ELECTION RESULTS 2016 ..... Can Somebody Please Explain the Electoral College to me

THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:

ELECTION DAY 2016 ...............

PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES .......

DONALD TRUMP ELECTED

AS THE 45TH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

Historic, unprecedented, shocking, and clearly the biggest upset in American political history.  Nobody could ever have seen this moment coming when Trump announced his run for the presidency 17 months ago.  In an historic year, (with the Cubs winning the World Series), it should have come as no great surprise, that a person never to have held elected office, and whose claim to fame was "acting" as the host of a TV show called "The Apprentice" was elected as our next President.  For many decades to come, political scientists will analyze and dissect every aspect of this election to figure out how and why Donald Trump won.

But we have a more important question:  What the hell is the Electoral College and why does it still exist? 

Picture this.  You are a tourist in a foreign country, say Paris, France.  You are sitting in a café and discussing the US election with your French waiter (who speaks fluent English).  He asks you the following question: "So, I understand that your election was recently decided and that Hillary Clinton received 59,814,018 votes and Donald Trump got 59,611,678 votes.  By my math, she garnered 202,340 more votes and she is your next President, No (that's how the French speak)? But I read in Le Monde (it's a French newspaper- ask Rumpole about it) that Donald Trump won the election.  How can tis be (think French accent)?

I'm curious, enlighten me on how you would explain to your friendly French waiter what the hell is going on in the greatest country in the world that claims to have the most successful democracy where your country was founded on the principal of "one man/person, one vote". 

This is the fifth time in America history, where the elected President will have received less popular votes than their opponent but enough electoral votes to win the presidency.

It happened in: 1876 (Rutherford B Hayes over Samuel Tilden - and boy was that a mess of an election); 1888 (Benjamin Harrison over President Grover Cleveland); famously in 2000 with Bush v. Gore; and now again in 2016.  In also happened in 1824 (John Quincy Adams over Andrew Jackson, but that election was decided in the House of Representatives under the provisions of the 12th Amendment).***

We thought about inviting Rumpole to debate His Honor Judge Milton Hirsch on this topic.  Maybe they can email each other and take a side and each post an argument on why we should or should not continue to decide our presidential elections by the Electoral vote instead of the popular vote.  Gentlemen, are you all in???

For now, we'll just ask our loyal and faithful Justice Building Blog readers to chime in on their arguments for and against the EC.  Have at it.

In other election news (winners in BLUE):

MIAMI-DADE CIRCUIT COURT

GROUP 34 RUNOFF

Mark Blumstein v. Luis Perez-Medina
393,437 ..................   375,531

GROUP 52 RUNOFF

Carol "Jodie" Breece v. Oscar Rodriguez-Fonts
372,480 ..........................  376,551


NORTH OF THE BORDER .....

Circuit Court Group 15 Runoff

Barbara Duffy v Miami Dade ASA Abbe Rifkin
356,839 ..................................  232,254

SOUTH OF THE BORDER .....

In Monroe County, former Miami-Dade ASA Catherine "Cathy" Vogel, who was elected to the job of State Attorney for the 16th Judicial Circuit four year ago, lost her job to the man she beat in 2012, Dennis Ward.  Final totals: 20,525 - 19,173.

***The Twelfth Amendment requires the House of Representatives to immediately go into session to vote for president if no candidate for president receives a majority of the electoral votes (since 1964, 270 of the 538 electoral votes). In this event, the House of Representatives is limited to choosing from among the three candidates who received the most electoral votes for president. Each state delegation votes en bloc – each delegation having a single vote; the District of Columbia does not receive a vote. A candidate must receive an absolute majority of state delegation votes (i.e., at present, a minimum of 26 votes) in order for that candidate to become the President-elect. Additionally, delegations from at least two-thirds of all the states must be present for voting to take place. The House continues balloting until it elects a president.

The House of Representatives has chosen the president only twice: in 1801 under Article II, Section 1, Clause 3 and in 1825 under the Twelfth Amendment. (In the election of 1800, candidates Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr each ended up with 73 electoral votes). (In the election of 1824, none of the four candidates for President received a majority of the electoral votes. This election is the only time since the passage of the 12^th amendment that the House of Representatives decided the outcome. Andrew Jackson 99 and John Quincy Adams 84 were the top two vote-getters with Adams getting the nod from the House).


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

HANGING CHADS; GET YOUR MAGNIFYING GLASS OUT ......

THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:

A special prize to the first reader that can name the Judge above (no googling)

And your next County Court Judge, Part One, will be:

Judge Fred Seraphin or Challenger Milena Abreu

The final tally of votes with all 783 precincts reporting has Incumbent Judge Seraphin up by 689 votes.

SERAPHIN - 105,779
ABREU       - 105,090

An automatic recount of the votes cast for the County Judge, Group 5 race in the August 30, 2016 Primary Election, will be conducted, pursuant to Section 102.141(7) and 102.166, Florida Statutes. The members of the Miami-Dade County Canvassing Board will oversee the recount process commencing at 5 p.m. on Thursday, September 1, 2016, and continuing in succeeding days as needed, at the Miami-Dade County Elections Department, 2700 NW 87^th Avenue, Miami, Florida.

Miami-Dade County Canvassing Board Members:

Honorable Shelley J. Kravitz, County Judge, Chairperson
Honorable Andrew S. Hague, County Judge, Substitute Member
Christina White, Supervisor of Elections, Member


And you next County Court Judge, Part Two, replacing Judge Jacqueline Schwartz, will be one of these six names sent to Governor Scott today by our local JNC:

Ramiro C. Areces; 7 year member of The Florida Bar (TFB); small firm lawyer in Gables

Alexander Spicola Bokor; 11 year member of TFB; Miami Dade County Attorney's Office.  Handles litigation cases and has worked as legal counsel for Miami Dade Dept of Transportation, Public Works, Property Appraiser and Tax Collector; formerly with Jones Day and Kozyak Tropin

Raul Cuervo; 30 year member of TFB; with Carlton Fields; insurance defense; commercial litigator

Elijah Levitt; 12 year member of TFB; AUSA; former ASA (remember the cat killing case)

Joseph Mansfield; 13 year member of TFB; ASA

Julie Harris Nelson; 20 year member of TFB; insurance defense attorney with ROIG Lawyers; former ASA

The Governor has 60 days to name a replacement.


JAMES "JAY" HOGAN .........

 Please join us for

A Celebration of Hogan

at

The Biltmore Hotel Country Club Ballroom

Friday, September 2, 2016

Eleven a.m.

Remembrances welcome


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

IT'S ELECTION DAY ... NOW GET OUT AND VOTE .......

12:30am.  With all 783 precincts reporting, a mere 689 votes separate the challengers:

SERAPHIN - 105,779 - 50.16%
ABREU       -  105,090 - 49.84%

(In Florida, a recount of the ballots takes place if the vote margin is 0.5 percent or less. The County Elections Canvassing Board will conduct the recount).





  
10:30.   With 96% of the votes having been counted it's:

SERAPHIN - 104,537
ABREU       -  104,142

10:00.  We are ready to call all but the Seraphin v. Abreu race.

Judge-Elect Del Ray over former Judge Bloch
Blumstein v. Perez-Medina in a runoff. Gordon and Scanziani out
Breece v. Rodriguez-Fonts in a runoff. Aponte out
Judge Luck over Roberson
Judge Sarduy over Tauler (YES Tauler)

Judge Newman over Martinez
Judge-Elect Luce over Aponte, BIG, Really, Really Big
Judge Graham over Jimenez

With 92% of the votes counted, Judge Seraphin leads Abreu by 249 votes.

And North of the Border, headed for a run-off Barbara Duffy (29%)and Abbe Rifkin (24%). Mike Satz (52%) over Teresa Williams (48%) for State Attorney.


9:30 Yawn. We are going to sleep. Big early morning sunrise hike scheduled. Basically the returns are what they are below- it's a total toss-up between Abreu and Seraphin  Just checked and with 723 out of 783 precincts reporting, Seraphin pulled ahead by 249 votes, but the race is still way too close to call, and Bloch has probably lost but we can't say for sure. Maybe the Captain will post later but will won't be near a computer until we return around noon. Good night. 

9:15 update- with 697 out of 793 precincts reporting Milena Abreu has a 76 vote lead over Judge Seraphin with almost 205,000 votes cast. Meanwhile Judge Bloch remains 9,318 votes behind. 

Fifth Call of the night: 8:54 PM= Jodie Breece (40%) and Oscar Rodriguez-Fonts (35%) will make the runoff in a circuit court seat. 

Fourth Call of the night- 8:51 PM- The Biggest winner of the night, vote wise, is your new county court judge LINDA LUCE who leads Ruben Alcoba by more than 55,000 votes. This is a landslide. 

Third Call of the Night-8:48 PM- up by 22,000 votes, it's....SARDUY!!! 

Second call of the night-8:35 PM- after an initial scare in the early returns, your county court judge Wendell Graham, confortably ahead by 25,000 votes and with 630 of 783 precincts reporting, will be re-elected and returned to the bench! Congrats to Judge Graham!
Meanwhile things are looking for grim for Bloch- Del Rey continues to hold on to a 9,300 vote lead, and there are less and less places on the map where Bloch can make it up. In fact we are not sure there are more than 10-12,000 votes left to tally 
There are 36,000 votes to tally and that makes his comeback a very very slim possibility at this hour.
Bloch needs to win 26,500 out of the 36,000 to pull even. And that's assuming Bloch is listed on every ballot, which is an incorrect assumption. This could well be the end for his current judicial career. 

Meanwhile, in the tightest race of the night, Milena Abreu is clinging to a 665 vote lead over Judge Seraphin with a total of almost 200,000 votes cast. WOW. 


Our first call- Looking at the returns, based on the map and the precincts left, prior voting patterns, and leading by 15,000 votes....ROBERT J LUCK has been returned to the bench and will 
continue to be a circuit court judge. 
Interesting observation- Both Luck and Block took the south and Homestead area. But when you move into the Pinecrest, Gables, South Miami areas, Luck won that as well, but Bloch did not and that is shaping up to be the difference here between these two incumbents. 


Early Returns: 7:30
No precincts have fully reported, so take this with a grain of salt.
Graham has pulled ahead of Jimenez 55-45.
Luck is maintaining a 55-45 lead over Roberson as is Sarduy over Tauler.  While Newman and Abreau lead Martinez and Seraphin 51-49 each.

But in the biggest and most closely watched race of the night, Judge Bloch trails Del Rey 51-49 and by a total of about 9500 votes.


THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:

ELECTION CENTRAL - 2016 JUDICIAL PRIMARY

Welcome to our bi-annual Blog Post on Election day.  Today is the day where as many as nine of the names listed below will be hired (or rehired) by the voters of Miami-Dade County to the position of Circuit or County Court Judge.  The job interview began for many of these candidates more than a year ago and the process has been long and arduous.  These candidates have had pastelitos for breakfast in Homestead, arroz con pollo for lunch in Hialeah, and matzah ball soup and corned beef for dinner in Aventura, as they trekked across our very large County selling themselves to the voters.

At least seven of the contests will be decided by the close of the polls tonight.  There could very well be a run-off in two Circuit Court contests.

Good luck to all of the candidates.  We will begin reporting the results shortly after 7:00 PM.


Here are your contested judicial races:

CIRCUIT COURT

Circuit Group 9 - Incumbent Jason Bloch v. Marcia Del Rey

Circuit Group 34 - Mark Blumstein v. Renee Gordon v. Denise Martinez-Scanziani v. Luis Perez-Medina.  (Judge Gill Freeman retiring).

Circuit Group 52 - Rosy Aponte v. Carol "Jodie" Breece v. Oscar Rodriguez-Fonts. (Judge Michael Genden retiring).

Circuit Group 66 - Incumbent Robert Luck v. Yolly Roberson

Circuit Group 74 - Incumbent George "Jorge" Sarduy v. Elena Ortega-Tauler

COUNTY COURT

County Group 5 - Incumbent Fred Seraphin v. Milena Abreu

County Group 7 - Incumbent Ed Newman v. Lizzett Martinez

County Group 15 - Ruben Yury Alcoba v. Linda Luce (Judge Judith Rubenstein retiring).

County Group 35 - Incumbent Wendell Graham v. Antonio "Tony" Jimenez

NORTH OF THE BORDER .....

We will also keep our eyes on the election in Broward's Circuit Court Group 15 where incumbent Judge Matthew Destry has his hands full with four challengers including our own ASA Abbe Rifkin.  Good luck to Abby.

A NEW WEB SITE FOR THE 11TH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT .....

Holy hotcakes, Batman.  Did you say that our Circuit actually has a new web site.  Why yes, Robin, we understand that Miami-Dade bigwigs went straight to the founder of the Internet, former VP Al Gore, and, with his help, they have developed a state of the art, first of it's kind, never before seen, website for the ages.

You can peruse the new web site by going here.


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

JUDICIAL ELECTION 2016 - THE LINEUP

UPDATE BY RUMPOLE

Rumpole gets the last word here on the putative candidacy of Daniel Espinosa, Esq. 

Putting aside the sob story about how this is his "dream" and Mr. Espinosa begs the clerk to "allow me to go through with it", lets have a brief discussion about the writing skills of a man who wants to be called Judge, and have the power and ability to write orders that will cause millions of dollars to be won or lost, or cause a person to live or die. 

"Knowingly, I enclosed a check for ... please advise at once so that I may appropriate issue a check from my campaign account once it is opened." 

Hmm... so that I may appropriate issue a check. Can one "inappropriate" issue a check? Well, yes. If the check is twenty cents less than the amount due. 

The verb is "issue" and the adverb, modifying the verb is "appropriately" not "appropriate".  Adverbs describe the action. They may modify it as well. "I ate slowly". "The judge incorrectly  decided the motion."  

What Mr. Judge Is My Dream wanted to write was "so I can issue the check from the appropriate account for the correct amount" or "so I can have the check appropriately issued", although this sentence is still on shaky ground. 

And what's the deal with "Knowingly?" Can one "unknowingly" enclose a check? Probably not, but one can improperly issue a check, and for the wrong amount to boot. The inclusion of "knowingly" is nothing more than an example of someone who has poor writing skills trying to write like he thinks a lawyer writes. 

"...I am pleading with you to please accept my check, or in the alternative to allow the twenty cents (or a new check) to be issued." 

Query: How does one issue twenty cents? 
Answer: You are the United States Treasury and you are authorized by Congress to issue a new coin for twenty cents (the ol' "double dime"). 

So what was Mr. Beg, borrow and plead asking for? Well, he wanted the clerk to accept a check for a filing fee for an incorrect amount. FAIL. Or allow him to issue a new check, outside the deadline for the correct amount. FAIL. Or, somehow, allow a twenty cent piece of some sort to be issued by some individual or duly authorized agency that would cover the shortfall. 

Why are we being picayune? 
BECAUSE HE WANTS TO BE A JUDGE. He isn't applying for a license to sell ice cream. He isn't applying for a license to run the El Chapo Cafe, (where being several months late is no problemo).  His wants to be a judge. It is his dream. It is his family's dream. He is saying, by running, that he is amongst the best and brightest of the entire legal profession of our county. 

And yet he cannot even write a coherent letter convincing the clerk to accept his incorrect filing fee. 

If he was a judge and had to run on a statute of limitations issue, how would he rule? 
By virtue of his letter writing skills that would earn a D minus in our legal writing class, good riddance. The citizens of Miami-Dade County are saved from dealing with yet another completely unqualified lawyer who wants to be a judge. 

(Any news on Judge Jackie Schwartz? )





THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:

UPDATED:

Thank you to the alert commenter for pointing out that challenger Daniel Espinosa has not been officially qualified to run against Judge Rosa Rodriguez.  Mr. Espinosa turned over his check to the Dept. of State on Thursday, in the amount of $5,843.00.  Only problem is that the filing fee is $5,843.20.  By virtue of the check being 20 cents short, he may be out of luck.

FURTHER UPDATE:

There are actually two checks on file with the Department.  The first one dated April 28, 2016 is for the correct amount but issued from the account of Espinosa Law Group.  The second one dated May 5th, is twenty cents short and issued from the account of Daniel "Danny" Espinosa Campaign Account.

FINAL UPDATE:

The Florida Dept. of State has removed Espinosa's name from Group 30.  Congrats to Judge Rosa Rodriguez who dodged two bullets this week.  First when Jorge Lopez filed against her; only to withdraw.  Then when Espinosa filed against her, only to pay with a law office check at first, and then replace that check with a campaign account check that was 20 cents short of the filing fee.

That decision was worth at least $876,480 to Rodriguez; the salary she will earn over the next six years.


SIGNS, SIGNS, EVERYWHERE A SIGN,
BLOCKIN' OUT THE SCENERY, BREAKIN' MY MIND .....

And there's going to be lots of them, scattered all over Miami-Dade County this summer as, at deadline, there are no less then ten contested judicial races.

While ten contested races sounds like a high number, it's not.  In 2006, there were 16 contested races; in 2012 there were 12 contests; and in 2008 there were also 10.  Anyone remember the likes of Shirlyon McWhorter, Stephen Millan, Michael Samuels, Migna Sanchez Llorens, Bonnie Rippingile, Josie Velis, Gina Mendez, and Jose Sanchez-Gronlier.  Those were just some of the losers in 2006.

Here are your contested judicial races:

CIRCUIT COURT

Circuit Group 9 - Incumbent Jason Bloch v. Marcia Del Rey

Circuit Group 30 - Incumbent Rosa Rodriguez v. Daniel Espinosa

Circuit Group 34 - Mark Blumstein v. Renee Gordon v. Denise Martinez-Scanziani v. Luis Perez-Medina.  (Judge Gill Freeman retiring).

Circuit Group 52 - Rosy Aponte v. Carol "Jodie" Breece v. Oscar Rodriguez-Fonts. (Judge Michael Genden retiring).

Circuit Group 66 - Incumbent Robert Luck v. Yolly Roberson

Circuit Group 74 - Incumbent George "Jorge" Sarduy v. Elena Ortega-Tauler

COUNTY COURT

County Group 5 - Incumbent Fred Seraphin v. Milena Abreu

County Group 7 - Incumbent Ed Newman v. Lizzett Martinez

County Group 15 - Ruben Yury Alcoba v. Linda Luce (Judge Judith Rubenstein retiring).

County Group 35 - Incumbent Wendell Graham v. Antonio "Tony" Jimenez

ELECTED WITHOUT OPPOSITION .....

Congratulations to the following 17 Judges/former Judge who have been elected to a six year term with an annual salary of $146,080 (Circuit Court) and $138,020 (County Court):

CIRCUIT

John Schlesinger
Rodolfo "Rudy" Ruiz
Scott Bernstein
Bertila Soto
John Thornton
Jennifer Bailey
Barbara Areces
David Young* (former Judge)
William Thomas
Milt Hirsch
Samantha Ruiz Cohen
Nushin Sayfie
Monica Gordo

COUNTY

Michaelle Gonzalez-Paulson
Carroll Kelly
Diana Vizcaino
Laura Anne Stuzin

FERNANDEZ RUNDLE & MARTINEZ BOTH REELECTED

Also elected without opposition were State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle and Public Defender Carlos Martinez.  For Carlos, who was first elected in 2008, this is his third term.  For Kathy, who is 66 years young, this is her seventh term.  She took over for Janet Reno in 1993 when President Clinton names Reno as Attorney General.  She was then elected in 1994 and reelected six more times.  Is this her final term?  What do you think?


NORTH OF THE BORDER

One note about the happenings in Broweird.  Our longtime colleague, ASA Abbe Rifkin, has qualified to run in Group 15 against three other candidates, including Incumbent Judge Matthew Destry.


We hope everyone enjoyed their Cinco de Mayo yesterday.  Have a great weekend and we leave you with one of our favourite songs of our youth; (well more like Stan Blake's youth):

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

JUDGES SARDUY & KELLY HAVE OPPONENTS, JUDGE SAYFIE DOES NOT .....

AND NOW A WORD FROM JUDGE BLAKE: 

 Stan Blake said...

As a prior administrative judge in the Criminal Division for 9 years, the average person has no idea about all the extra work with no additional pay. Almost daily meetings and putting out fires are just a small part of the job. Because of the experience, administrative judges often teach others and sit on commitees. I know personally how hard Judge Kelly and Judge Sayfie work.

Wednesday, May 04, 2016 2:54:00 PM

 

This is Rumpole. We want to thank the Captain for doing a great job staying on top of this ever-changing judicial election landscape. The thought that comes to us is....where is Albert Zemlock when you need him?

THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:

BREAKING NEWS ROUND THREE .....

INCUMBENT JUDGE SARDUY HAS AN OPPONENT

AND

INCUMBENT JUDGE SAYFIE LOSES HER OPPONENT

AND

INCUMBENT JUDGE KELLY HAS AN OPPONENT .....

Incumbent Judges beware.  No seat in safe in Miami-Dade County.  Today, very quietly, Circuit Court Judge George Sarduy, currently assigned to the Family Division, drew an opponent.  That opponent is none other than attorney Elena C. Tauler AKA Elena "Ortega"-Tauler; which is the name she used to file for Judge.

Judge Sarduy was in private practice until April of 2006 when he was appointed to the County Court bench by Governor Jeb Bush.  Less than two years later, Sarduy was elevated to the Circuit Court bench by Governor Charlie Crist.  He ran unopposed in 2010 to retain his seat and he is currently running for reelection.

Elena C. Tauler is an attorney licensed by The Florida Bar since 1988.  On the other hand, Elena Ortega-Tauler is not an attorney licensed to practice law in the State of Florida.  Despite that, Elena Ortega-Tauler is running for Circuit Court Judge.

Tauler filed to run in Group 52 more than one year ago, and until today, was running against Carol "Jodi" Breece, Raul Perez-Ceballos, and Oscar Rodriguez-Fonts.  This afternoon, Tauler jumped into Group 74 filing against Incumbent Judge Sarduy.

We have written several posts about Elena Tauler, including on April 24, 2008 and March 8, 2015, that can be found here and here.

We were recently sent a brochure from Florida Mediation Group where Tauler is a Mediator.  The brochure touts "Elena C. Tauler", Esq as a Florida Supreme Court Certified Circuit Court mediator.  It does not mention anybody by the name of Elena Ortega-Tauler in the brochure.

INCUMBENT JUDGE SAYFIE .....

Also happening this afternoon, Judge Sayfie lost her opponent, Rosy A. Aponte.  Aponte has now decided to run against Incumbent County Court Judge Carroll Kelly in Group 23. 

And thank you to the alert reader who pointed out that Sayfie's campaign account has grown since last Friday.  On Monday she reported that for the month of April, 2016, she raised an additional $41,990, bringing her total raised to $96,000.  It is also remarkable how the legal community rallied around her candidacy in opposing the filing by Aponte.  I say that because, of the $41,990 raised in the month of April, $41,465 was donated on Friday, April 29th, the day Aponte filed.  Sayfie also loaned her campaign an extra $25k on the same day).

INCUMBENT JUDGE CARROLL KELLY .....

Judge Kelly has been on the bench since 1998.  Since getting elected that year, she was reelected in 2004 and 2010, and she is running for reelection this year.  Her web page can be found here.

Judge Kelly is currently the Administrative Judge of the Domestic Violence Division.  She previously served as President of the Florida Conference of County Court Judges, teaches as an Adjunct Professor at the UM law school, and serves on the faculty of the Florida Judicial College and the Florida College for Advanced Judicial Studies.

Her opponent is Rosy A. Aponte, who we wrote about on Friday, April 29, 2016.

Three days left until filing closes and by all accounts there will be a lot more action in the final 72 hours.

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

JUDGE ROSA RODRIGUEZ DRAWS AN OPPONENT .....

THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:

BREAKING NEWS CONTINUES ... JUDGE ROSA RODRIGUEZ HAS OPPOSITION .....

In what's now becoming a regular occurrence over the past few days, another long time Incumbent Judge has drawn an opponent.

Early on it was the likes of County Court Judges Ed Newman and Fred Seraphin, and Circuit Court Judges Jason Bloch and Robert Luck.

In the past couple of days, add Incumbent Judges Wendell Graham, Nushin Sayfie, and now Rosa Rodriguez to that list.  WHO'S NEXT ?!

Today, attorney Jorge A. Lopez has filed to run against the three time incumbent Judge Rodriguez.

Judge Rosa Rodriguez was first elected to the Circuit Court bench in 1998. She was reelected in 2004 and 2010. She is running to retain her seat.  In 1998, Rodriguez defeated attorney Ann Mason-Parker by 54% to 46% to win her race.  She ran unopposed in '04 and '10.

Attorney Jorge A. Lopez has been a member of The Florida Bar for 29 years. He has an office in Coral Gables. According to his web site, this is what it says about him:

Jorge A. Lopez, Senior Partner

Jorge A. Lopez earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration from Georgetown University in 1983 and a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Miami School of Law in 1986. Mr. Lopez was admitted to the Florida Bar in October of 1986. Mr. Lopez has extensive experience handling complex commercial matters and litigation involving investor fraud and corporate disputes. Mr. Lopez also handles litigation of catastrophic injury claims, aviation disasters and consumer fraud cases. In addition, Mr. Lopez has represented clients against some of the largest financial institutions including Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, UBS Paine Webber, Salomon-Smith Barney, CitiGroup, Credit Suisse First Boston and Prudential Securities. Mr. Lopez speaks Spanish and Portuguese

COINCIDENCE

As was pointed out by an alert reader of the BLOG, Attorney Rosy Aponte (who filed against Judge Sayfie) and Attorney Jorge A. Lopez, both have the exact same Campaign Treasurer.  That person is C.P.A. Carlos Trueba who has an office in Doral.

MONEY

We all know that you can't run a campaign without it.  And, like Judge Graham, who has raised no money and filed with one week to go before the qualifying deadline, and like Judge Sayfie, who has raised only $54,000, the least among all incumbent Circuit Court Judges, so does Judge Rosa Rodriguez fall into that same category.  Of the 14 Incumbent Circuit Court Judges running for reelection, only Judges Schlesinger, Bernstein, and Areces have raised less than the $89,000 that Judge Rosa Rodriguez has raised.  And when you add in the amounts lent to candidates' own campaigns, Rodriguez fall down to third to last with Areces and Sayfie bringing up the rear in total funds available for their campaigns.  Rodriguez has contributed a grand total of ZERO loaned to her own campaign. (See our BLOG post dated April 29, 2016).

Alert readers, please email us with any other tips and breaking news.

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

JUDGE SAYFIE HAS AN OPPONENT

THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:

BREAKING NEWS ..... JUDGE NUSHIN SAYFIE HAS DRAWN OPPOSITION .....

UPDATED BELOW

In a stunning move, Judge Nushin Sayfie, Chief Administrative Judge of the Criminal Division, has drawn an opponent.  Judge Sayfie is running for reelection in Group 59 of the Circuit Court.

Her opponent is attorney ROSY APONTE, who has been a member of The Florida Bar for, hold your breath, a whopping seven years.  Ms. Aponte maintains a law office in the City of Doral.  Ms. Aponte filed to run against Judge Sayfie earlier today.

Judge Sayfie began her career with the Public Defender's Office and worked for the Eleventh Judicial Circuit PD from 1994-1999 and from 2001-2007. She also spent two years with the PD in the Second Circuit from 1999-2001. Judge Sayfie became a Circuit Court Judge in 2007.  She was appointed by Governor Charlie Crist in 2007 and ran unopposed in 2010.

Judge Sayfie has currently raised $54,000 and loaned her campaign a total of $5,000.

We know nothing about her opponent.

UPDATE:

If Aponte decides to leave Group 59 and jump into another race, here are the Incumbents currently running unopposed. One of them may end up having a long, hot summer filled with shaking lots of hands:

John Schlesinger - $61,000**; $100,000***
Rudy Ruiz - $118,000; $3,500
Scott Bernstein - $76,000; $50,000
Bertila Soto - $108,000; $2,000
John Thornton - $189,000; $100,000
Jennifer Bailey - $156,000; $5,000
Rosa Rodriguez - $89,000; $0.00
Barbara Areces - $64,000; $10,000
David Young * - $222,000; $250
William Thomas - $188,000; $500
Milton Hirsch - $174,000; $100,000
Samantha Ruiz Cohen - $111,000; $25,000
Monica Gordo - $144,000; $0.00
Jorge Sarduy - $105,000; $500
*former judge with no current opposition
**the first number represents the amount raised
***the second number represents the amount the candidate loaned to their campaign

If Judge Sayfie is lucky enough to have Ms. Aponte move to another Group, I'm thinking that Scott Bernstein is shaking in his boots right about now.

COUNTY COURT .... GROUPS 15 & 35

The latest on Group 35 is that Judge Wendell Graham is down to one opponent; Antonio "Tony" Jimenez.  That's because his other opponent, patent attorney Ruben Alcoba, has jumped into the Group 15 race against Linda Luce and Eleane Sosa-Bruzon.

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

ELECTION CENTRAL UPDATE .... WENDELL GRAHAM UPDATE .....

THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:

ELECTION CENTRAL 2016 ...................

COUNTY AND CIRCUIT COURT RACES

A whole lot of changes in the landscape of judicial races has taken place in the past week in both the County Court and Circuit Court.

COUNTY COURT

GROUP 15

We were the first to report (on March 8^th) that Judge Judith "Judy" Rubinstein had decided to hang up her robe after 16 years on the bench.

As soon as Judge Rubinstein announced her intention to retire, two attorneys who had filed to run in Circuit Court jumped at the opportunity for a less crowded field and filed in her County Court Group. The first attorney, Antonio G. Jimenez, who had previously filed to run in Circuit Group 34, is still now running for County Court.  But, the second lawyer, Raul Perez-Ceballos, who previously filed to run in Circuit Group 52, then filed to run in County Court Group 15, has now firmly chosen to return to the Circuit Court race in Group 52 against Jodie Breece, Elena Ortega-Tauler, and Oscar Rodriguez-Fonts. Perez-Ceballos plucked down his check in the amount of $5,843.20 last week representing the filing fee to run for Circuit Court Judge.

GROUP 35

We previously reported to you that only one incumbent, Judge Wendell Graham, had yet for file to run for reelection in his Group 35 of the County Court. When we spoke with Judge Graham this past October, he indicated to us that he intended to run again. Judge Graham has been on the bench since 1994. With two weeks left in the filing period Graham has still not filed to retain his seat.  When we recently spoke with him again, he reiterated his intention to file.  The problem is, because he waited as long as he did, when he does file, he will now have to face two challengers who are attempting to take his seat away from him.

Filing to run in Group 35:

Antonio G. Jimenez. Yes, the same Jimenez that had first filed in Circuit Group 34; then moved to County Group 15, has now settled into running for the open seat in County Group 35.

Ruben Y. Alcoba. He joined the race this past Friday. Mr. Alcoba has been a member of The Florida Bar for the past 17 years. He is a patent attorney having handled over 500 patent and trademark legal matters.

GROUP 15

Wait, so if incumbent Judith Rubenstein first filed, then dropped out of County Group 15; and if challenger Antonio Jimenez first filed in this Group and then switched to County Group 35; and if challenger Raul Perez-Ceballos first filed in Circuit Group 34, then switched to County Group 15, only to switch back to Circuit Group 34,

Who, you ask, is left to run in County Group 15. Well, until a few days ago - nobody. Enter:

Linda Luce. She has been a member of The Florida Bar since 1995. We believe Ms. Luce handles primarily family law matters with an office in Coral Gables.

Eleane Sosa-Bruzin. She has been a member of The Florida Bar since 2005. Ms. Sosa-Bruzin is currently employed with Landau & Assoc., a large firm based in Hollywood. She began her career at the Broward PD’s office. She now handles PIP suits.

No doubt there will be a lot more hopping around between Groups and a few last minute surprise candidates as we draw closer to the filing deadline of Friday, May 6, 2016.

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

JUDICIAL ELECTIONS 2016 - UPDATE

THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:

ELECTION CENTRAL 2016 ...................

COUNTY & CIRCUIT COURT RACES

A lot of movement has taken place over the past few days in both the County Court and Circuit Court judicial races.

COUNTY COURT

GROUP 5

Let's start with the "People's Court" where Incumbent Judge Fred Seraphin has finally filed his papers seeking reelection.  He already has opposition in the name of Milena Abreu as we have previously reported on this Blog.  Ms. Abreu filed back in November of 2015 and while Judge Seraphin emailed us many months ago announcing that he would be seeking reelection, it took him until February 23rd to file his paperwork.

GROUP 15

Judge Judith "Judy" Rubinstein has decided to hang up her robe after 16 years on the bench.  She began her career with the Miami-Dade Police Department and worked as their Legal Advisor for 12 years.  If you are as old some of us are, then you remember going up against her in forfeiture hearings when she represented the County Police Department.  Judge Rubenstein has spent most of her recent judicial career in the Domestic Violence Division.

Judge Rubenstein had filed papers in January announcing her intention to run for one last term; (she even deposited a cool $100k into her reelection account).  Last week she changed her mind.  As soon as Judge Rubinstein announced her intention to retire, two attorneys who had filed to run in Circuit Court jumped at the opportunity for a less crowded field and filed in her County Court Group.

Attorney Antonio G. Jimenez, who had previously filed to run in Circuit Group 34 against four other challengers, (Mark Blumstein, Renee Gordon, Denis Martinez-Scanziani, and Luis Perez-Medina) has now officially moved his candidacy to Group 15.

Attorney Raul Perez-Ceballos, who previously filed to run in Circuit Group 52, is now challenging Jimenez.  Group 52 still has three candidates remaining including: Jodie Breece, Elena Ortega-Tauler, and Oscar Rodriguez-Fonts.

There remains four contested Circuit Court contests along with David Young who is running for an open seat and remains with no opposition.  And there are now three contested County Court races.

Only one incumbent, Judge Wendell Graham, has yet for file to run for reelection in his Group 35 of the County Court.  When we spoke with Judge Graham this past October, he indicated to us that he intended to run again.  Judge Graham has been on the bench since 1994.

No doubt there will be much more strategery involved among these candidates for Judge between now and the filing deadline, which is Friday, May 6, 2016.

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

THE END OF AN ERA & JUDGE JOHNSON INVESTITURE .....

THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:

THE END OF AN ERA ....... BUT FIRST

JUDGE CHARLES "CHARLIE" JOHNSON INVESTITURE

County Court Judge Charles "Charlie" Johnson, recently appointed to the Circuit Court bench by Governor Scott, will be formally sworn in at his INVESTITURE OF JUDGE CHARLES JOHNSON, on Friday, February 19, 2016 at 12:15 PM.  The Investiture takes place at the Civil Courthouse, located at 73 West Flagler Street, 6th Floor, in the Ceremonial Courtroom.

Guests are advised to arrive early if they want a seat inside the courtroom.  There is an overflow room with a video screen available on the same floor.

Congrats again for a well deserved accomplishment.

ROBBINS, TUNKEY, ROSS, AMSEL, RABEN, & WAXMAN .....

In the mid-1970s, Fred Robbins and Bill Tunkey were ASAs working for Richard Gerstein.  They left that office and joined Paul Pollack's firm.  Jeff Weiner soon joined them.  In 1977, Jeffrey Weiner, Fred Robbins, and Bill Tunkey created the law firm Weiner, Robbins, Tunkey.

Soon thereafter, Alan Ross left Kogan and Kogan to join the new firm.  In 1982, Bob Amsel signed on right out of law school. David Raben left the PD's office in 1983 and joined the growing firm. And Benjamin "Benji" Waxman rounded out the firm in the mid-80s. There were many other associates over the past four decades that worked at the one and only criminal defense law firm in the State of Florida. (Two names that come to mind that worked there over the years include Barry Wax and Mark Eiglarsh.  Who else worked there?).

The firm lasted 39 years, a lifetime in the legal community in this day and age.  Jeff Weiner left in 1992 and they renamed the firm Robbins, Tunkey, Ross, Amsel, Rabin & Waxman.  Finally, earlier this month, after 39 years, the immutable Robbins, Tunkey, et al decided to break up.

They were known as Florida's oldest and largest exclusively criminal defense law firm. They were the exception to the norm in criminal defense firms, where the average size is one.  While many criminal defense lawyers share space and overhead, their firms are kept separate because of the issue of conflict of interest.  Robbins, Tunkey bucked that norm and created a powerhouse law firm of seasoned attorneys who did nothing but criminal defense law, on a State and Federal level.   Nearly all were former ASAs or APDs and they were really good at their craft.

We can tell you that the dissolution was amicable.  According to Bob Amsel, "we had all come to a point in our careers where we were all in different places and this change seemed to make sense."  We understand that a new firm has been born at the familiar location on SW 3rd Avenue.  That new firm is called Ross, Amsel, Raben, Nascimento (Joseph).  Fred Robbins and Bill Tunkey are sharing space together in the same building, while Benji Waxman has moved his digs to a new location.

Good luck to the newly named firm and to all of the other attorneys who once made up "the largest exclusively criminal defense law firm in Florida".

ELECTION CENTRAL .......

In Election 2016 news, yet another attorney has filed to run in Group 34 of the Circuit Court.  Attorney Mark Blumstein, a member of The Florida Bar since 1996, has filed in a Group that now includes five candidates: Renee Gordon, Antonio Jimenez, Denis Martinez Martinez-Scanziani, Luis Perez-Medina, and Blumstein.

Mr. Blumstein went to Nova law, he speaks Italian and Spanish, and his practice covers just about all areas of the law, according to his web site, which states that "our firm practices extensively in litigation, contractual disputes, business torts, military affairs as well as many other practice areas."

To date, there all still four contested Circuit Court Groups, and David Young is still uncontested in an open seat.

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

CAMPAIGN 2016 ..... NEW FILING IN CIRCUIT COURT

THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:

UPDATED:

Your next County Court Judge .....

The JNC has met and narrowed the list of applicants for our next County Court Judge.  We posted on November 25th the names of the 23 applicants which you can find here.

The JNC will be interviewing 16 of those applicants on December 14th:

2:00 p.m. Elijah A. Levitt
2:15 p.m. Griska Mena Rodriguez
2:30 p.m. Karl S.H. Brown
2:45 p.m. Luis Perez-Medina
3:15 p.m. Alexander Spicola Bokor
3:30 p.m. Paul Aiello
3:45 p.m. Gina Beovides
4:00 p.m. Joseph J. Mansfield
4:30 p.m. Ramiro C. Areces
4:45 p.m. Norman Powell
5:00 p.m. Julie H. Nelson
5:10 p.m. Peter S. Heller
5:35 p.m. Gordon C. Murray, Sr.
5:45 p.m. John W. Wylie
5:55 p.m. Jonathan Meltz
6:05 p.m. David Alschuler
 

ELECTION CENTRAL 2016 ....... UPDATE

The number of candidates running for Judge will be growing by one sometime this afternoon when attorney Antonio G. Jimenez's papers are filed with the Division of Elections in Tallahassee.  Jimenez will be running, at least for now, in Group 34, an open seat due to the retirement of Judge Gill Freeman.

Mr. Jimenez has been a member of The Florida Bar for nine years.  He served in the U.S. Navy for five years, went to law school at Stetson and then joined the Miami-Dade SAO.  He spent two years there gaining trial experience before going private.  He has been in private practice for the past seven years.  He has two web sites: duimiami.com and jimenezlegal.com.  He is a member of the Florida Traffic Court Rules Committee.

The races are beginning to get very crowded and we still have five months until the filing deadline of May 6, 2016.

There are currently four contested races in Circuit Court:

Group 9: 

Incumbent Jason Bloch v. Marcia Del Rey

Group 34:  (open seat)

Renee Gordon v. Denise Martinez-Scanziani v. Luis Perez-Medina v. Antonio G. Jimenez

Group 52: (open seat; Judge Michael Genden retiring)

Jodie Breece v. Elena Ortega-Tauler v. Raul A. Perez-Ceballos v. Oscar Rodriguez-Fonts

Group 66:

Incumbent Robert Luck v. Yolly Roberson

Also, Group 39 is an open seat due to the retirement of Judge Jorge Rodriguez-Chomat.  Currently David Young is the only candidate that has filed for that open seat.

There is currently one contested race in County Court:

Group 5:

Incumbent Judge Fred Seraphin has not filed yet, but presumably he will do so.  He already has opposition in Milena Abreu.

Group 7:

Incumbent Judge Ed Newman v. Lizzet Martinez

NORTH OF THE BORDER .......

Yet another Broward Judge is in hot water.  This time it is Judge John Patrick Contini, Circuit Court Judge in the Criminal Division.  What did the Honorable Judge do?  Well, it appears he sent a private email, on his personal email account, to an Assistant Public Defender that regularly appeared before him.  Judge Contini had obtained a well written Downward Departure Sentencing Order from a Judge in Palm Beach County.  Contini thought that it would be a great idea for the APD to read it and adopt it to his cases, where appropriate.  The email was circulated around the PD's office and one APD sent the email to an ASA, and well, you can write the rest of the story for yourself.

Suffice it to say that State Attorney Mike Satz moved for Judge Contini to remove himself from a whole bunch of criminal cases; the judge denied the motion; the issue went up to the 4th DCA, and Contini, to add fuel to the fire, decided to spit in the face of the pit ASAs on several occasions subsequent to the issue going to the 4th.  The JQC report called this conduct by Judge Contini, "discourteous, impatient, and undignified conduct."

Here is "one" of the worst parts of the JQC Report:

"During the course of the State's appeal, a stay was placed on hundreds of cases in your Division.  As a result, many of the cases before your division were effectively frozen, and defendants who were incarcerated had to remain behind bars because you were unable to make any rulings or determinations in their case."

Contini is charged with violating no less than 16 different Canons of the Code of Judicial Conduct.

You can read the entire 71 page JQC's Notice of Formal Charges Report here:
 

CAPTAIN OUT .......
Captain4Justice@gamil.com

Thanksgiving Eve at the Gerstein Justice Building

THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:

YOUR NEXT COUNTY COURT JUDGE .......

Will be one of the following 23 attorneys who have submitted an application to the JNC for consideration to replace newly named Circuit Court Judge Charlie Johnson:

Michele A. Vargas
Elijah A. Levitt
Griska Mena Rodriguez
Karl S.H. Brown
Gordon C. Murray, Sr.
Alexander Spicola Bokor
Paul Aiello
Gina Beovides
Barbara T. Govea
Joseph J. Mansfield
Linda Luce
Ansley B. Peacock
Norman C. Powell
David Alschuler
Ramiro C. Areces
Carolyn G. Epstein
Julie H. Nelson
Peter S. Heller
Javier Baños Machado
Luis Perez-Medina
John W. Wylie
Jonathan Meltz
Robert A. Lesperance

The JNC can narrow the list before inviting some of the candidates for personal interviews.  They will then send between 4-6 names to Gov. Scott for his consideration.  Anyone care to weigh in on who are the favorites to wear the judicial robes?


ELECTION CENTRAL 2016 ...................

The judicial election for 2016 just got a bit more interesting.  Incumbent Judge Fred Seraphin will have opposition next year.  Attorney Milena Abreu has filed to run against Seraphin.  As of today, Judge Seraphin has not filed his papers indicating that he will run for re-election.  Assuming he does, that would create at least six contested elections, (four in Circuit Court races and two in County), for the 2016 election.

Milena Abreu has been a member of The Florida Bar for 14 years and she is currently employed at the Office of Regional Counsel.  Judge Seraphin was first appointed to the bench by Gov. Bush in 2001.  He was the first Haitian American Judge in the State of Florida.  He was an APD for ten years before becoming a Judge.  He last won election in 2010 when he ran unopposed.

FACEBOOK MURDER TRIAL UPDATE .....

UPDATED: After approximately seven hours of deliberations over the past two days, the jury returned a VERDICT of Second Degree Murder.  A PSI has been ordered and Sentencing is set for January 11th at 11:00 AM.

A long and well deserved four day weekend ahead for most in the GJB.  But jurors are still deliberating in the "Facebook" murder trial of State v. Derek Medina.  Jury deliberation began late Tuesday and continued for a couple of hours before adjourning for the evening.  Medina is charged with First Degree Murder in the shooting death of his wife, Jennifer Alonso.  The State has waived death, but 12 jurors are currently deciding on the verdict in the case.  They are also considering lessers including Second Degree Murder and Manslaughter.  During the deliberation yesterday, jurors asked to review at least two videos including a snipnet of the video of the victim and the defendant arguing near the kitchen, and the video of the interview by a detective of the ten year old daughter of Alonso.

What do our readers think the verdict will be in this case?

Happy Thanksgiving to all our loyal readers. 

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

THE NEXT PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:

THE 45th PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES .....

Will be elected one year from today.  On Tuesday, November 8, 2016, our country will hold the 58th quadrennial U.S. Presidential election.

Barring an indictment or serious health issue, Hillary Rodham Clinton, looks to become the first woman on the top half of a presidential ticket (from a major party) in the history of our country.  Many of our younger readers may not be aware of the fact that Hillary's two brothers, Hugh and Tony, both worked in South Florida for many years. 

Hugh Rodham worked for Bennett Brummer at the Miami-Dade Public Defender's Office, first as an investigator, and after he passed the bar, as an APD.  I believe that Hugh may have been one of the first APD's to be assigned to the Drug Court.  Hugh also ran for the US Senate in 1994 losing in the general election to Republican Connie Mack III.

Tony Rodham ran a process service company in South Florida for many years before he went on to marry Nicole Boxer, the daughter of California Senator Barbara Boxer. (They have since divorced).

As for the Republican nominee, that picture will still take many months to sort itself out.  Right now it is anyone's guess who will emerge as the party's nominee, but the names Trump, Carson, Rubio, Bush, and Cruz, are the most likely names to end up on the top of that ticket.  My money is on Rubio.

Who do you think will be the nominees from each party?

SO, YOU WANT TO BE A COUNTY COURT JUDGE .....

The Miami-Dade JNC has announced an opening on the County Court bench due to the fact that Judge Charlie Johnson was elevated recently to the Circuit Court by Governor Rick Scott.  Application are now being accepted for that open seat. The deadline for submission of your application is November 23, 2015.

Two notes about our local JNC.  First, they recently elected a new Chair.  Outgoing Chair was ASA Christine Hernandez-Baldwin.  The new Chair is

Daniel Fridman, Chair
White & Case LLP
Southeast Financial Center
200 South Biscayne Blvd. Suite 4900
Miami, FL 33131
Office: 305-995-5264
Daniel.Fridman@whitecase.com

Mr. Fridman has been a member of The Florida Bar since 1999.  He is a graduate of the University of Florida and Haaarvard Law School.  After graduating law school, he clerked for US District Court Judge Alan Gold before joining the Department of Justice.  At the DOJ, he was an AUSA and then served as senior counsel to the Deputy Attorney General of the US.

And, last month, Governor Scott chose criminal defense lawyer Robert Pardo to an open seat on the JNC, (from a list of three nominees supplied to him by The Florida Bar).

If you want to get out of Committee, here is who you need to know:


Mr. Daniel W. Schwartz, Vice Chair (2016)
Ms. Melanie E. Damian (2016)
Mr. Paul Courtney Huck, Jr. (2016)
Mr. Robert H. Fernandez (2018)
Mr. Hans Ottinot Sr. (2018)
Mr. Luis E. Suarez (2018)
Ms. Christine Hernandez-Baldwin (2019)
Mr. Roberto R. Pardo (2019)

ELECTION CENTRAL 2016

No changes in the contested Circuit and Court Court races since our last post.  There are still four contested Circuit Court races and one County Court contest.  Deadline for filing to run for Judge is May 6, 2016.

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