Category Archives: Miami

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

There are four judicial elections on the August 24, 2010 ballot. Unlike most law professors I know, I support the idea of judicial elections at the state level as a reasonable democratic check on what I believe should be the expansive power of judges to interpret the state and federal constitutions. Although, if it were up to me, I'd have the executive branch pick judges 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 asking voters to try to guess from electoral statements which of two or more candidates 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 (as happened with most of the judges whose terms expired this year). There are also open seats when the incumbent retires. My personal view is that I will vote for an incumbent judge unless there's reason to believe they're doing a bad job. Fortunately, that only happens occasionally. But, as you will see, it does happen.

Today I'm writing about the two Circuit Judge contests. Next, in Part III, I'll look at the County Court races.

Circuit Judges: Group 45

There are two candidates, Judge Peter Adrien, the incumbent, and Samantha Ruiz Cohen.

Judge Adrien has a bad reputation. He got the lowest rating in the Dade County Bar Association’s judicial poll: 55% of respondents said he was 'unqualified'. That's pretty bad. And he gets reversed on basic issues of fairness to defendants that you'd think anyone would get right. See Foster v. State. Here's his Judicial Candidate Voluntary Self-Disclosure Statement. This is the rare sort of record that makes me think a judge is ready to be replaced.

Fortunately his challenger has a good record, and a fine reputation: 35.5% of respondents in the Dade County Bar Association’s judicial poll rated Samantha Ruiz Cohen as 'exceptionally qualified' for the bench and another 51.3% said she was 'qualified'. The Miami Herald endorsed Samantha Ruiz Cohen. (There doesn't appear to be a Judicial Candidate Voluntary Self-Disclosure Statement, however.) After graduating from Hofstra University School of Law in 1991 (a fact oddly absent from her campaign biography, perhaps because it's not a local law school?), she spent ten years at the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office. Then she jumped to civil litigation, and now does products liability cases in private practice. She has taught trial advocacy at the National Institute for Trial Advocacy (NITA) and constitutional law to undergrads at FIU (I'm not sure if teaching law to undergrads is a plus or minus for a judge; maybe a plus in dealing with jurors…).

I'm going to vote for Samantha Ruiz Cohen and you should too. Incidentally, Judge Adrien got on the bench in an ugly election when he defeated an exceptionally fine Judge, his predecessor, Henry Harnage. Karma, I tell you.

Circuit Judges: Group 62

There are two candidates, Monica Gordo and Robert Kuntz. There is no incumbent. Both candidates are rated highly by their fellow lawyers in the Dade County Bar Association poll: 24.7% rate Kuntz as exceptionally qualified and 53% say he is qualified while a nearly-identical 24.5% rate Gordo as exceptionally qualified and 51.3% say she is qualified.

Robert Kuntz, 50, is a former journalist. He graduated from UM law in 1996 summa cum laude (which really meant something back then) and started out at Holland & Knight. Currently he practices commercial litigation at Devine, Goodman, Pallot, Rasco & Wells, with an emphasis on aviation law. The Unity Coalition endorsed him. Local certified sane lawyer Jack Thompson hates him, which may be a good enough reason for me to vote for Kuntz right there. Here's Robert Kuntz's Judicial Candidate Voluntary Self-Disclosure Statement.

Monica Gordo is only 35, which I believe to be about the minimum age for a judge given that I want them to have some experience-based wisdom. She graduated from UM Law in 1999, cum laude (which is good, but not as good as a summa), and has worked as a prosecutor since then. She's served as a Director of the Cuban American Bar Association. I know of no reason to think she'd be anything other than a fine judge, although I don't know that the local bench suffers from a shortage of former prosecutors. The Miami Herald endorsed Gordo because she has more trial experience than Kuntz. She also got the SAVE Dade endorsement. Here's Monica Gordo's Judicial Candidate Voluntary Self-Disclosure Statement.

Based on my personal knowledge of both candidates I'd be happy with either, but I am planning to vote for Robert Kuntz. As you can see from his judicial statement and other statements he's made during the campaign, he's a thoughtful person, the sort of person one wants on the bench. I like the fact he had another career as a journalist before he went to law school as I think it provides a healthy perspective. And he's smart (don't forget that summa). It is true that Mr. Kuntz has substantially less trial experience then Ms. Gordo, but he does have extensive general litigation experience. Lawyers from the civil side frequently see fewer full trials than members of the criminal bar, but it would be wrong to staff the local judiciary wholly with lawyers who are former prosecutors, PDs, or criminal defense lawyers.

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

Early voting for the upcoming primary and judicial election in Miami-Dade County begins today. The Sample Ballot for the August 24, 2010 Primary in Miami-Dade County is now available. (And it is already subject to one correction: Ronald Brise has dropped out of the race for District 108 State Rep.)

Most of the ink gets spilled on the high-profile primary races: the Senate (I'll vote Kendrick Meek, faute de mieux), the Governorship (Alex Sink), with a little oxygen left over for the race for Higher-Office-in-Waiting Attorney General (in which I'm strongly leaning Dan Gelber).

But little gets said about the the other contests and issues on the ballot, even though voting on these is in some ways as important. Because these are local races or ballot questions there is a smaller pool of eligible voters than for statewide rares, and being downballot many people don't even bother to vote. If you vote, your vote counts that much more. Unfortunately, it's hard to get information about judicial elections. Plus, many people don't even know which state legislative district they live in. Find out which Florida Representative district you live in, or if you know your zip+4 number, find your State Senator, State Rep and US Congress district using the tool in the left margin of the Florida State Senate homepage. (Note: in entering your zip+4 number, don't enter the “+” sign, just the nine-digit number.)

So I thought I'd say a few words about the downballot issues on which I'll be voting. I don't have a primary vote in either the US Congress race, the State House or the State Senate, or even the County Commission (I live just outside the hotly-contested District 8 in which Annette Taddeo is running; you can find your M-D County Commission district here) but there are still a number of choices to make: two circuit judges, two county judges, a school board member, and three county charter amendments. (I don't live in a community council district although some are also on the ballot.)

In the coming days I'll explain how I'm voting in each of these downballot races or issues and give some reasons. Here's the plan:

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

Incidentally, if you don't know where to vote use the handy precinct-finder. It's too late to register to vote for the primary elections, but not too late to vote in the November general election, as registration closes 29 days before the election. Check your registration status if you are unsure whether you are eligible to vote.