A MESSAGE FROM KEVIN KULIK
Kevin Kulik wrote on "Team Kulik 2010" at 1:03 PM on January 14, 2009:
This post sounds vaguely anti-judge in general, which is misleading. Many judges are doing a good job and should be supported,especially if they get opposition from a lesser qualified candidate. If you check his contributions you will find Kevin Kulik listed as a supporter of Julio Gonzalez, who was doing a great job. In the criminal defense field, the problem has been with an increasingly partisan JNC nominating ,and the governor appointing, some individuals with obviously pro-government ideologies instead of the most qualified candidate. A top defense attorney with 20+years experience is typically passed over for a prosecutor with much less experience. Party affiliation appears to have been given great weight by the last two governors. Defense attorneys get tired of informing clients that the judge will not actually be a neutral detached magistrate,as they are sworn to be, but more of a "prosecutor with a robe on". Each judge is entitled to their own philosophy, but the citizens of Broward are quite a bit different than residents of, say, Pensacola. They reserve the ultimate determination. Almost every judge awards "certificates" to jurors in the hope that the judge's name will be remembered at election time. Many ignore the much larger constituency sitting right in front of them, the defendants and their families. In Broward, about 110,000 people or more are processed through the county jail system every year. Add Notices to Appear, criminal traffic cases, and juveniles and you will realize that almost ten percent of Broward's population is charged with a crime every year. Extrapolate that for five years and you see why Mike Satz loses such a high percentage of votes to even a token opponent. Undoubtedly, more judges will receive opposition than in the past including those who do not deserve it. This will result in some inequities, but it should also result in a greater degree of neutrality and respect focused on those accused of crimes. Anyone attempting to obtain a judicial appointment should consider that they may well be running for office very soon after being picked, especially if they intend to become a rubber stamp for the government.
Also check out Bob Norman on David Bogenschutz's newest client, who joins the list of murderers, rapists, thieves, and public officials who have greatly benefited from David's services: Boom Times For Bogenschutz .
Don't forget this bit of weirdness that Buddy Nevins exposed: Subliminal Message In Property Appraiser Newsletter . Pretty clever, although after we received our copy in the mail we just wanted to eat popcorn.
Also, Rumpole follows up his post on the DWLS changes in Miami with a letter from a Miami traffic lawyer who notes:
"...A person with two DWLS priors gets arrested in Broward for DWLS and pleads at a jail arraignment calendar for time served to get out of jail. That gets them a 5 year revocation. As we all know Broward doesn't give a damn about DWLS 5 year revocations (the more the merrier in their opinion)..."
The lawyer explains why the changes are such a big deal for Miami, highlighting a working relationship between the State, Judiciary, and Defense that seems utterly lacking in Broward. Said relationship may have suffered a setback with these recent changes, but they are still decades ahead of Broward.
Last, and most importantly...
don't forget to come out for Joe tomorrow at 5:30.
"Extrapolate that for five years and you see why Mike Satz loses such a high percentage of votes to even a token opponent."
Wouldnt Satz have had to have a token opponent to make a statement like this? Adam Balkan almost 10 years ago is not much of a measuring stick. Can anyone even remember who ran against Satz prior to that?
As usual Kevin, Bill and Jaab always go on and on and on about big bad Satz yet they had the chance to put someone up against him last year and failed to do so. Quit looking for others to fall on the sword, especially you Kevin, you were a very good prosecutor, have made lots of dough, why ask others to do thing you will not do yourself.
Your talk of taking out Judges in order to change how Satz does business makes about as much sense as the 0-16 Detroit Lions deciding to take a punter with the #1 draft pick, there is no correlation between the problem and what you propose to solve it.
You better hope Seiler wins
What does Satz care about the defendant vote?
He convicts them all and their families if he can on cheap felonies and soon no one can vote anyway.
He stays in power forever and if he doesn't believe in the afterlife or cosmic retribution he will never change.
We need a Jewish female with law enforcement experience to run him out in 4 years.
Kevin, I enjoyed your article and agree with most of it. Especially the part about some judges apparently being incapable of remaining neutral as we have all repeatedly seen day in and day out.
When practical matters of docket load, etc., become more important than an individual's rights, this is the result. Your reasoning seems to be a correct one as to that topic.
However, I really don't know that all the problems of Broward County can be blamed on Mike Satz. He does his job well and political spin-miesters can say what they want, but that's reflected in what voters think of him.
There are many Broward County Judges that seem to think these positions are sacred and should belong to them for life, becoming too comfortable in their positions and less mindful of their obligations and hence step over the line when it comes to being fair and impartial in favor of the State, when they have lost touch with their real responsibility to the public and the oaths they took to uphold justice under the law.
They used to be able to circle the wagons and ward off potential opposition usually in the past by cutting off work to attorneys who were receiving court appointed cases who dared to express their desire to serve as judges except through the channels they the judges implemented and controlled.
I believe that kind of judicial networking to maintain the status quo and manipulate the judicial system was and remains wrong.
That has been shown to be an old and outdated paradigm that is still in the process of changing.
Again, however, there is a new judicial political reality now.
I personally encourage anyone interested in sitting as a judge with the appropriate qualifications to do so as this can only improve our judiciary in the long run.
We need more independentlt thinking arbiters and less politically motivated judges who think they can skate through to retirement no matter how badly they perform their duties.
Seiler it's told is losing his traditional power base in both Wilton Manors and the North end of the county. Maybe it's for the best.
"We need a Jewish female with law enforcement experience to run him out in 4 years."
Maria Schneider would make a great State Attorney: she doesn't want it, though.
Are you kidding? Kevin Kulik doesn't have the gonads to run against Mike Satz. Satz would eat him up and spit hin out. Kevin's a bullsh-ter but he ain't stupid.
Kevin's got a point about JEB appointing way too many prosecutors.
I think that Crist is steering away from that though.
However, if Kevin thinks that partisanship has JUST occured during the Crist and JEB admins, he hasn't read his history.
Just look back on some of the Chiles picks (eg., Weinstein ). There were plenty of political picks back then.
Has Kevin ever realized that with few exceptions, liberals Democrats have gotten on the bench in Broward by way of the condo vote? Is he equally dismayed?
Granted there have been plenty of bozos on the bench in Broward (eg., Johnson, Wright, Shapiro, Julian et al.), but don't just blame it on the JNC process, many got there by getting elected.
Sad, very sad, but true
Kulik IS stupid, as seen in his "extrapolation" explanation. It's a traditional anti-incumbent & pro-WASP sentiment that give lesser opponents more votes than their qualifications merit stupid.
Too bad the judges don't stand up to the State. No surprise since they were all prosecutors once upon a time. Many judges need opponents its true but I hope more good ones don't bite the bullet.
Speaking of prosecutors in robes, has anyone noticed how freakin' awesome it is now to practice in O'connors old division? Bless Bober and Kulik for cleaning out that mess. The best is watching the prosecutors fume after years of running the show.
Don't forget Tobin. He moved her.
Self interest ruined Broward courts and self interest will fix it. I hope every judge gets an opponent and loses. Then I hope the new judges lose 6 years later.
If the Mike Satz you are referring to is the one who worked with Peter Price, sorry but he is a royal a-hole, a liar,an unethical, unprofessional loser. Oh and yeah, I have the letters to prove it. BTW I defend slander, libel and defamation cases. It's all true! No one should vote for him.
Oops, my bad. Wrong Mike Satz!
Regarding wanna-be king/judge maker Kulik, the team that COOL LIK really wants in 2010 is a team of COOL LIK lickers who bow to the COOL LIK.
Regarding wanna-be king/judge maker Kulik, the team that COOL LIK really wants in 2010 is a team of COOL LIK lickers who bow to the COOL LIK.
screw them kev you rock
Tank the judges that no longer remember what it is they are really supposed to be doing and replace them.
What's the deal? Hey, I'd run if I wanted the job, but quite frankly I can't se myself sitting there listening to all the crap from 10:00 to 2:00, nor could I afford it.
Nowhere else in the state does this practice of protecting bad judges from opposition exist. We have some good judges and some bad ones.
Keep them honest and curb political corruption by running against the bad ones and leaving the good ones in their positions. It's a hard formula in this town though because of the demographics.
Anybody who thinks they can make a difference should put their toe on the starting line. It'll be good for Broward.
Judges can continue to cry and whine, but they're actually created the problem for themselves with all the media attention to outrageous behavior from the bench.
That's the way it should be. Now they have to knuckle down, do their jobs well with that in mind and hope they haven't already been targeted for opposition.
Hope we don't loose a few more good ones in the fray that's coming. It looks like the 17th is finally being dragged out of the Good Ole Boy Network into the 21st century. Give the voters a choice.
What started with the ouster of Avalos, Pedro and Gonzalez I'll bet is but a taste of what's on its way in 2010 or so it would seem.
Kulik had little to do with Bober's win. THANKS BERNIE!!!
Does it really matter? Whatever Kevin is doing will drag along further still the need to challenge judges that need to go in order to make it better on the bench. Kevin is but a foil for what is being thought by many. I have to applaud him for at least taking a stand to correct a deplorable problem that exists here in Broward County. We need more independent and good people seeking to change a judiciary that has become stale to its responsibilities to the public and learn to put their own personal agendas in second place. It is going to happen whether Kevin acts as the poster boy for change or not. I personally think there are several people that will seek one or another of the judgeships on their own in 2010 just like Ian Richards without Kevin's input. There is a feeling apparently that there are a number of judges that obtained their positions under questionable circumstances and that too comes into play with who is being looked at to challenge. So be it.
Kevin Kulik is all talk and no action. He doesn't have the b*lls to run against Mike Satz. Hell! He doesn't have the balls to run against a sitting judge!
Kevin, regardless of some of the sentiments expressed, the issue of a lopsided judiciary needs to be addressed and I'm glad someone is doing it at last.
Bober will be an asset and I'm sure there are others that think the way you do. I know I do. I don't know what's happened to our judges here, but it's pretty bad as things are now.
We have some pretty good judges, but they are in the minority. I just hope that the larger picture of improving the judiciary takes precedence over the more general perception that all judges in Broward County are either corrupt or politically inclined to the point of their decisions being influenced by other considerations than what they should be.
But the situation remains bleak until much more change on the bench has taken place.
your argument makes no sense. None of the judges that received bad media attention (Levenson, Gold, Greene) got opposition. Only hispanic judges did. It has nothing to do with people being upset with Judges and has everything to do with racism and Hispanic judges being targeted because of their ethnic names!!!
She wanted to move, was afraid someone may run against her in 2010 if she stayed in criminal.
Just remember Bernie, if you rule against Kulik he'll run someone against you. So much for an independant judiciary. Do all the criminal judges fear Kulik and all the talk that goes on here? Do they rule based on not wanting to piss off a defense attorney? If so then something is seriously wrong here. And shame on them for being gutless wussies.
To 9:28, I would just assume Bober would have the integrity to recuse himself from any cases involving Kulik's clients. Does that make me naive?
Yes, you are naive. This is what will happen. Kulik comes in with a client before Bober. Bober discloses his relationship with Kulik. ASA doesn't file motion to recuse. Bober grants Kulik's client bond on Murder One.
How can Bogenschutz, Dutko & Kroll appear before any of the judges the firm has represented?
I think you have it right, Kevin. More and more people in the coming years are going to be running for judge against incumbents whether they are good judges or bad judges.
This was demonstrated the last round of elections as judges that were determined to be weak were selected as targets for opposition, most of which were appointed to these positions. Although, a number of good judges will no doubt be selected for opposition in 2010, a number of judges that really haven't been giving their best will be as well.
I'm not so sure that the trade-off won't be a good one for Broward however. That as they say is politics. It's a game sitting judges were immune from for quite a while around here as things were more or less manipulated by a Chief Judge and his cohorts.
That's we can all agree has in fact changed as the ability of judges to assign cases and withhold cases to various attorneys dried up with the elimination of The Wheel that was improperly used as a tool to suit themselves.
With the change in the political landscape we've seen just relatively recently and the number of problem judges that have been appointed and the resultant JQC Investigations plaguing them, it will continue to present a problem for judges that don't do their jobs well and hopefully return the selection of judges to the people in free and fair elections.
I look forward to the conflagration as change on the bench of Broward will lead to better judges, even if they have to continually look over their shoulders at potential opposition or perhaps just because they have to. This development or deterrent to behavioral excesses if you will will lead to better administration of justice than the model that has continually presented problems and cost the citizens of Broward dearly.
Huh!!! I read and re-read this comment. I have no idea what this person is trying to say. Are defendants blogging now?
Go for it Kevin!
Go Kevin go!!! Run against Satz. We got a grassroots movement to back you.
I'm ready to plunk $500
There are five judges that are going to get opposition I'll bet from what I heard. As if we have to guess which ones they are.
you obviously do not know your facts and did not follow all the races. the one race that was lost with goldenberg should have been won. ask around to anyone that does family and she does not refer mediation or guardian work to them. joke