JUDICIAL ELECTIONS 2026 ... INCUMBENT VULNERABILITY QUOTIENT .....

THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:

ELECTION CENTRAL 2026 - PART ONE

The Qualifying period is fast approaching, and several new candidates have recently filed paperwork indicating their intent to run for judicial office. Qualifying Week is set for April 20-24, 2026, with the primary election scheduled for August 18.

COUNTY COURT

There are 11 incumbent judges up for election this cycle. Only one currently faces opposition. 

The headline: on April 1, perennial candidate Renier Diaz de la Portilla, filed to run in Group 38 of the County Court, challenging  incumbent Judge Gordon Murray, Sr.

You may recall that the last time we wrote about Diaz de la Portilla, he was challenging another County Court Judge - Fred Seraphin - in the 2022 election cycle. 

THE HISTORY OF CANDIDATE RENIER DIAZ DE LA PORTILLA

It’s a long one, so buckle up:

... 1996: Elected to the Miami-Dade School Board at the age of 25; served two years.

... 2000: Elected in a special election to the Florida House in District 115; served two years. 

... 2002: Lost re-election in the Republican primary to J.C. Planas, 45%-43%.

... 2006-2012: Returned to and served again on the School Board. 

... 2012: Ran in House District 103; lost to Manny Diaz Jr., 55%-39%.

... 2014: Ran for Circuit Court Judge; lost to Veronica Diaz 57%-43%.

... 2020: Ran for Miami-Dade County Commission, District 5; lost to Eileen Higgins, 53%-47%.

... 2022: Challenged incumbent Judge Fred Seraphin; lost 56%-44%.

In addition to these campaigns, Diaz de la Portilla has repeatedly sought appointment to the bench through the Judicial Nominating Commission (JNC),  without success:

... 2016 (early): Applied for an open County Court seat.

... 2016 (later): Again applied when two additional County Court seats became available.

... 2019: Applied and interviewed for one of four open County Court seats; the JNC forwarded 23 names to the Governor - his was not one of them. 

... 2020: Applied again for three open seats on the County Court; he was not appointed. 

In 2022, The Captain published several critical pieces regarding Diaz de la Portilla's campaign for his actions in his campaign against Judge Seraphin. The Daily Business Review subsequently reported on those issues quoted from our posts. For those interested, we encourage revisiting:

SHAME ON YOU RENIER DIAZ DE LA PORTILLA, posted on July 28, 2022, which can be found here

RENIER DIAZ DE LA PORTILLA - YOU ARE OUT OF ORDER, posted on August 9, 2022, which can be found here

GET OUT THE HANDCUFFS ??? HAVE THE DIAZ DE LA PORTILLA BROTHERS BROKEN THE LAW ???, posted on August 13, 2022, which can be found here

INCUMBENT VULNERABILITY QUOTIENT 

Back in 2022, we questioned why Diaz de la Portilla chose to challenge Judge Seraphin. Of the 15 Countyy Court Groups up for election, 12 incumbents went unopposed. Seraphin was one of four black judges running on the ballot that year, along with Miesha Darrough, Chiaka Ihekwaba, and Julie Harris Nelson. 

In the 2026 cycle, Murray is the only black judge of the 11 incumbents. We have no evidence that Diaz de la Portilla choices - either in 2022 or now -  were motivated by race.

To analyze competitiveness, we developed a metric: the Incumbent Vulnerability Quotient (IVQ), © 2026. The IVQ considers three factors:

1. Total contributions from donors (excluding candidate loans)

2. Number of individual contributors

3. Amount of money loaned by the candidate 

The higher the score, the more vulnerable the incumbent.

As of March 31, 2026, the most vulnerable incumbents are:

Natalie Moore (26)
Ritamaria Cuervo (25)
Luis Perez Medina (24)

Judge Moore, for example, ranked tenth of the eleven incumbents in both total contributions and number of contributors, and sixth in personal loans to her campaign - resulting in the highest IVQ score of 26. 

At the other end of the spectrum, the least vulnerable incumbents are:

Kevin Hellman (7)
Donald Cannava (9)
Stephanie Silver (11)

Where does incumbent Judge Gordon Murray, Sr. fall?

He ranked fourth - just behind Judge Silver - with an IVQ score of 11. In other words, there are seven incumbent judges statistically more vulnerable than Murray. 

Yet Murray is the one Diaz de la Portilla chose to challenge. 

Why? 

We asked Diaz de la Portilla that very question. If he responds, we will let you know.

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

TYLMAN CONTINUES DIGGING HER OWN GRAVE; DIAZ DE LA PORTILLA JUMPING INTO THE SAME HOLE .....

THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:

UPDATED:

We do our best to keep it light on this Blog, while regularly discussing important issues that affect our criminal justice family.

But, today, a family, and a police department mourn the loss of a brave young police detective, Cesar "Echy" Echaverry. Detective Echaverry was 29 years old when he was shot while on duty Monday night working his job as a Robbery Intervention Detail (RID) Detective. While he bravely fought for his life, his body surrendered and he passed away tonight.

All of the police officers of our community go out to work each day, kiss their loved ones, spouses, children, and then are prepared to take a bullet for us. To make our community safer. Let us never forget the sacrifices they make for us to protect our safety and security.

May God bless Detective Echaverry and may his family gather strength from the prayers of the citizens of our community.

CAP .......

EARLY VOTING CONTINUES ... 

... AND SO DOES TESS TYLMAN DIGGING HER FLORIDA BAR & JQC HOLES EVEN DEEPER .....

In her latest desperate move, Tess Tylman is sending text messages to voters phones that include a photo of Governor DeSantis. Next to the Governor's photo are the words stamped in bright red VOIE #90 (a reference to Tylman's location on the ballot).  This text violates several Judicial Canons including using Desantis' image as if he is endorsing the candidate and using the Governor's image when DeSantis is also running in the same election and on the same ballot.  If by chance Tylman somehow gets more votes than her opponent, Judge Lody Jean, The Captain predicts that it will be a short rein on the bench for Ms. Tylman when the Florida Supreme Court removes her from office.

In other news, we can't help but "like" several of the Comments that have appeared over the past few days in the Justice Building Blog (JBB).  Thanks mom and dad for the following:

Captain killing it this election year with his multiple stories on the candidates. Rumpole and Captain thank you for the public service you are providing. Thursday, August 11, 2022 10:51:00 PM

It is true. This coverage blows away the herald. They should just link to this site and call it a day.  Friday, August 12, 2022 7:09:00 AM

Cap, I'm loving all this campaign info! Great job.  Saturday, August 13, 2022 11:32:00 AM

That’s a pretty nice investigation! Sunday, August 14, 2022 8:29:00 AM

In case you have missed the coverage, we have been quoted and been provided attribution several times over the past month in the Daily Business Review, the Miami Herald, the Florida Bulldog, among other threads.  Yesterday, THE DBR did a follow up to our story called: GET OUT THE HANDCUFFS ??? HAVE THE DIAZ DE LA PORTILLA BROTHERS BROKEN THE LAW ??? that can be found here.

In the DBR story, reporter Michael Adam Mora (who contacted me directly) wrote a story called: 'This Is Gutter Politics': Ethics Question Raised in Miami-Dade Race Between Judge Fred Seraphin and Renier Diaz de la Portilla. Mora writes: 

"Ethics experts say it could become problematic if someone could prove to the Florida Supreme Court or the Judicial Qualifications Commission that Renier Diaz de la Portilla, a partner at Diaz de la Portilla Lawyers in Miami, was aware of the distribution of certain campaign materials in the judicial race from the PAC that supports his brother, Miami Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla."

Mora went on to say:

"But when the Justice Building Blog published the news Saturday of the alleged criminal implications, Renier Diaz de la Portilla claimed in an email that the blog is “conducting a nasty third-party campaign against me with what I am told is my opponent’s full knowledge and consent.”***

Our colleague Brian Tannebaum was quoted in the story saying: “This is gutter politics,” said Tannebaum, who is not involved in the Group 5 race. “This is exactly the type of conduct that causes the Florida Supreme Court to remove a judge, and in the Santino case they made that clear.” (Tannebaum was referring to one of the two Florida Supreme Court cases we cited in our story). 

Mora went on to say: "Tannebaum said that whether the release of the phone number could lead to Renier Diaz de la Portilla or his brother facing a first-degree misdemeanor, as the anonymous blogger claimed (in the Justice Building Blog), is an academic argument, since one could argue the PAC—a non-governmental entity—disclosed the number in the mailer. Regardless, “If you go down the list,” there are allegedly multiple violations of bar rules and judicial canons."

***In response to Diaz de la Portilla's allegations that his opponent (Judge Seraphin) has full knowledge and provided consent for our posts, we just had to laugh out loud (LOL). Judge Seraphin may read the Blog and would therefore have knowledge as to what we have written. We can assure you that we have not contacted Judge Seraphin and asked for his permission or blessing to post what we have written.

ELECTION OR APPOINTMENT OF JUDGES, THAT IS THE QUESTION .....

A debate broke out in the Comments section of the Blog last week about whether we should continue with the election of judges, or turn to the appointment system (the one used for open seats, and appointments to the appellate courts and Florida Supreme Court).

One Commenter stated:

"651 what bad or extreme appointments has Desantis made in our trial courts? None."  Thursday, August 11, 2022 8:39:00 AM

Let me respond to 8:39 AM by answering his question with a question. Governor DeSantis claims that diversity is of his highest priority when it comes to the appointment of judges. My question is - is he being honest with the citizens of the State of Florida when he makes that statement; is he being honest with himself?

Between January of 2019 when DeSantis was sworn into office and August of 2022, DeSantis has made a total of 191 judicial appointments. Of those 191 appointments, here are the "diverse" numbers he speaks of:

A total of 123 of those judicial appointments were from a group whose resumes included the previous jobs of ASA’s, AUSA’s, and/or AAG’s. Of the 123, a total of 72 of those appointments were pulled directly from one of those three offices. Can you guess how many APDs/FAPDs were appointed directly out of their offices - TWO, THAT’S RIGHT TWO, VERSUS 72. Federal Assistant PD Ayana Harris was appointed to the Miami-Dade County Court in December of 2019. Assistant PD Barry Dickson was appointed to the Escambia County Court in September of 2020.

The answer to my question, if you are being honest with yourself, is NO. DeSantis’ appointments have been anything but diverse.  

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

GET OUT THE HANDCUFFS ??? HAVE THE DIAZ DE LA PORTILLA BROTHERS BROKEN THE LAW ???

THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:

On July 27, 2022, we first called out Renier Diaz de la Portilla in our Blog Post entitled: "SHAME ON YOU RENIER DIAZ DE LA PORTILLA". We followed up that story on August 9, 2022 with our post: "RENIER DIAZ DE LA PORTILLA - YOU ARE OUT OF ORDER"

QUERY:

Did judicial candidate Renier Diaz de la Portilla commit a crime?  Did his brother, City of Miami Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla commit a crime?

THE FACTS:

County Court Group 5 pits incumbent Judge Fred Seraphin versus  attorney Renier Diaz de la Portilla.  In late July, a campaign mailer arrived at the homes of voters throughout Miami-Dade County. The mailer was sent by a Political Action Committee (PAC) named Proven Leadership For Miami-Dade County. That campaign mailer was an attack ad against Judge Seraphin. In the mailer, the language included Judge Seraphin’s CELL PHONE NUMBER.  The flyer stated in pertinent part:

CALL SERAPHIN AT 305-xxx-xxxx AND TELL HIM TO COME CLEAN.

Proven Leadership For Miami-Dade County is a registered PAC formed under the laws of the State of Florida, Department of State, and founded on April 18, 2018. The candidate it was formed to support is current City of Miami Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla; (at the time the PAC was formed he was a candidate for District 5).

On May 31, 2022, the PAC donated $1,000 to the Renier Diaz de la Portilla Judicial Campaign.

On July 21, 2022, just a few days before the mailer was sent out, the PAC disclosed an Expenditure in the amount of $10,400 payable to the United States Postmaster.

On July 22, 2022,the PAC disclosed an Expenditure in the additional amount of $9,211 payable to the United States Postmaster.

And this is huge ....

On July 22, 2022, the PAC disclosed an Expenditure in the additional amount of $10,000 CASH as a Political Contribution to ... wait for it ...Local Leadership For Miami-Dade County, a State of Florida, Department of State, officially registered PAC. That PAC was formed on June 1, 2020, to support then Miami-Dade Commission candidate Renier Diaz de la Portilla.

As an aside, on August 1, 2022, the Department of State sent a letter to the Renier Diaz de la Portilla PAC advising them that they were investigating a violation of Florida law in that PACs are not permitted to donate nor accept CASH donations exceeding $50. They have asked the PAC for an explanation with a deadline of seven (7) days from receipt of the letter. As of today, no response has been filed by the Renier Diaz de la Portilla PAC.

THE LAW IN FLORIDA 

CHAPTER 119 - PUBLIC RECORDS

Florida Statute 119.071 (4) (d) (2) (e), General exemptions from inspection or copying of public records.—

(4) AGENCY PERSONNEL INFORMATION.—

(d)1. For purposes of this paragraph, the term:

2. (e). The home addresses, dates of birth, and telephone numbers of current or former justices of the Supreme Court, district court of appeal judges, circuit court judges, and county court judges; the names, home addresses, telephone numbers, dates of birth, and places of employment of the spouses and children of current or former justices and judges; and the names and locations of schools and day care facilities attended by the children of current or former justices and judges are exempt from s. 119.07(1) and s. 24(a), Art. I of the State Constitution.

Florida Statute 119.10, Violation of chapter; penalties.—

(2) Any person who willfully and knowingly violates:

(a) Any of the provisions of this chapter commits a misdemeanor of the first degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083.

So, returning to our Query: Has either or both Renier and Alex Diaz de la Portilla committed a Misdemeanor of the First Degree when they willfully and knowingly were responsible for sending out a hit piece against Judge Seraphin that included Judge Seraphin’s cell phone number?

This is a Criminal Defense Blog, so let’s hear from our criminal defense attorneys.

ATTORNEY JUAN-CARLOS “JC” PLANAS .......

We also turned to local attorney JC Planas and asked him the same question. Planas has already filed Bar complaints and JQC complaints against candidates Reiner Diaz de la Portilla, Teressa Tylman (Cervera), and Mark Blumstein.  Planas has been one of the go to attorneys in Florida when it comes to elections, candidates, and campaigns. Here is what JC had to say:

“Hey Cap: 

The releasing of the number is definitely a crime.  Ironically, even though everyone seems to call this Alex’s PC, the expenditures indicate its under Renier’s control.  The Portillas are notorious for using campaign funds for private expenses.  As just one example, Renier has been pumping gas at the same station as per the reports and alternates between paying for gas from the PC and his campaign card.  Because he is using PC for these expenses, we can prove he is in control of the PC and thus he released the number. 

I will be contacting Tim Vandergiessen* on this as well."

Juan-Carlos Planas

*Tim Vandergiessen is Chief of the Public Corruption Unit at the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office.

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

RENIER DIAZ DE LA PORTILLA - YOU ARE OUT OF ORDER .......

THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:

HAS DIAZ DE LA PORTILLA COMMITTED POLITICAL SUICIDE ?????

As previously reported on this Blog last week, in our post entitled SHAME ON YOU RENIER DIAZ DE LA PORTILLA Candidate Renier Diaz de la Portilla crossed so far over the line with the disgusting campaign literature that a PAC connected to him sent out that he may have cost himself any chance of ever becoming a judge, or, if he is elected, he likely guaranteed his removal from office. 

That is because local attorney (and former State Legislator) Juan Carlos “JC” Planas has filed complaints against Diaz de la Portilla with both The Florida Bar and the Judicial Qualifications Commission (JQC). As first reported by the Florida Bulldog, the Complaints accuse Diaz de la Portilla of using a Political Action Committee (PAC), called Proven Leadership, as a “proxy to smear” his opponent, Judge Fred Seraphin. That PAC was originally set up to support Diaz de la Portilla’s older brother, Miami Commissioner Alex Diax de la Portilla.

In the Complaint, Planas alleges that Diaz de la Portilla violated both the Florida Bar’s Rules of Professional Conduct as well as the Canons governing judicial candidates that require candidates to refrain from engaging in inappropriate political activity.

If either the Bar or the JQC find probable cause with the Complaints, the Florida Supreme Court will ultimately determine Diaz de la Portilla’s fate.

In 2018, in a period of just seven days, the Florida Supreme Court removed two sitting judges for campaign violations. Many of our readers will recall when 15th Judicial Circuit Judge Dana Marie Santino was removed from the bench for her attacks on her opponent, when she said things like this: “Attorney Gregg Lerman has made a lot of money trying to free Palm Beach County's worst criminals. Now he's running for judge!"   The JQC report stated “Candidate Santino did not merely compare her background, qualifications, character and integrity with that of her opponent,” the report said. “She imputed guilt to those that were merely accused. She also expressly stated and implied that Lerman was not impartial, was predisposed to favor criminals, while she was predisposed to victims, and courted votes based on each candidate's supposed predisposition.” ARE YOU READING THIS MR. DE LA LIAR.  SOUND FAMILIAR!!!

One week earlier, the Florida Supreme Court removed 7th Judicial Circuit Court Judge Scott DuPont for, what they called “numerous violations of judicial canons, including an allegation that DuPont published false allegations online about his 2016 election challenger, Malcolm Anthony, and Anthony’s family members.”

THE JQC Report found that DuPont “imputed criminality to his opponent’s wife and daughter on his website.”  “He disseminated false and misleading information that Anthony employed aliases, posed as an imposter, and was ‘booked’ for arrest,”.  ARE YOU READING THIS MR. DE LA LIAR.  SOUND FAMILIAR!!!

Why don’t you make it easy on yourself right now by just withdrawing from the campaign so that the most qualified candidate, Judge Fred Seraphin, wins the race, unopposed.

THE LATEST ON THE SAGA OF ATTORNEY BRUCE JACOBS ....... JACOBS CALLS FOR DISBARMENT OF 3RD DCA JUDGES 

Well, like Britney’s song says: “Oops I did it again”.

Today, the 3rd DCA issued SANCTIONS as the result of not one but four Rules To Show Cause against attorney Bruce Jacobs (there were actually seven cases but who’s counting).  Jacobs is back at it accusing the 3rd DCA of, among other things: (The Opinion can be found here).

“It is self-evident that the right to a meaningful hearing is denied when the Court refuses to recuse itself, refuses to follow the law, knowingly deprives homeowners of their property without due process, and then attempts to disbar the lawyer for exercising his first amendment right to expose corruption in the courts. This is not North Korea, Cuba, Russia or some third world country. This is a major city in the United States of America.”

This Court has entered “orders that violate the constitution as Mr. Jacobs’ African American and Jewish clients believe the court below has repeatedly done.” 

 “It is self-evident that . . . [Mr. Jacobs’] clients are not before a fair and impartial tribunal [as] guaranteed by the constitution.”

This Court has created a “shadow body of law that allows banks to commit fraud.”

This court’s issuance of a citation per curiam affirmed opinion in this case constitutes “an abuse of judicial power, an act of judicial tyranny perpetrated with disregard of procedural requirements, resulting in a gross miscarriage of justice.”

“[There is a problem] when a court has actual knowledge [a party] committed felonies and fraud upon the court, [and] decides to attack the whistleblower attorney who defended against the fraud.” 

“The Judges of the Third DCA should be removed from Mr. Jacobs[’] cases and disbarred for violating the judicial canons, abusing their judicial powers, and knowingly depriving people of

their constitutional rights.”

The list goes on. And on. And on.

The Court issued Sanctions as follows:

1. We formally refer each of these matters to the Florida Bar for appropriate disciplinary proceedings against Bruce Jacobs, Esquire.

2. We award the opposing party, in each of the above proceedings, a reasonable attorney’s fee in an amount not to exceed $5000 (a total maximum amount of $35,0001) for services rendered by counsel for each opposing party in responding to Mr. Jacobs’ post-opinion motions seeking rehearing, rehearing en banc, certification and/or issuance of written opinion. We remand this cause to each of the respective trial courts to fix the amount. Bruce Jacobs, Esq. and Jacobs Legal, PLLC, shall be jointly and severally responsible for payment of the reasonable attorney’s fee.

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

JURY OUT IN DOM CASE

 After three weeks of what he called "noise" and "gossip" the jury in Denver in the federal murder trial of the Pennsylvania dentist Lawrence Rudolph that David Markus and Margot Moss are representing is out deliberating.  If all goes well, DOM will have avoided Rumpole's number one rule in trial- AVOID AT ALL COSTS A FRIDAY VERDICT. 

Here is the news article covering the closings. 

We sent DOM a little encouragement this morning:  Listen to Bruce Springsteen's No Retreat No Surrender just before giving the closing. Never fails to inspire. 

A CASTRO COMMUNIST IS RUNNING FOR JUDGE 

Let's say you attack someone for being arrested even though it is well known the arrest was wrong and the person arrested was wrongly accused and racially profiled and the charge was promptly dismissed. 

But by attacking the character and integrity of the person simply for being wrongly accused, you are ignoring the presumption of innocence- the foundation upon which all criminal law in this country rests. 

What does that make Mr. Renier Diaz De La Portilla A/K/A De La Commie ?

Why it makes him a Communist right out of Castro's Cuba- guilty until proven innocent. 

Get used to seeing this on the blog a lot in the coming weeks. We don't want no red Casto Communists on the Dade Bench, do we?

"I ENDORSE DIAZ DE LA PORTILLA FOR JUDGE" 

"I DO NOT BELIEVE IN THE PRESUMPTION OF INNOCENCE AND IF ELECTED I WILL NOT PRESUME ANY DEFENDANT INNOCENT" 

SHAME ON YOU RENIER DIAZ DE LA PORTILLA .....

Update: We are going to start pounding for a Bar Complaint against Renier Diaz De La Liar 

Check twitter. It's just the first of our responses. This cockroach needs to be squashed.  He is not fit to be a lawyer.  

THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:

SHAME ON YOU RENIER DIAZ DE LA PORTILLA*** .......

We previously reported to our readers during Qualifying Week that Incumbent Judge Fred Seraphin drew a challenger in Group 5. That challenger is attorney Renier Diaz de la Portilla.

A little refresher on de la Portilla is in order:

He was elected to the Miami-Dade School Board in 1996 at the age of 25 and he served two years.

He was elected in 2000 at age 29 to the Florida House in District 115 in a special election and he served two years. He ran for re-election in 2002 and lost to JC Planas in the primary, 45-43%.

He returned to the School Board from 2006-2012 winning a couple more elections.

In 2012 he ran in House District 103 and lost to Manny Diaz Jr 55-39%.

In 2014 he ran for Circuit Court Judge against Veronica Diaz and he lost 57-43%.

In 2020, he ran for a seat on the Miami-Dade County Commission, District 5, against Eileen Higgins and he lost 53-47%.

Now, as reported on several news outlets, Team de la Portilla is responsible for a hit piece against Judge Seraphin that is vile, disgusting, dishonest, and could result in a Bar investigation.

On the same day that Absentee Ballots began arriving in mailboxes throughout Miami-Dade County, a political flyer attacking Seraphin also began arriving in mailboxes. The flyer accuses Judge Seraphin, falsely, of refusing to “release his arrest record” and of having a “criminal past”.

The flyer asks voters: “Should someone arrested for Armed Robbery be a Judge”? It goes on to state that: “No one who was arrested for a violent crime is FIT to be a Judge”. If that wasn’t shocking enough, the Flyer ends with “Call Seraphin at 305-xxx-xxxx and tell him to come clean” (The flyer actually prints Judge Seraphin’s cell phone number).

Anyone that knows Judge Fred Seraphin knows that he has been telling people for more than 20 years that the reason he went to law school, first became an Assistant Public Defender, and then applied to become a judge was because of his personal experience of being falsely arrested. Seraphin was a college student and the likely victim of racial profiling when he was arrested and falsely accused.  He was released from jail and prosecutors NEVER charged him with a crime.

When Governor Jeb Bush appointed Seraphin to the bench in 2001 Bush was well aware of the arrest.

The flyer was sent out by a PAC called Proven Leadership for Miami-Dade County. Who is behind that PAC - none other than Renier Diaz de la Portilla’s brother, Alex (a Miami Commissioner). In fact, Alex Diaz de la Portilla calmly admitted to being behind the information in the flyer.

Our readers have, in the past, called out Judge Seraphin, rightly so, for his courtroom demeanor on the bench. He once had to apologize for his refusal to let a female attorney take breaks during a trial to pump breast milk.

But, there is absolutely no excuse for a judicial candidate supporting the content of this flyer. The voters of Miami-Dade County have a clear choice, and those voters should speak loud and clear just like they did in 2012, 2014, and most recently in 2020, when they told Renier Diaz de la Portilla to go packing - we don’t need someone like you sitting on the bench in judgment of others.

*** Candidate de la Portilla’s Net Worth, according to his Financial Disclosure is NEGATIVE $91,667.

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

ELECTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES .......

THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:

FACDL-Miami is hosting a JUDICIAL CANDIDATES TOWN HALL on Tuesday, May 3rd, from 5:30 - 7:30 PM. The event can be seen on Zoom at the following link: Click this link on May 3 to join the forum (Meeting ID: 943 189 3869 Passcode 378486). The event is co-sponsored by several voluntary bar associations).

ELECTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES (on both the United States Supreme Court and on the Florida Supreme Court) .....

DESANTIS GETS ANOTHER  .......

Justice Alan Lawson announced his retirement from the Florida Supreme Court on Friday. This gives Gov. DeSantis yet another appointment to our highest court. Lawson has served on the high court since his appointment by Gov. Rick Scott in 2016. He previously served 11 years on the 5th DCA and four years as a circuit court judge in the 9th Circuit. His retirement is effective August 31. 

Since taking office in January of 2019, DeSantis has made six appointments to the Florida Supreme Court. Two, Judge Robert Luck and Judge Barbara Lagoa have since moved on to the federal bench. Three other justices are currently serving on Florida’s highest court including: Justices Carlos Muniz, John Couriel, and Jamie Grosshans.

The current makeup of the court does not include a black justice. You may recall that Gov. DeSantis attempted to solve that issue by placing Judge Renatha Francis on the Court in 2020 (his sixth appointment).  Only problem with that appointment was that Francis was not qualified as she had only been a member of the Bar for nine years. The Florida Supreme Court told DeSantis he needed to pick someone else. (He picked Grosshans).

So, will DeSantis pull a Joe Biden and announce that his next appointment will be black. While we doubt that, we are willing to wager you a bet that his first qualification for all of the candidates will be that they must be a member of The Federalist Society.

COUNTY COURT .....

We were not able to include the information for candidate Renier Diaz de la Portilla on last week’s County Court races post as he did not file his financial paperwork until Friday.

Here is that information:

Attorney Diaz de la Portilla paid his Qualifying Fee in the amount of $6,255.08.

Attorney Diaz de la Portilla has a Net Worth of NEGATIVE $91,667.

Attorney Diaz de la Portilla stated that his salary is $100,000 annually from his law firm.

Maybe candidate Jason Bloch (who has a Net Worth of more than $72 million dollars) can loan Renier a few bucks.

REALLY NORTH OF THE BORDER .....

But related to Miami-Dade County .....

You rarely see Incumbents challenged in judicial races in Palm Beach County

Judge John Kastrenakes, longtime Circuit Court Judge, and former ASA in Miami-Dade County for 13 years (as well as former AUSA for 14 years), got not one but two challengers: Caryn Siperstein and Alcolya St. Juste. Kastrenakes was appointed to the bench is 2009 by Gov. Charlie Crist. He was unopposed in both 2010 and 2016. This is his first contested election.

You may recall that Judge K made the news back in 2019:

Judge Kastrenakes held a man in contempt of court, giving him a 10-day jail sentence and a year on probation after he slept in and missed his jury duty. Following his jail time, Deandre Somerville appeared at a hearing on October 4, 2019, during which Judge Kastrenakes reduced his probation sentence to three months and his community service hours from 150 to 30 after Somerville's lawyer appealed. The judge also removed the contempt from Somerville's record following the hearing.

“I firmly believe that Deandre Somerville is the type of person who can achieve anything he wants in this world. I know he now understands and respects our system of justice and the critical role jurors play in that system. In conclusion, I do not want even a finding of contempt to be gleaned from a perusal of his background or record,” wrote Kastrenakes.

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