THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:
ELECTION CENTRAL - VOTE TODAY ..... AND WATCH TONIGHT FOR OUR LIVE COVERAGE OF THE RETURNS .....
YOUR WINNERS ....... (Results below)
With a turnout of 19%, the voters of Miami-Dade County returned four incumbent judges to the bench: Judge Lody Jean, Judge Robert Watson, Judge Oscar Rodriguez-Fonts, and Judge Fred Seraphin.
Three new judges were elected tonight including: bankruptcy attorney Ariel Rodriguez beat back Incumbent Judge Mark Blumstein; insurance defense attorney Lissette De La Rosa ousted Incumbent Judge Jeffrey Kolokoff; and Assistant State Attorney Alicia Garcia Priovolos bested Incumbent Judge Scott Janowitz.
Some observations:
It was satisfying to see that candidates Teressa Tylman (Cervera) and Renier Diaz de la Portilla (DLP) got their just desserts. Both of them were crushed by their opponents. Tylman was called out by this Blog for playing the Name Game while DLP should be ashamed for the hit pieces that were mailed out by a PAC directly associated with him. We suggest that DLP resign his membership from FACDL-Miami and go back to law school and retake Crim Law and Con Law and re-learn the term "presumption of innocence". DLP really needs to consider not running for office anymore. You are really bad at it having lost your last four campaigns.
Judge Lody Jean is off to a great start in her new career as a Circuit Court Judge and we wish her the best in her six year term.
Judge Fred Seraphin has regularly been criticized on this Blog for his judicial demeanor. He should learn from his mistakes and be better for what likely will be his last six year term on the bench.
Judge Oscar Rodriguez-Fonts beat a tough opponent in former Judge Jason Bloch. This was the closest contest of the evening with ORF winning by a mere 1,862 votes. This is Bloch's second loss in a Circuit Court race. ORF should think about some of the extreme positions that the Christian Family Coalition (CFC) stands for before he goes after their endorsement again. We take Judge Rodriguez-Fonts at his word that his personal beliefs do not enter into his decision making from the bench.
Having an Hispanic name does not guarantee one a victory - Judge Watson was returned to the bench over his opponent Brenda Guerrero. Judge Jean beat a Cervera; Judge Seraphin beat DLP.
One could argue that having an Hispanic name didn't hurt Ariel Rodriguez as he sent Judge Blumstein off the bench. Of course the Judge did not help his cause by regularly violating the Dept of Defense rules when he plastered Miami-Dade County with billboards dressed in his Navy dress blues and Navy hat.
It also didn't hurt Lissette De La Rosa. She beat Incumbent Judge Jeffrey Kolokoff in a very tight race winning by only 4,600 votes. We don't know much about Judge-Elect De La Rosa; by all accounts Judge Kolokoff had gotten nothing but very good reviews during his short time on the bench.
As for Judge Janowitz, well, he ran into a buzz-saw. Alicia Garcia Priovolos, a Miami-Dade ASA, was well financed, by all accounts she ran a great campaign, and she was highly qualified. She was the biggest winner of the night winning her race by 20 points.
It is clear that the way we used to see judicial campaigns run, last century, are long past. This is 2022 and there is little doubt that even judicial campaigns, despite the Judicial Canons, will not stop candidates from pulling out all the stops, going right up to the line, and sometimes crossing it, in their attempts to win a seat on the bench.
You can be sure of one thing. We will be there every step of the way. Calling out candidates when we feel it is appropriate. Digging into candidates backgrounds and educating our readers along the way.
We are Captain Justice for the Justice Building Blog.
Captain4Justice@gmail.com
CIRCUIT COURT
Group 3
Teressa Maria Cervera - 43%
Group 20
Brenda Guerrero - 47%
Group 34
Ariel Rodriguez - 51% (135,238)
Group 52
Jason Bloch - 50% -- (130,305)
COUNTY COURT
Group 05
Renier Diaz de la Portilla - 44%
Group 19
Lissette De La Rosa - 51% -- (131,995)
Group 42
Alicia Garcia Priovolos - 60%
There are a total of seven contested judicial races on the ballot in Miami-Dade County, four in Circuit Court and three more in County Court. Qualifying day was on April 29 and for the past 116 days, the candidates have been criss-crossing the county attending Judicial Candidate Forums (all except for Tessa Tylman) and making speeches at these Forums (all except for Tessa Tylman), and promoting their sense of justice, promising to enforce the language contained in the Constitution and the laws of the State of Florida (all except for Renier Diaz de la Portilla).
There have been numerous JQC and Bar Complaints filed against Ms. Tylman, Mr. Diaz de la Portilla, and Judge Blumstein, for their campaign tactics; a scathing letter was written from the Watson camp to his opponent Brenda Guerrero over her campaign literature; a brouhaha developed between Judge Oscar Rodriguez-Fonts and his opponent Jason Bloch - Rodriguez-Fonts for his appearance at a Christian Family Coalition (CFC) breakfast and Bloch for a text message accusing his opponent of certain things. There have been accusations of playing The Name Game, with candidate Teressa Maria Tylman changing her name to Cervera, immediately before filing to run for judge; further accusations of Tylman and Diaz de la Cruz targeting the only two Haitian judges on the bench; a nasty hit piece was sent out by a PAC associated with Diaz de la Portilla which included publishing Judge Seraphin’s personal cell phone number and demanding Seraphin release an Arrest report from 40 years ago for charges the Diaz de la Portilla camp knew were never filed; and the endless list seemingly goes on and on.
Of course, The Captain and Rumpole covered it all right here on the award winning Justice Building Blog, breaking several stories before even the Miami Herald, Daily Business Review, and other threads, ran the stories.
So, now it’s up to the voters, who are hopefully just a bit more educated than they were on April 29. And, after the winners are declared tonight, it will be up to The Florida Bar and the Judicial Qualifications Commission (JQC) to sort through the allegedly multiple violations of Bar Rules and Judicial Canons and to determine if there is probable cause to proceed with charges against any of the candidates over the complaints that were filed against them.
Here are the contests to be decided tonight:
CIRCUIT COURT
Group 3
Teressa Maria Cervera
Group 20
Brenda Guerrero
Group 34
Ariel Rodriguez
Group 52
Jason Bloch
COUNTY COURT
Group 05
Renier Diaz de la Portilla
Group 19
Lissette De La Rosa
Group 42
Alicia Garcia Priovolos
A reminder that, in County Court Group 07, the seat where Judge Edward Newman is retiring, only one candidate filed in that Group, Marcus R. Bach Armas, meaning that he was elected unopposed and he will take his seat in January of 2023.
Captain4Justice@gmail.com