Fourth Circuit Judicial Races -- We Are Now Crossing A Zone Of Turbulence. Please Return To Your Seats And Keep Your Seat Belts Fastened

Alright, I admit it, I’m obsessed with the Fourth Circuit Judicial Races, so much so that I’m either going to be locked away, or forced to run for one of the open seats (the former being the most likely as, despite my years practicing in New York, I have not yet qualified to run in Florida).

There are fourteen seats available in the Fourth Circuit this time around, yet only eight Groups reveal a filed candidate. So let’s do the math:

Four incumbents have filed for re-election (Stetson, McCaulie, Gooding and Fryefield -- all going unopposed to date);

Three of the non-incumbent races are for seats being vacated by a formally announced retiring judge (Buttner, Mitchell and Nachman); and

One seat (this makes eight) sees Jeff Morrow running unopposed for the Group 19 seat in which Judge Aaron Bowden sits. (You may remember Bowden for his little antic of firing his faithful judicial assistant after 17 long years due to her cancer and required treatment, then getting into a spitting match with Chief Judge Moran whereby Moran called Bowden a no-good son of a bitch which resulted in Bowden filing a Judicial Qualifications Commission complaint against Moran which, . . . . which, . . . slow it down . . . deep breaths, in through the nostrils, out through the mouth, deep breaths . . crap, . . . I’m out of breath and forgot where I was going with this).

Anyway, the only real bit of interest about the Morrow candidacy is that not only has Bowden not made his retirement completely open, but there may have been an understanding between the two whereby Bowden would acquiesce to Morrow entering the race before Bowden made his announcement to retire, thereby minimizing, if not down right eliminating, any competition against Morrow. I’m not sure how fishy that all smells, but it does seem to reek of perpetuating the good ole boy network of hand picking successors in a Putinesque kind of way. (Did I just say that out loud?) For what it’s worth, I have heard nary a bad word about Morrow, and the consensus is that he makes for a highly qualified and competent candidate.

So that leaves six seats with a question mark. Right now, we’re waiting on Judges Johnson, Day, Moran, Skinner, Wallace and Cooper to file papers. A representative from the Duval County Supervisor of Elections informed me that most of the incumbent candidates usually wait until the last moment to file their qualifying papers as it reduces the need to do more than one quarterly report. The next quarter ends March 31, 2008, so it is likely we’ll see these six names appear shortly after this date, assuming each is running for re-election. The complicated rules for qualifying, if I read them correctly, show an absolute deadline of May 2, 2008, meaning whatever names are posted on this date are the ones in the race. And if a candidate is unopposed, then that name won’t even appear on the ballot.

In case there should be any concern that I am ignoring the County Court races, note that only Groups 13, 14, and 16 are in play. Judge Flower in Group 14 and Judge Cox in Group 16 have already filed. Judge Blazs has yet to file, although as the newest judge up for re-election, it is believed he will be filing soon.