ELECTION DAY 2014

THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:


UPDATE: RESULTS & ANALYSIS ($$$$$) BELOW .....
As of 7 am this morning, more than 3.1 million voters had already cast their ballots in Florida.  Absentee Ballots received by the election departments' total 1.3 million and an additional 1.8 million showed up during early voting.  Broken down by party, it's 1.33 million Republicans; 1.22 million Dems and 560,000 with NPA.

RETURNS (98% reporting):

County Court Judge:
BOCANEGRA - 179,600 - 42%
SCHWARTZ    - 243,470 - 58%

Does the money spent make a difference?  What do our readers think?  Incumbent Judge Jacqueline Schwartz spent $380,884 on her campaign including $315,000 of her own money.  In comparison, Challenger Frank Bocanegra spent $93,124 including $32,000 of his own money.

COURTHOUSE BOND
YES                 - 165,838 - 36%
NO                  - 293,840 - 64%

NORTH OF THE BORDER
In Broweird, there were two races for Judge; one Circuit and one County.  In the Circuit Court race, Dennis Bailey defeated Rhonda Sokoloff 50.6% - 49.4% (4,300 votes); and in County Court, Incumbent Ian Richards has 177,067 votes to Challenger Claudia Robinson's 178,084.  They are separated by a quarter of a percent triggering a recount in that race.

ELECTION DAY SPECIAL .....

Beginning in 1980 and continuing through 2004, over the course of seven consecutive presidential elections, a Bush and/or a Clinton appeared on the national ticket for President/Vice-President in each election.  The string was finally broken in 2008, when Barack Obama beat out Hillary Rodham Clinton in the Democratic primaries and secured the nomination of his party.  Two years from now, the cycle may repeat itself and we could again be talking about both a Bush and a Clinton on the national tickets of their parties ....

But for now, you'll just have to settle for a Schwartz and a Bocanegra.

Many of you have already cast your votes either by way of Absentee Ballot or by Early Voting.  For those procrastinators who waited until today to vote, the important races, besides the County Court race alluded to above, includes the following matchups:

Governor: (SCOTT WINS 48%-47%)

Does the money spent make a difference?  The final numbers are not yet in, but as of two days ago, here is what we know:

1. This was the most expensive race in gubernatorial history.
2. Scott and his PACs spent $96 million dollars.
3. Scott reported $10m in expenditures in his campaign account; meaning $86m was spent by PACs.
4. By comparison, Crist and his PACs spent $49 million.
5. Crist reported $9m in expenditures in his campaign account; meaning $40m was spent by the PACs supporting him.
6. $114m was spent on TV ads alone by the two parties; (2-1 in favor of Scott's camp).


Will you be voting for the candidate who is or the candidate who was?  The choice is Rick Scott, the Incumbent, versus Charlie Crist, the former Governor, and current challenger.  Of course, if you didn't know that, well then, you must not own a television set.

Attorney General: (BONDI WINS 55%-42%)

Will you be voting for the Incumbent who has spent most of her elected time in office, (not to mention the valuable resources of her legal team), doing everything she can to make sure that gays cannot marry in the State of Florida or will you be supporting her opponent?  The choice is Pam Bondi versus George Sheldon.

Constitutional Amendment One: (PASSED WITH 75%)

AKA The Florida Water and Land Conservation Initiative.  It deals with our natural resources.

Constitutional Amendment Two: (FAILED WITH 57.5%)

AKA The Medical Marijuana Amendment.  Backed and financed by multi-millionaire personal injury attorney John Morgan, this Amendment polled at around 85% for most of the Spring and Summer.  That was until millions of dollars of out of state PAC money coming from a few billionaires like the Koch brothers and casino magnate Sheldon Adelson funded the Drug Free America group attempting to defeat the amendment.  The latest numbers show about 61% support for this amendment; it takes 60% for the measure to pass.

For a more comprehensive analysis of Amendments One and Two, I'll throw it over to Mr. Cheeseburger in Paradise, who does a much better job than I could ever do at explaining these two very important Amendments:

Constitutional Amendment Three: (FAILED WITH 48%)

AKA The Lame Duck Court Packing Amendment.  This amendment was addressed by the Tampa Tribune recently.  They described the amendment as one that was supported by " ... Republican legislators as a solution to a pending crisis on the Florida Supreme Court. Three of seven justices are expected to retire simultaneously in January 2019, just as a new governor could be taking office. But the amendment placed on the Nov. 4 ballot by the Legislature that would give outgoing governors carte blanche to pack the court on their way out the door is unacceptable. Amendment 3 is one more legislative attempt to push partisanship into the court system, and Florida voters should reject it." 

Miami-Dade Ballot

Locally, the most talked about race is not about whom to select for County Court Judge; instead, it's whether to support a $393 million Bond measure which would fund a new Civil Courthouse to be built somewhere in downtown Miami.  Chief Judge Soto and a host of attorneys and judges have been hosting speakeasy type get-togethers to drum up support for the Bond as well as to raise money to finance the advertising campaign.  The current courthouse is something like 200 years old (j/k - it was built in 1925) and has 28 stories and three bathrooms.  The bond, if passed, would increase the millage rate by about 0.09, or $18, for a home valued at $200,000.

If you have not already done so, get out there today and exercise your right to V-O-T-E. 

And because this whole damn election season has brought us nothing more than $90 plus million dollars worth of false and negative ads from both state parties and their funded PACs, we decided to leave you with this heartfelt moving story that took place this past weekend in Cincinnati, Ohio .....  

Why was a Division III woman's basketball game between Mount St. Joseph's and Hiriam College that would normally put 50 fans in the stands instead moved to Xavier University's 10,000 seat basketball's arena; (PS. they sold out the 10,000 tickets in just one hour)? Read the story and watch the video here.



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

ELECTION CENTRAL 2014

THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:

WELCOME TO THE MONTH OF AUGUST:  IF THE CALENDAR READS AUGUST, THEN IT'S TIME TO KICK-OFF FOOTBALL SEASON, IT'S ALSO THE PEAK OF HURRICANE SEASON, & MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL, IT'S TIME FOR ELECTION CENTRAL .....

On August 26th, 2014, voters go to the polls to decide on eight contested judicial elections.  But, early voting begins next Monday, August 11th and continues through Sunday August 24th.

This past week, the Dade County Bar Association (DCBA) released the results of it's Judicial Poll.  The numbers below indicate: (Exceptionally Qualified/Qualified/Unqualified).

In the past week, the Miami Herald has also printed their recommendations.  Give the Herald credit for going the extra mile.  They begin with an extensive questionnaire and end with in depth interviews of all candidates before their Editorial Board.  The candidates face off in these interviews side by side.

Also, the State of Florida, Division of Elections, lists the campaign account information for all of the candidates.

CIRCUIT COURT

GROUP 16 (Leon Firtel retiring)

Thomas Cobitz v. Stephen Millan

Cobitz 23%/57%/20%

Fundraising: He has raised $21,790 from 103 contributors.  He has also dug deep into his own pocket and borrowed a whopping $500,000 to win the seat.  Tom, seriously, a half a million dollars?!

Millan 18%/59%/23%

Fundraising: He has raised $34,080 from 117 contributors.  He has also added $50,000 of his own money.

Mr. Millan received the HERALD endorsement.

GROUP 26

Judge Rodney Smith v. Christian Carrazana

Smith 47%/45%/7%

Fundraising: He has raised $133,409 from 529 contributors. He has added a measly $100 of his own money, (to open the campaign account).

Carrazana 8%/29%/64%

Fundraising: He has raised $19,450 from 35 contributors.  He has kicked in $7,000 of his own money to the campaign.

Judge Smith received the HERALD endorsement.

GROUP 27 (Ron Dresnick retiring)

Mary Gomez v. Alberto Milian V. Joseph Perkins

Gomez  13%/51%/36%

Fundraising: She has raised $17,551 from 76 contributors.  She has not added any of her own money to the campaign.

Milian  13%/41%/46%

Fundraising: He has raised $160,789 from 186 contributors. He has contributed another $100,000 out of his own pocket.

Candidate Joseph Perkins has dropped out of the race.  He cited "health issues in my family" in a letter to the DBR.

Ms. Gomez received the HERALD endorsement.

GROUP 58 (Marc Schumacher retiring)

Oscar Rodriguez-Fonts v. Martin Zilber

Fonts  17%/61%/22%

Fundraising: He has raised $76,463 from 277 contributors.  He did not loan himself any money.

Zilber  21%/45%/34%

Fundraising: He has raised $156,123 from 462 contributors. He has kicked in $100,000 of his own money.

Mr. Zilber received the HERALD endorsement.

GROUP 67

Judge Fleur Lobree v. Mavel Ruiz

Lobree  47%/46%/7%

Fundraising: She has raised $55,585 from 246 contributors.  She has added $100,000 of her own money to the campaign.

Ruiz  14%/42%/44%

Fundraising: She has raised $28,026 from 127 contributors. She added no money of her own.

Judge Lobree received the HERALD endorsement.

GROUP 70 (Sandy Karlan retiring)

Veronica Diaz v. Renier Diaz de la Portilla

Diaz  13%/34%/54%

Fundraising: She has raised $64,697 from 202 contributors.  She has added $40,000 of her own money to the campaign account.

Diaz DLP  8%/29%/62%

Fundraising: He has raised $70,200 from 126 contributors.  He has added only a $200 contribution of his own money, (to open the campaign account).

Mr. Diaz de la Portilla received the HERALD endorsement.

COUNTY COURT

GROUP 19

Judge Jacqueline Schwartz v. Rachel Dooley v. Frank Bocanegra

Schwartz  16%/45%/39%

Fundraising: She has raised $67,786 from 301 contributors.  She has added a huge contribution of $200,000 of her own money to the campaign account.

Dooley  24%/55%/21%

Fundraising: She has raised $36,233 from 151 contributors. She has added only $1,600 of her own money.

Bocanegra  11%/41%/48%

Fundraising: He has raised $24,962 from 112 contributors.  He has contributed $10,000 into the campaign account from his own pocket.

Judge Schwartz received the HERALD endorsement.

GROUP 36

Judge Nuria Saenz v. Victoria Ferrer

Saenz  29%/52%/19%

Fundraising: She has raised $87,674 from 260 contributors. She has added no money of her own to the campaign.

Ferrer  16%/42%/42%

Fundraising: She has raised $84,749 from 183 contributors. She has added only $2,500 from her wallet to the campaign.

Judge Saenz received the HERALD endorsement.

THE DCBA POLL .....

A word about the poll.  To give any real weight to this poll would be a disservice to the voters of our community.  There were a total of 15,061 attorneys eligible to vote in the poll.  A grand total of 1,211 voters returned their ballots; a figure of just over 8%.  But, in reality, the figures are even more dismal. 

You see, not all 1,211 voters voted for every judge/candidate listed on the poll.  Citing three examples, only 220 attorneys voted on candidate Carrazana; only 185 on candidate Bocanegra; and only a ridiculously low 173 voted on candidate Mary Gomez.  These numbers are typical throughout the poll when looking at those that are not on the bench.

Even the judges currently on the bench had low numbers of attorneys weighing in on their qualifications.  Three more examples: Judge Marcia Caballero garnered votes from only 385 attorneys; Judge Cristina Miranda 373; and Judge Maria Sampedro Iglesias had only 326 attorneys who apparently knew who she was.

So, sadly, the DCBA poll, may be, in a word, worthless.  That is not the fault of the DCBA.  That is clearly the fault of attorneys.  We seem to be so opinionated on these legal blogs.  But when it comes time to weigh in on those that get to wear the black robes, and sit for six years in the judgment of others, we have little to contribute to the poll takers.  In a word, sad.

Therefore, this BLOG post's author will not comment on the results of the DCBA poll; if you really want to read the results, go to the DCBA home page at www.dadecountybar.org and read them yourselves.

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