Upcoming Election on August 14th

[buylow12]

Does anyone have any suggestions on where I can go to find out more about the people running for public defender and judges? I can't seem to find any information about the election. I realize it's not a biggest election but I have received a ballot and would like to vote. If I can't find some decent information on the candidates I would rather not vote than just blindly choosing. Thanks for your help.

[Charles Hunter]

This page of the Supervisor of Elections Office lists the offices up for election, including judges.  Some of the candidates have websites at their links, some don't.
http://www.duvalelections.com/electioncandidates.aspx?eid=48

[NotNow]

sandyshoes was mistaken.  We PM'd and she was kind enough to research it.  Judge Bowden was the one that fired his secretary. 

Judge Merrett is a fine man.  Considered too liberal by some, I have found him to be a compassionate man who is not afraid to take an unpopular position.  I'm considered THE right wing by some here, but Merrett deserves reelection.  All he has really done is not gone along with the lawyer GOB game in town.

[fieldafm]

Does anyone have any suggestions on where I can go to find out more about the people running for public defender and judges? I can't seem to find any information about the election. I realize it's not a biggest election but I have received a ballot and would like to vote. If I can't find some decent information on the candidates I would rather not vote than just blindly choosing. Thanks for your help.

The Times Union is doing an excellent service to the public by posting up videos of their interviews with various candidates.  Not every video is up and not every candidate has been interviewed yet (someone running unopposed will not be interviewed) but the videos are excellent... especially for something like the race for judges.  This may be the only chance most voters get to see and hear from potential judges before they vote, and judges often turn into lifetime positions as many run unopposed in subsequent re-election efforts.

You can find the current videos (and future videos) here:  http://jacksonville.com/opinion

I personally think they are outstanding. 

[FayeforCure]

sandyshoes was mistaken.  We PM'd and she was kind enough to research it.  Judge Bowden was the one that fired his secretary. 

Judge Merrett is a fine man.  Considered too liberal by some, I have found him to be a compassionate man who is not afraid to take an unpopular position.  I'm considered THE right wing by some here, but Merrett deserves reelection.  All he has really done is not gone along with the lawyer GOB game in town.

Thanks NotNow. I figured the same because it was one of those cases that caught my eye given my misgiving re employment related health care insurance.

Here is that story about Christine losing her job and health insurance because she had cancer:

http://jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/010408/met_231313469.shtml

Published Friday, January 4, 2008


Judge fires his assistant, draws criticism


The woman, his aide for 17 years, has cancer and was on leave.




Paul Pinkham




Twelve days before Christmas, Circuit Judge Aaron Bowden fired his 17-year judicial assistant, who had been on leave since August with cancer.


See also: Read Aaron Boden's e-mail


The Jacksonville judge said he feared her prolonged illness would leave him without an assistant at a time when the state had implemented a hiring freeze.

But his decision left Christine Birch, 54, with no medical, life or disability insurance and has created a firestorm at the courthouse.

Chief Circuit Judge Donald Moran responded by calling Bowden "a no-good son of a bitch," prompting Bowden to respond with a blistering e-mail defending his decision and calling Moran's criticism irresponsible, unprofessional and unseemly.

Other judges' assistants were also appalled by Birch's firing. They raised money to pay her rent this month.

"If it can happen to one of us, it can happen to any of us," said Donna Vail, who responded to Bowden's e-mail with one of her own. "Chris Birch has been a loyal employee to Judge Bowden ... who has been terminated for strictly health issues and not for her service to her judge."

Birch declined comment Thursday. But she thanked Moran in a handwritten note last week for putting her back on the courthouse payroll in a rotating judicial assistant's position. Birch was paid about $3,275 a month in her old job, and the state paid her health insurance premium. Her new rotating position pays $750 less a month and requires her to pay her own premiums.

"I want to thank you with all my heart for going to bat for me," she wrote.

Birch, who has battled cancer for five years, went on leave Aug. 20. On Dec. 12, Duval County Court Administrator Britt Beasley notified the judges that the Florida Supreme Court had implemented a 60-day hiring freeze effective Dec. 15 because of a budget shortfall.

"Does that mean when I lose Chris I cannot have a JA [judicial assistant] for two months?" Bowden asked Beasley in an e-mail obtained Thursday.

"I regret that your interpretation is correct," Beasley replied. "The alternative would be to terminate Chris on Dec. 14."

But Moran's judicial assistant, Mary Lou Martinson, said she had assigned one of the rotating assistants to Bowden full-time at his request.

On Dec. 13, Bowden wrote a letter to Birch, firing her. He said he was unable to reach her by phone.

"It is apparent to me that you are not able to return to work within a reasonable period of time," he told her. "... Thank you for your conscientious and loyal service. You will always have a special place in my heart."

Moran said he was attending a judicial conference and didn't learn of the decision until Dec. 21, when Birch called him. Bowden said in his e-mail that the chief judge called him "to tell me that he was going to tell everyone he knows 'what a no good son of a bitch you are' after which he hung up the phone."

Moran didn't dispute Bowden's recollection but said he also wished him Merry Christmas.

"It was very upsetting and disappointing to me to see that he would treat another person that works in the system like that," Moran said Thursday. "It was a very cruel thing to do right before the holidays."

Bowden declined comment Thursday beyond the contents of his Dec. 23 e-mail. In it, he said Birch didn't return his calls while on leave and "maintained an optimistic but unrealistic attitude toward her illness." He said he encouraged her to seek involuntary medical disability retirement but she refused.

He said if she died while on the payroll, he would have been without an assistant for two months, "not an ideal situation for a judge."

"I am chagrined but not surprised that Judge Moran has the effrontery to criticize me ... on a matter not within his purview as chief judge," Bowden wrote in the e-mail. "I have no legal or moral obligation to confer with him on the hiring or discharge of my judicial assistant."

Vail said Birch was shocked when she received Bowden's letter but has not indicated a desire to sue. It would be an uphill battle because she appears to have exhausted the maximum amount of time off allowed under family leave laws, said employment lawyers contacted by the Times-Union. They said she might have rights under the Florida Civil Rights Act, but disability cases have become difficult to win under that law.

"She has fought the battle of her life the past five years, for herself, for her children and to come back for Judge Bowden," Vail said. "To lose everything that she's worked for the past 15 years, especially her medical insurance - and not for any wrongdoing - it's unbelievable."

paul.pinkham@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4107


If you all think these are isolated instances where people get fired after getting cancer.......think again. Here is a recent story :

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/texas-grandma-fired-cancer/story?id=16304786

Janet Hustus, 53, was working as the Conference Meetings Director for Crowne Plaza Houston in January 2011 when she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

Hustus had surgery a few months later and returned to work after eight weeks of recovery.

Four days into working, she was fired.