo you are saying that a good judge should never have an opponent and get re-elected without opposition?
DeleteIsn’t the answer that she won? She picked the right race and won. No crying in baseball. Move on.
ReplyDelete“Sneer towards a last name”??? Really? Then, how come Jean, Seraphin and Watson win? If you’d be right then, Cervera, De La Portilla and Guerrero would have won. Miami-Dade voters showed in this election that they care. Otherwise, Jean, Seraphin and Watson would not have been elected.
ReplyDeleteHow come a candidate doesn’t apply to JNC? If you don’t know the Governor, why apply. Many qualified applicants have not been appointed because they don’t have the political connections with the Governor. I hope that answers the question someone posed as to why some don’t apply to the JNC.
ReplyDeleteIsn’t it obvious? Three Jewish incumbents lose. The days of hiring Mr Schwartz as your campaign “consultant “ are long gone
ReplyDeleteKolokoff is an arrogant, buffoon who had no business being on the bench. Thank God he got booted off. He can go back to being a PIP defense lawyer, with the rest of those bottom feeders. Good riddance to him.
ReplyDeleteTo August 27 at 11:47pm, Jeff is an exceptional person as well as judge. You are probably calling him a bottom feeder because that is exactly what you are. You went out of your way to write a nasty comment on a late night Saturday. Who is the loser now?
ReplyDeleteNo. He is indeed a bottom feeder, representing United Auto — probably just like you! Only difference being, you’re still making $75K, you half wit & Kolokoff got a raise to $152K on the bench. Grow a pair. Practice real law and make seven digits, you lazy POS.
DeleteTouché 8:38
DeleteHe needs to change his name to Yefry Colon.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the Friday, August 26, 2022 10:01:00 AM post from Ted Mastos.
ReplyDeleteThere is life beyond an election defeat. Kolokoff has a bright future ahead.