The three Florida Supreme Court justices seeking to hold onto their seats hit a bump in the road in Hillsborough County last weekend.

In a straw poll conducted by the Hillsborough County Republican Party, none of the justices facing statewide retention votes in November garnered even close to the simple majority required. The results were these:

• Fred Lewis: 34 percent, yes; 68 percent, no.
• Peggy Quince: 28 percent, yes, 72 percent, no.
• Barbara Pariente: 27 percent, yes, 73 percent, no.

Hillsborough County GOP Chairwoman Deborah Cox Roush said 156 party members cast votes in the straw poll conducted Saturday.

Cox Roush was encouraged that voters were "educating themselves" on judicial issues this year.

"A million Florida voters did not mark their [retention] ballots in 2006," Cox Roush noted. "The records are going to be looked at this time around."

Jesse Phillips, head of the nonpartisan watchdog group Restore Justice, said, "A big concern among the GOP crowd is the courts meddling in the election process and arbitrarily striking down ballot initiatives they don't like -- such as health care -- and allowing others to stand. The decision on Bush v. Gore also falls into this category.

"Although Restore Justice has focused on health care thus far, these other decisions seem to loom large in many Republican voters' minds," Phillips said.

Since Florida began conducting judicial retention votes in 1978, no judge seeking retention has been removed by voters. The Florida Bar, which dominates the Judicial Nominating Commission, consistently recommends retention of judges and justices while decrying any suggestion of "politics" in the process.

The Bar's positive recommendations, in turn, are ritually endorsed by newspaper editorial boards around the state.

Phillips said the Hillsborough poll "shows a healthy dissatisfaction with the rulings of Florida’s Supreme Court justices.

"A growing number of voters are researching the decisions of these three justices who have presided on a court some analysts describe as one of the most activist in the nation," Phillips said.

Lewis, Quince and Pariente, each of whom has set campaign fundraising records for judicial retention campaigns, made headlines last month when the high court abruptly recessed so they could complete last-minute paperwork relating to the upcoming retention vote.

Dan Stengel, a Tallahassee attorney who represents the trio, said the paperwork did not constitute "electioneering," but instead involved financial disclosure forms required of all state employees.

Stengel was not available to comment on Saturday's straw poll.

Lewis and Pariente were appointed by former Democratic Gov. Lawton Chiles; Quince was jointly appointed by Chiles and Republican Gov. Jeb Bush.



Reach Kenric Ward at kward@sunshinestatenews.com or at (772) 801-5341.