wassup - 28 May 2008 11:18 PM

gritshifter - 28 May 2008 01:51 PM

Wassup -

I was reading through this thread again and was wondering what you meant by the statement “However, I am personally no more subject to their rulings than I am rulings from Judges in South Africa so that is something to think about.” Does this mean that you are not a Floridian or just above the law?  Whats up, wassup?

But to directly address you question, circumstances have temporarily taken me out of the jurisdiction. I’m a long term Florida resident though and do have ties to the area. I’ll get back there soon and on topic next.

Thanks for answering a question directly!  See it’s not that hard.  By the way that is the oddest smiley I have ever seen.

Over time, this thread has evolved to become an effort to inform readers that while “voter selection” of Circuit Court Judges is the method by which these Judges are supposed to be selected, this in fact is not how they are actually selected. Circuit Court Judge election statistics for the State of Florida going back to 1996 indicate that most are appointed and maintain their seats unopposed. These statistics revealed that 94% of incumbent Trial Court Judges in Florida maintain their seats unopposed.

While the previous discussion has been almost exclusively a discussion of statistics for the entire State, the following are election statistics specifically for the 10th Judicial Circuit which includes Highlands, Hardee, and Polk Counties. From 1996 - 2008, 56 Trial Court judicial seats have come up for election. Fifty (50) of these have had incumbents, and forty-eight (48) have maintained their seats unopposed. Six have involved only non-incumbents, and three of the six have had more than one non-incumbent challenger facing one another in an election.

As can be seen exactly 94% of incumbent Circuit Court Judges in the 10th Judicial Circuit are reelected without opposition. This 94% is the same as that of the State as a whole.

There is an alternative method of selecting Judges prescribed by the Constitution of the State of Florida and this is Merit Selection/Retention (voter rejection). Before I discuss this though, I think it is important to understand why intelligent, qualified, and honest attorneys frequently do not enter into political races for Judicial Seats, and I’ll discuss this next.

wassup - 01 June 2008 08:00 PM

Before I discuss this though, I think it is important to understand why intelligent, qualified, and honest attorneys frequently do not enter into political races for Judicial Seats, and I’ll discuss this next.

Maybe there is more money to be made in private practice?

There are some private attorneys who would take a pay cut if they were appointed or elected to Judicial positions. Presently, Circuit Court Judges earn somewhere around $145k annually plus retirement and insurance benefits. Obviously, financial considerations, personal safety considerations, and a variety of other factors would influence individuals to not want to become Circuit Court Judges.
However, there are a large number of other attorneys employed in the public and private sectors who would want to be Circuit Court Judges but do not pursue this career path, and it is the decisions of these individuals that undermine the “voter selection” process for the public. The reasons for their lack of participation is what I intend to briefly discuss here next.