THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:
YOUR ANNUAL BEST AND WORST JUDGES LIST IS OUT, AKA THE DCBA JUDICIAL POLL ......
In this year's version, 13,152 members of the DCBA were asked to send in their ballots rating our Circuit and County Court judges, (those up for election), and the judicial candidates as to whether they were: Exceptionally Qualified (EQ), Qualified (Q), or Unqualified. There were a total of 1,439 ballots returned, although not every judge had that many total votes;(there were many "No Opinion" responses). The first order of criticism usually comes from those that say, "that is too small a number" to represent any true test of the qualifications of the judges. Au contraire my friends. First, pollsters use much smaller samples on a regular basis. And second, remember that there is a large segment of the membership of the DCBA that has never seen the inside of a State courtroom. These votes come from those members that regularly appear in court.
And your winners are:
CIRCUIT COURT
Top rated as Exceptionally Qualified:
Judge Stan Blake - 71%
Judge Beth Bloom - 53%
Judge Joel Brown - 50%
Judge Cindy Lederman - 50%
Lowest Percentage of Unqualified votes:
Judge Blake - 1.32%
Judge Dennis Murphy - 3.56%
Judge Bloom - 4.24%
Judge Darrin Gayles - 4.52%
Highest Percentage of Unqualified votes:
Judge Gisela Cardonne Ely - 32%
Judge Maria Espinosa Dennis - 23%
Judge Maria Korvick - 23%
Judge Valerie Manno Schurr - 22%
We have it from a very good source that the 1.32% (13 votes) that voted Judge Stan Blake as Unqualified come from one of two categories: 1. Disgruntled attorneys in family court who did not get awarded their legal fees, and 2. Disgusted attorneys who have viewed the video below and found out that the person/body part appearing at exactly the one minute mark is a stunt double and is none other than our own Judge Blake:*
For those of you Ipad and Iphone users unable to view the video, here is the link:http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=wyx6JDQCslE&oref=http%3A%2F%2Fs.ytimg.com%2Fyt%2Fswfbin%2Fwatch_as3-vfl3J-I2Q.swf&has_verified=1
COUNTY COURT
Top rated as Exceptionally Qualified:
Judge Steve Leifman - 54%
Judge Andrea Wolfson - 52%
Judge Charlie Johnson - 49%
Judge Sam Slom - 47%
Lowest Percentage of Unqualified votes:
Judge Luise Krieger Martin - 5.10%
Judge Leifman - 5.35%
Judge Slom - 5.41%
Judge Johnson - 5.60%
Judge Shelly Kravitz - 5.67%
Highest Percentage of Unqualified votes:
Judge Ana Maria Pando - 60%
Judge Gladys Perez - 21%
Judge Patricia Marino Pedraza - 20%
Judge Maria Ortiz - 18%
Judge Gloria Gonzalez Meyer - 15%
CANDIDATES FOR JUDGE:
CIRCUIT COURT RACES:
Judge David Miller - 86% voted him EQ or Q
Mauricio Padilla - 51% voted him Unqualified
Robert Coppel - 92% voted him EQ or Q
Maria Verde - 36% voted her Unqualified
Alex Labora - 64% voted him EQ or Q
Maria Santovenia - 71% voted her EQ or Q
Victor DeYurre - 40% voted him Unqualified
Teresa Pooler - 81% voted her EQ or Q
COUNTY COURT RACES:
Frank Hernandez - 48% voted him Unqualified
Judge Marino Pedraza - 81% voted her EQ or Q
Diana Gonzalez - 72% voted her EQ or Q
Judge Pando - 60% voted her Unqualified
Michelle Alvarez Barakat - 29% voted her Unqualified
Judge Lobree - 89% voted her EQ or Q
Arthur Spiegel - 42% voted him Unqualified
Geer Elaine Wallace - 29% voted her Unqualified
Judge Wolfson - 92% voted her EQ or Q
Ivonne Cuesta - 82% voted her EQ or Q
Jacci Seskin - 54% voted her Unqualified
Tanya Brinkley - 76% voted her EQ or Q
Enrique Yabor - 50% voted him Unqualified
John Rodriguez - 41% voted him Unqualified
Judge Lundy Thomas - 86% voted her EQ or Q
Lourdes Cambo - 51% voted her Unqualified
Judge Don Cohn - 91% voted him EQ or Q
The entire Dade County Bar Poll Results can be found here:
http://www.dadecountybar.org/media/PDF%20Web%20Files/pollresults2012.pdf
*Judge Blake was quoted in the DBR, on the results and his high numbers: ""I have a sense of humor that I think helps people feel comfortable, both the lawyers and the litigants," he said. "They see that I don't take myself too seriously."
The election is set for Tuesday, August 14, 2012.
CAPTAIN OUT ...........