DAILY BUSINESS REVIEW ON CJ ELECTION
"Courthouse Contest":
http://www.dailybusinessreview.com/news.html?news_id=43880
Profiles and Platforms of Tobin, Lynch, and Backman:
http://www.dailybusinessreview.com/images/news_photos/43880/Chart.pdf
example:
Personal Life: Tobin recently adopted a child from Russia, Lynch is an avid surfer, and Backman collects California Raisins figurines
Is Backman required to disclose on his financial affidavit the massive value of his raisinet collection?
raisin figurines....takes a real man to confesss to that.
so from reading the article it says bill want to give the judges a spanking....guess man spankings are his fetish.
is Backman for real or is it all a ruse?
i can see backman lining up his raisin figurines into opposing armies and reenacting the napoleonic wars. kind of like the michael richards character on the old fridays show.
Lynch comes out and says it - no rotation of judges. He wins. No change = No work. Imagine some of the criminal judges trying to learn a new area of law. The civil lawyers would eat them alive. It's LYNCH LYNCH LYNCH.
WE NEED LESS POLITICIANS ON THE BENCH AND BETTER JUDGES !!!!
Chief Justice Lewis must really think things in Broward's Judiciary are bad. He would be right, but it's worse than he can imagine.
I think he's received additional information from other sources that most assuredly supports that conclusion!
Backman doesn't have a chance from what I've heard from the bailiffs. The favors have already been promised and they'll line up like little lemmings cliff side without much consideration other than that which is self serving. To bad. It could be such a great opportunity to bring back something Broward hasn't had in a long time; Judges less concerned with ease and self advancement, and more willing to find great satisfaction in their work and what they can give back to the communities they serve.
Lynch will win and nothing will change because Ross will still be around. Lewis and the JQC should put the pressure on Ross to resign. The JQC might take Spechler down a notch, but Dale has to retire for real change, imho.
It's true. That's what I hear from the deputies too. Traditionally they are the gallup poll of the courts.
At least this blog will stay lively!!!!
You won't find the world you're talking about here in Broward! We've got quite a crew of judges here.
Maybe if they cared, really cared, they would do something that doesn't benefit them directly, because that's all we've seen here for a long, long time. They're just second rate politicians.
This Chief Judge Election thing sounds like a sham. Who's counting the votes? We're not going to have another hanging chad problem with Eyeball and Mini Mouse looking through the votes again as with Bush and Gore, are we?
agreed. why would a lawyer in the 80's, when the $$ was tops, take a job for low 70's or whatever it was back then? an elected judiciary attracts political hacks, not sharp legal minds. we are seeing that now as a large percentage of our judges seem to have ethical problems. out of 88 judges, look how many have been in trouble. close to 15% I would say. ok for banana republic politicians but JUDGES?? and they still act holier than thou. please Tallahassee stop the madness. if the JQC can't do it, call in the FBI. we need a guarantee of an honest judiciary now.
i heard Ortman and Rieman count the votes. funny, don't they work directly for DALE ROSS??? and then they destroy the ballots too. i wonder if they mark X or if they hand write it in? you think the lilly livers will write anything but LYNCH if that is the case?
You've got Tobin adopting an underprivileged child from another country, Lynch still playing the Beach Boys and surfing the waves of memory lane, and Backman picking the raisins out of his nose. WHO WOULD YOU VOTE FOR?
Oh, I don't know. It's such a hard choice.
If you're looking for sharp legal minds, that really narrows it down!
There is a deep, simmering desire for us to see transparency in the chief judge election this upcoming week. We are distrusting our judges because they want to make sure that their choices are not known to the general public.
Perhaps the reason for this is fear. As much as we fear secrecy in the way our judges conduct their official duties, and they as much fear our perceptions of them while they perform their duties, there must be some transparency.
Transparency gives us all the secure knowledge that elections are not rigged; that politics have not festered in the wings; and most importantly, transparency gives us the secure feeling that no matter what the results, they are just and fair and based on merit rather than political orientation.
In a sense of the word, we sometimes elect judges, unless the Governor appoints them out of term. And in that sense of the word, these judges are our electors when it comes to the chief judge position.
All of the judges who do plan on voting,in effect represent the voters and taxpayers of this county, as well as the lawyers who appear in all divisions of the Court, whether it be in civil, family, probate & guardianship, or criminal.
We crave transparency particularly because of the secrecy that has loomed over the courthouse for what seems like decades. And in these decades many judges have been reprimanded, resigned or even removed for their conduct both on and off the bench.
Rumors persist that Peter Skolnick beat up his girlfriend, or that Dale Ross had some kind of liaison with Marilyn Tobkin, or that Judge Aleman hastily held lawyers in contempt, exercising virtually no judicial restraint; there have been rumors of prejudice and bias by judges Ross and Greene. And of course the recent revalations of Judge Zack borrowing money from bondsmen and a lawyer who appears before him and Judge Seidlin requesting that lawyers go out and buy him expensive gifts for himself and his wife. Rumors of things that judges do in their personal lives that cast serious doubt on our judiciary.
Transparency helps us decide who has the right stuff to be a judge. We want to trust our judges. Their lives to a certain extent should be an open book.
Now people are complaining about Judge Lynch's surfing, or the fact that Judge Tobin has adopted a child from another country, or that Judge Backman likes to collect raisinette figures.
It hardly seems condemnable to pick on these judges for what amounts to lawful behavior. As citizens and some of us as lawyers, we should never be criticized for committing no crime.
If transparency reveals that a man enjoys surfing, or another loves a child so much he is willing to adopt, or another man enjoys collecting raisin figurines, I don't especially see anything wrong with that.
Transparency tells us that each of these gentlemen have at least normal passions.
None of them are perfect. The only thing we should expect is that they be honest.
I read the previous comment on Tobin, Lynch and Backman differently. I read it as being a sincere complement to Tobin for the compassion and selflessness it demonstrates to adopt a child from a different country when compared to the other two contenders.
The question about personal life is presumed to mean hobbies, but the responses were frivolous, manipulative, or callow. Their responses illuminate very little and seem more designed to evade anything substantial. A better question would have been: what kind of books do you like to read; are you a fan of John Grisham, or Inspector Morse or Deepak Chopra or who? This exercise showed a very low level of expectation being met.
These guys don't read anyting deep or philosophical. If they did, they wouldn't have let Ross keep his boot over them for 20 years. The system wouldn't be such a mess if they were capable of reflection.
Speaking of transparency, what was Lynch's role in the Sealing Scandal?
Glass you are an ass....
"Rumors of things that judges do in their personal lives that cast serious doubt on our judiciary."
Rumors are the standard to doubt our judiciary? So anyone who had a bad ruling from a Judge can come on here make up some bs rumor and that judge should be shrouded with doubt in the community.
Maybe we should just forego trials because officers say our client is a drug dealer. Its rumor so it must be true.
Just in case anyone forgot, there is a thing call innocent until PROVEN guilty.
A JOKE - HABITUAL MISDEMEANANTS
Did you hear the one about a rocks in his head State Attorney who decided to take homeless losers and categorize them as Habitual Misdemeanants? Load them up with extra jail time for the crime of being stupid, loser bums? Even though the jails are full, there's no money for a new jail, and the judiciary is being assailed? Even though there is now a strong Public Defender and a blog that allows the community to know what's going on in his own private concentration camp?
GO AWAY Zatz so a real man or woman can protect our community by devoting our precious resources to the prosecution of VIOLENT CRIMINALS and CORRUPTION.
To "Anonymous"
You wrote:
"Glass you are an ass....
'Rumors of things that judges do in their personal lives that cast serious doubt on our judiciary.'
Rumors are the standard to doubt our judiciary? So anyone who had a bad ruling from a Judge can come on here make up some bs rumor and that judge should be shrouded with doubt in the community.
Maybe we should just forego trials because officers say our client is a drug dealer. Its rumor so it must be true.
Just in case anyone forgot, there is a thing call innocent until PROVEN guilty."
You missed the point of my post. I argued that transparency helps us decide. Rumors persist, yet we have no facts. Because there's no transparency, there is no way to know what is true and what is not. When the JQC overlooks its duties, then rumors and press accounts will persist. Is that the shroud you'd rather live with. Turning a blind eye?
If these judges have done something bad, then bring it on. Test it with evidence.
Shrouding it in secrecy and trying to cover it up or squelch investigations to preserve the presumption of innocence for appearance sake is just as bad.
That was my argument. You need transparency.
Take one sentence out of context and you've prejudged the entire post.
The debate is not whether a judge has made a bad ruling, or one anyone here doesn't like. The debate is whether or not we can trust the judiciary.
So far some facts have been alleged that might call that into question.
Calling things into question is the cornerstone of our nation.
If the authorities don't do it, the press and the public will.
Satz might have to start prosecuting corruption now because this blog is read in Tallahasse. These good old boys sure did have it made for the last 30 years though. Too bad everybody else got the shaft.
The one man we should all thank is Bill Gelin for making this forum available to all of us.
Thanks Bill.
sadly glASS, the press can say whatever they want but until some of the big talkers on here step up and run the public has no choice to but reelect them all. Then again Dale and Jay are not up again until 2012 this will be long over by then.
To Anonymous, who wrote:
"sadly glASS, the press can say whatever they want but until some of the big talkers on here step up and run the public has no choice to but reelect them all. Then again Dale and Jay are not up again until 2012 this will be long over by then."
I would like to see some new blood run. I harken back to the sad day Judge Stephen R. Booher won the election and lost his life. Age, health, and circumstances prevent someone like me from running.
I would rather see people who are unjaded and committed to an honest and fair judiciary make the run. No historic baggage. Just a fresh take.
Regardless of what the folks here may think, there are so many good people out there who deserve the slot, and would make us all proud.
Unfortunately they still have to court the same insiders that resulted in the choices we have to face, like Dale and if you think Jay is bad, then Jay.
Imagine that the JNC is headed by Bill Scherer who has chaired a JNC whether at the trial or appellate level since the 1980's. And each time since all we got are backroom selections. The last two resignations have given those same insiders what they need to pack a couple more cronies onto the bench.
The same people that fund judicial elections and run the political machines that elect judges are the same cronies connected with the old guard.
There is a way. Its the grass-roots way.
Perhaps we should look at what slots are open next year and start nominating candidates. That's a start. Sometimes all you have to do is ask someone to run. Those are the folks that you want anyway. They have no political ambitions but would be good for the system if they had a good support base and can be persuaded to run.
So start making a list and start asking. You won't see any resistance here.