Author Archives: Michael Froomkin

Votes on charter amendments make judicial elections seem a model of clarity and participation. Voters are given impenetrable summaries on the ballot. Even in their abbreviated form they are fairly long, and I wonder how many voters bother to read them. Of the voters who bother to read them, only a fraction can understand them, particularly as they are often deliberately opaque. Even if you can parse what they mean, it would be impossible to understand the implications without a much greater knowledge of local politics than any normal person would want.

So it pays to be prepared.

Charter Amendment Eliminating the Office of County Manager

Shall the Charter be amended, effective November 2012, to eliminate the office of the County Manager as a charter office which currently assists the Mayor in administering County government?

Of the three initiatives, this is the only one that feels at all like a hard call. The proposal would abolish the position of County Manager, the non-partisan professional who used to run the county back in the days of our 'weak Mayor' form of government. In 2007 Miami-Dade county switched to a “strong Mayor” government, taking a lot of the County Manager's power and giving it to the elected Mayor. The argument for this new amendment is that the County Manager is now basically redundant. The argument against the amendment is that the County Manager still has plenty to do, and Miami-Dade County needs all the professionalism it can get.

I opposed the 'strong Mayor' amendment. While he is far from perfect, the uncomfortable truth is that Mayor Alvarez is one of the better Miami-Dade (or just Dade County) Mayors in recent history. We've had some pretty terrible ones, and it seemed wrong to me to concentrate power in the Mayor's office just because we happened to temporarily have a decent person in the job. Similarly, even if — and opinions differ — the County Manager isn't really needed now, we may need one the next time we have a truly corrupt county Mayor. History suggests that won't be far in the future.

The Herald recommends a NO vote. I agree, and plan to vote NO on the County Manager amendment.

Home Rule Charter Amendment Authorizing County Commission to Abolish Municipalities of Twenty or Fewer Electors

Shall the Miami-Dade County Home Rule Charter be amended to add to the provision that no municipality shall be abolished without the municipal governing body calling an election and without the approval of a majority of electors at such election to provide that the Board of County Commissioners may by ordinance abolish municipalities with twenty or fewer electors?

To be honest, I had no idea what this was about when I first read it. Here's how the Miami Herald explains it:

This is aimed at Islandia, the municipality in Biscayne National Park that was created in 1960 to pave the way for a mega resort. Environmentalists blocked plans to develop the 33 specks of land, and now just six people — mostly park rangers — are registered to vote on what is largely federal property.

Taxes are collected, but there is no municipal authority to spend them: The county finance department is sitting on almost $6,000 in unclaimed checks. The Miami-Dade tax collector says the city “went off the radar.''

The last mayor went west and hit the lottery. Tax reports have not been filed to the state in more than a decade.

This city exists in name only.

The Herald recommends a YES vote, and that seems reasonable to me.

Home Rule Charter Amendment Relating to Franchises

Shall the Charter be amended to make it consistent with the practice of all Florida Charter Counties by allowing the Board of County Commissioners to grant a franchise or amend a franchise agreement upon approval by a two-thirds vote of board members present without requiring subsequent approval by a majority of the electorate as is currently provided for in the Charter?

This one is just sleazy. Weirdly, the explanation appears in a Herald editorial but not as far as I can tell in any of its news columns:

Voters are likely to be baffled by the thickly-veiled ballot language in the last of the charter amendment questions. The proposal asking whether voters would like to give up their say in county franchise agreements fails to mention the only entity that has such a contract: Florida Power & Light.

In other words, this amendment attempts to clear the decks to ram through a sweetheart deal for FP&L without having to submit to the voters for their approval. Don't be fooled: Vote NO on this amendment.

Part I: Introduction
Part II: Circuit Judges
Part III: County Judges
Part IV: School Board, District 6
Part V: Miami-Dade County Charter Amendments (today)

(Find your School Board District here.)

There are a lot of candidates for School Board in District 6:

• Alex Diaz
• Dr. Maria Peiro
• Dr. Kitchka Petrova (vote for this one)
• Raquel Regalado
• Dr. Eduardo Zayas-Bazán

Raquel Regalado, 36, is a trademark and patents attorney with a law degree from St. Thomas in 2001. While I do think legal training is a good background for the school board, and it would be nice to have a younger member of the Board, it's hard to think of many legal specialties less relevant to the job. (Now, a real estate attorney or CPA….) Indeed, the candidate's resume generally seems rather light on relevant experience. The Herald endorsed Regalado as did the United Teachers of Dade, the teachers' union. (I would expect better from the Herald. Sadly, I don't expect better from the UTD.) The elephant in the room, however, is the identity of Regalado's father, a subject explored in the Miami New Times's With No Experience and Lots of Cash, Miami Mayor's Daughter Raquel Regalado Runs For School Board.

Dr. Zayas-Bazán, 74, a Professor Emeritus in Foreign Languages at East Tennessee State University, is the candidate who has raised the most money after Raquel Regalado although she has out-raised him by about 3:1. He was the subject of an extensive and largely sympathetic New Times profile in 2008 relating to his participation as a frogman in the Bay of Pigs invasion.

Based on their answers to this questionnaire, particularly their support of student-led group prayer in the public schools and their pandering willingness to endorse a blanket ban on government funds to any agency or organization that offers abortions — even for activities that have nothing to do with abortion — despite this issue's irrelevance to the School Board race, I am opposed to Dr. Maria Peiro, Dr. Eduardo Zayas-Bazán and Raquel Regalado.

That leaves Alex Diaz and Dr. Kitchka Petrova. Mr. Diaz was a Peace Corps volunteer in Mali, and has relevant work experience with nonprofits, youth groups and in education. He sounds like the kind of person who belongs on the School Board. But.

As it happens, I know Dr. Petrova because she taught science to one of my sons in Ponce Middle School's IB program. She is an intelligent and kind person, and an excellent teacher. It would be amazing to have her on the school board (even if she has the lamest website of any of the candidates; here's a link to a scan of the inside of the Petrova campaign brochure).

Dr. Petrova has won some unusual awards, notably an Einstein Fellowship. Dr. Petrova is a member of the National Science Teachers Association. She also serves as a member of the Educator Advisory Board of Florida Agriculture in The Classroom, Inc and the Judging Panel of Toyota/TAPESTRY Grants for Science Teachers. (I've even run into her in the Coral Gables library as Dr. Petrova was poring over the applications; she takes this seriously!) In 2008 she was awarded a White-Reinhardt Educator Scholarship by the American Farm Bureau. In 2007, Dr. Petrova received the Excellence in Teaching about Agriculture Award for the state of Florida; and the 2007 National Award for Excellence in Teaching about Agriculture.

Dr. Petrova holds a Master's degree in Biology/Microbiology from Sofia University “St.Kliment Ohrdiski” (Bulgaria) and a Ph.D. in Microbiology from Moscow University “M.V.Lomonossov” (Russia). She is not your usual Miami candidate. And honestly, I suppose she doesn't really stand a chance. But even so…

I am voting for Dr. Kitchka Petrova for School Board District 6 and I urge you to do so too. I've even sent her a contribution. Zayas-Bazán (over $47,000) and Regalado (over $130,000) are the candidates with the big bucks in this race, so Dr. Petrova is the longest of long shots. Even so, it would be great if she won.

Part I: Introduction
Part II: Circuit Judges
Part III: County Judges
Part IV: School Board, District 6 (today)
Part V: Miami-Dade County Charter Amendments

As I wrote in Part II, about the Circuit Court races,

Unlike most law professors I know, I support the idea of judicial elections at the state level, although if it were up to me I'd have the executive branch pick judges, perhaps with legislative confirmation, followed by a California-style retention election every few years in which there would be an up or down vote on the incumbent. If the vote was down, the executive would pick a new judge. It seems to me that the right question is “has this judge done a good (enough) job” — something voters might be able to figure out — rather than trying to figure out which candidate might be the best judge.

Florida's system, however, pits one or more challengers against the incumbent or else, lacking opposition, the incumbent wins reelection automatically. My personal view is that I will vote for the incumbent unless there's reason to believe they're doing a bad job. Fortunately, that only happens occasionally.

In both of the County Court races I support retaining the incumbent.

County Judges: Group 7

There are two candidates, Manuel 'Manny' Alvarez and the incumbent, Judge Edward Newman.

Judge Newman (UM Law '87) has been a judge since 1995 and, despite the occasional brickbat, he seems worth retaining. I admit that receiving candidate literature touting his years as an offensive guard for the Miami Dolphins as a qualification for being a judge did give me a moment's pause, but I got over it. His Dade County Bar Association poll numbers are good: 27.5% say he is exceptionally qualified and 50.9% say he is qualified. Here is Judge Edward Newman's Judicial Candidate Voluntary Self-Disclosure Statement.

Manuel “Manny” Alvarez (UM Law '86) doesn't seem to have filed a Judicial Candidate Voluntary Self-Disclosure Statement. He has a lot of relevant litigation experience, and good Dade County Bar Association poll numbers: 26.3% exceptionally qualified and 54.2 qualified. He was a co-recipient of the ACLU Act of Courage Award in 1998.

Word is that Mr. Alvarez would make a good judge. [Update (8/16): Those who disagree point to the 19-year-old incidents recounted in the DBR's 8/12 article, Judicial candidate was arrested on gun charge; to me the arguably relevant part isn't the dropped charges but rather the restraining order.] But Judge Newman doesn't seem like the sort of judge who deserves removal; on the contrary, despite the occasional critic of his tough courtroom style, there are many who say he's one of the good ones. The Herald endorsed Judge Newman.

I plan to vote for Judge Edward Newman.

County Judges: Group 11

There are two candidates, Michaelle Gonzalez-Paulson and Judge Flora Seff, the incumbent.

Judge Seff (UM Law '79), 57, has two years experience as a judge. Previously she was a state prosecutor for 28 years, including time as the head of the felony division. She got ratings of 31.8% exceptionally qualified and 45.8% qualified in the Dade County Bar Association poll. Here is Flora Seff's Judicial Candidate Voluntary Self-Disclosure Statement. I have not heard anything bad about her. The Herald endorsed Judge Seff.

Michaelle Gonzalez-Paulson, 38, graduated from St. Thomas Law school only nine years ago, which seems somewhat recent for someone wanting to become a judge. She doesn't appear to have filed a Judicial Candidate Voluntary Self-Disclosure Statement. Her bar poll numbers are not nearly as strong as Judge Seff's: 12.2% rated her exceptionally qualified, and 41.2% said she was qualified. More than twice as many respondents (46.6%) rated Ms. Gonzalez-Paulson unqualified as said that of Judge Seff.

This one is easy: vote to retain Judge Flora Seff.

Part I: Introduction
Part II: Circuit Judges
Part III: County Judges (today)
Part IV: School Board, District 6
Part V: Miami-Dade County Charter Amendments