Local Elections: State Judges

In Florida, State Appellate and Supreme Court judges are appointed by the governor but face a retention vote every six years. This articles covers the judges up for retention on the Florida Supreme Court and the Fifth District Court of Appeals.

It should be noted that since this retention system has been in place (1978), no Judge has ever been voted out. And in the unlikely event that one is - their replacement would be appointed by the Governor - which means Republican Charlie Crist. So I'm not sure why I'm writing about this really... this one will probably be pretty short.

Florida Supreme Court

The following is a description of the Florida Supreme Court by the Ocala Star-Banner:

Florida Supreme Court justices consider cases from lower courts throughout the state. Judges are appointed by the governor, serve six-year terms, and are paid $161,200 per year. The office is nonpartisan.

Charles T. Wells

Appointed by Lawton Chiles. Florida Bar's poll of lawyers shows 91% support for retaining. This is probably the only judge that is important to vote yes on since he was appointed by a Democrat and if not retained would be replaced by a Republican-appointed judge. The Florida Supreme Court is fairly liberal as most of it's members were appointed by Chiles and it's good to keep it that way as long as possible.

Florida Fifth District Court of Appeals

The following is a description of the Fifth District Court of Appeals by the Ocala Star-Banner:

Appellate judges hear appeals from circuit courts. The 5th District Court of Appeal is based in Daytona Beach and its jurisdiction covers Marion, Lake, Sumter, Citrus, Hernando, Flagler, Putnam, St. Johns, Volusia, Orange, Osceola, Brevard and Seminole counties. Judges serve six-year terms and are paid $153,140 per year. The office is nonpartisan

Kerry I. Evander

Appointed by Jeb Bush. Florida Bar's poll of lawyers shows 89% support for retaining. Bio Page.

C. Allen Lawson

Appointed by Jeb Bush. Florida Bar's poll of lawyers shows 87% support for retaining. Bio Page. This guy is a Clemson alum so I think I'm contractually required to vote for him.

Richard B. Orfinger

Appointed by Jeb Bush. Florida Bar's poll of lawyers shows 89% support for retaining. Bio Page.

William David Palmer

Appointed by Jeb Bush. Florida Bar's poll of lawyers shows 85% support for retaining. This guy is the chief justice of the court. I was looking at his bio page and noticed he wrote an article called "Focus on the Family Single-Parent Family." I haven't been able to find this article to see if it has anything to do with James Dobson's evil right-wing evangelical group called "Focus on the Family" but it raised some concerns. I then noticed that his bio page mentions he is very active in the "Tomoka Christian Church." I looked up their web site and the text under the google entry states the following "Non-denominational church seeking to make it hard to go to hell from our generation." I'm not sure why church is bold and I don't really know what it means but it scares me - they are definitely scary evangelical nutjobs.

Thomas D. Sawaya

Appointed by Jeb Bush. Florida Bar's poll of lawyers shows 88% support for retaining. Bio Page.

Conclusion

I'm tempted to vote no for all of these guys since they'll probably all be retained anyway. Not very much information out there on these guys. Palmer is the only one that seems really bad. Wells is the only one I feel motivated to vote for. I'm tempted to vote no on the rest of them just because they're almost assured to be retained.