Politics
Funds to Retain Florida Supreme Court Justices Near an 'Unprecedented' $1 Million
Around the State
Credit: Shutterstock- Kalim
With unprecedented contributions rolling in for a judicial contest of any kind in Florida, the three justices up for retention collectively picked up $455,310 -- the bulk from attorneys and law firms -- during the second quarter of the year. The combined number for Supreme Court justices R. Fred Lewis, Barbara Pariente and Peggy Quince almost equaled their first-quarter totals.
The cash donations come as the Florida Bar is running a $300,000 parallel retention education campaign.
The justices have spent more than $240,000, mostly on campaign consultants and campaign staff, according to state Division of Elections records. Justices are required to appoint campaign finance committees because they are prohibited from soliciting contributions personally.
The anti-retention effort is being headed by the Orlando-based Restore Justice2012, an outgrowth of efforts of local tea party activist Jesse Phillips.
Supporters of the judges say the money is needed to prevent political influence from holding sway over the state’s courts.
Phillips, Restore Justice2012 founder, said the money being raised for the judges shows the courts have already been compromised by a special interest.
“I don’t have the luxury of every lawyer in the state writing $1,500 checks to three different campaigns,” Phillips said.
Restore Justice2012 has filed with the IRS, but it is yet to complete state elections paperwork. It has raised about $57,000 from a single donor in Florida.
The three justices, the last Democratic appointees on the bench, are facing heat, as did two others in 2010, for being viewed as judicial activists, highlighted by voting to block a measure that would have allowed Floridians to halt the Affordable Health Care for America Act, better known as Obamacare, two years ago.
The three have long been the bane of conservatives, helping to strike down in 2006 a law passed by the Florida Legislature that created the nation’s first statewide educational voucher program, blocking legislation in 2004 that sought to overturn a lower court ruling to prevent a guardian from removing a gastric feeding tube from Terri Schiavo, and for ordering a statewide recount of the 2000 election.
Lewis, Pariente and Quince were appointed to the court by former Gov. Lawton Chiles, with Quince’s appointment confirmed by former Gov. Jeb Bush.
No money was collected or spent for their retention in 2006, nor was any money spent during the Supreme Court retention votes in 2008 and 2010.
Individually, $147,372 was sent in for Lewis between the start of April and end of June, bringing his overall contributions for the year to $303,010.
Pariente drew $157,957 in the second quarter, putting her overall contributions at $306,499.
Quince landed $157,957 in the second quarter, bringing her total to $316,130.
Reach Jim Turner at jturner@sunshinestatenews.com or at (772) 215-9889.
Comments (7)
NOT, it was not a state-wide recount, only Democrat selected counties, that's why the US Supreme Court sent it back to Fl Supreme Court, as I recall.
This is key, since the three justices, in January of this year, fraudulently asserted in a "certification" to the Secretary of State, that they had "active opposition" to their retentions through "public web sites" and multiple "organizations." This is utterly false, and because it is false requires the justices to return all of the nearly one million dollars in donations, which they are barred from raising per Judicial Canon 7C2!
This is precisely why a lawsuit has been filed in Leon County Circuit Court to remove these three scofflaw justices from the ballot.
If you want more information, contact Jack Thompson at 305-666-4366. I was the one who sent the campaign cash totals raised to Sunshine State News.
Since when does education equate to constantly taking legal actions - is your take that you're just trying to "educate" the courts, is that your claim?
Restore Justice 2012 had targeted these three justices long ago, way prior to the actions that you, and you alone, seem to believe are some type of impeachable offense.
Perhaps you do have a conflict with all them state and federal laws, after all. Where's that IRS phone number?
I guess this is what Jesse Phillips meant when he said about Restore Justice 2012 "We're open for contributors, if they're interested."
I guess this is what Jesse Phillips meant when he said "What if you could change the direction of a state for a generation?"
Yes, we can clearly see right through what this is all about - partisan far right politics imposed on an independent judicary, not the rule of law.
Frank doesn't get the meaning of what Justice Brandeis wrote in the Olmstead case: "The government is the all present teacher. If it violates the law, it invites anarchy." We have three justices who have broken the law and who should be impeached. That's the least that should happen to them. Frank can then try to find them real jobs in the private sector.
What, now you want to torture them, fry them over an open pit, or somethng worse?
I don't see them being arrested. In fact, I see a partisan, frustrated Governor when his law enforcement agency had a little more legal sense and told him otherwise.
You, not the justices, are engaging in the politics of the "Big Lie".
You're not engaging in education, you're engaging in demonization and based on what I've seen in this instance, what appears to be legal harassment for partisan reasons.
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