from Jeffrey Carman
And Yet Another View on Judicial Retention
I have been asked many times since the last Manatee Patriots meeting by various voters how they should vote on the Retention of Supreme Court Justices and Judges of the 2nd District Court of Appeals(DCA). I personally received 7 Guides, some of which were more useful than others.
These groups were The Manatee County Republican Liberty Caucus, Sarasota County REC, Manatee County REC, Community Patriots Manatee, Joe Gruters Picks, Florida Family Association, a Conservative Voters Guide from the Republican Club of South Sarasota County, as well as two articles which appeared in the Orlando Sentinel, and the Sun Sentinel (Ft Lauderdale/Broward County).
The Republican Political Parties gave no endorsement because the State Party has not endorsed, but the Manatee REC did give a list of which Governor appointed the Judge to their most recent position. With Supreme Court Justices, it must be taken a bit further because many were appointed to a Court of Appeals by a different Governor in a different time frame. In fact, of the 5 Supreme Court Justices up for retention, only one never served at the DCA level and came straight from Private Practice after working for the US District Court in New York. (John Couriel).
In general, I have found a concensus among these groups. All groups taken as a whole except for the 2 newspapers, want NO VOTES on Justice Jorge Labarga and Judge Stevan Northcutt, both of whom were originally appointed to current or previous positions by Democrat Governor Lawton Chiles. Several Groups have called for Charles Canady, and Ricky Polston to receive NO votes even though both were appointed by Charlie Crist to their current positions and Jeb Bush to previous positions (perhaps Bush is a factor as well as Christ). More Interesting though is that it was noted that Justice Canady was a Democrat turned Republican (he was the LAST Conservative Democrat Elected to Congress from Polk County) and Polston was considered a "Mild Republican".
At the 2nd District Court of Appeals - NO vote recommendations were selected for : Patricia Kelly, Robert Morris Jr., Stevan Northcutt, and Craig Villanti. These were the recommended NO votes by the FL FFA and Conservative Voters. No reason was given but again, the reason seems to be those appointed by Lawton Chiles (Northcutt), Jeb Bush (Kelly, Villanti) and Crist (Morris) Nelly Khouzam was recommended YES by the FFA but NO by Conservative Voters.
So, if you would like to vote for those given a YES by all groups, you would support the following justices: John Couriel and Jamie Grosshans for the Supreme Court and for Mathew Lucas, Suzanne Labrit, and John Stargel for the 2nd District Court of Appeals.
Here is one way to consider how to vote: if the Governor position changed and a Democrat was elected, would you like to see them make an appointment or keep the current office holder who at least once was appointed by a Republican Governor? Or you could take a more drastic approach - throw them all out and if enough voters say NO they will not be retained (though its likely most will be retained by 70+% -30% votes). Or you can do what the SUN Sentinel and Orlando Times recommended: get rid of all the Desantis, Scott, Bush Conservative Appointees and retain the Lawton Chiles, Crist moderates on the bench. Either way, do your home work, take a methodical approach once you decide how to decide, then VOTE. And if you need assistance, I'm available for help.
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