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For a better judiciary

JACK DAY

Judge, Circuit Court, Group 22

The Times originally recommended Jack Day for the Group 22 Circuit Court seat, in which five candidates competed for the position vacated by the retirement of Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge Thomas Penick Jr. Day, along with Cynthia Newton, emerged as the two top vote-getters in the August election, and in the runoff Nov. 2, we believe Day is the better choice.

Both Day and Newton are qualified attorneys who offer far different legal resumes. Day is a certified civil trial attorney with decades of legal experience in a wide range of practice areas. Newton is a less seasoned lawyer who has spent almost her entire career in criminal defense work as an assistant public defender.

Day, 55, was born in St. Petersburg and has been practicing law in the region for 27 years, earning the highest rating given lawyers by the Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory. While most of his current practice is in personal injury law, he also works regularly as a professional in alternative dispute resolution. His years as an arbitrator and mediator are solid training for a seat on the bench.

At the start of his career, Day was a prosecutor in Sarasota. He also has experience in family law. This breadth of expertise means Day has a background in every area of law within the various divisions in circuit court. Day is also very well-regarded in the legal community. All of his former primary opponents except his current rival have now endorsed Day in this race, lauding his qualifications and integrity.

Day also gives back to the community by working with St. Petersburg's Community Law Program. Two nights per month, he volunteers at Gulf Coast Legal Services where he staffs an intake clinic.

In the interest of full disclosure, Day has done legal work in the past on behalf of the Times and he is currently associated with the law firm of Rahdert, Steele, Bryan, Bole & Reynolds, P.A., which represents the Times.

Newton, 37, has been practicing law for 10 years. She has been an assistant public defender in Ocala, Bradenton, Sarasota and is now with the Pinellas-Pasco Public Defender's Office where she works representing people with drug-related felony charges in drug court.

Newton has substantial trial experience, since public defenders are typically in court every day, but her resume doesn't compare to her opponent's depth and breadth of experience.

The Times recommends Jack Day.

Hillsborough County Court judge, Group 11

Hillsborough voters have two good candidates in the November general election for an open seat on the county bench. But Henry Gill stands out for his broad professional and life experience. His even temperament is also suited for a court where many litigants are forced to represent themselves.

Gill, 65, graduated from Boston College and Georgetown University. For three years in the mid-1970s, he was a federal prosecutor in Washington, D.C., where he handled drug and other criminal cases. In 1977, Gill moved to the U.S. Department of Energy, where he litigated major class-action cases involving employee discrimination and environmental law. In 1990, he was named managing attorney of the Tampa office of the Resolution Trust Corp., which disposed of ailing savings and loan associations. He joined the state Attorney General's office in 1995, working in a civil litigation division, where he handled discrimination, civil rights and other claims on behalf of state agencies.

Gill, now an attorney in Tampa for an insurers' group, has a rich background in trial work and vast experience as a manager able to juggle a large caseload. Both are invaluable to presiding over county court - often called the "people's court," for its mix of misdemeanor and small civil cases, often involving litigants who lack the money to afford attorneys.

Liz Rice, 40, a commercial litigator, has experience in state and federal courts, and her work on behalf of the Florida Bar has raised the standards of her profession. Her work ethic and sense of fairness make her more than qualified to serve as a county judge. But what distinguishes Gill is his broader experience handling a more diverse range of cases. These two candidates emerged from a three-way primary in August. Judicial races are nonpartisan and open to all voters, and judges are elected to six-year terms. The Times recommends Henry Gill to Hillsborough voters for County Court judge, Group 11.

State Supreme Court justices and appellate court judges

Rather than face competitive elections, Florida's Supreme Court justices and appellate court judges are subject to a system known as merit retention. Here, the governor appoints jurists from a group of nominees provided by judicial nominating commissions around the state. Then, following their appointment and every six years thereafter, the judges' names are put before the electorate, and the public is given the option of voting them out.

This November, two Florida Supreme Court justices and five judges of the 2nd District Court of Appeal are up for merit retention. They are: Supreme Court Justices Kenneth Bell and Raoul Cantero; and 2nd District Court of Appeal Judges Charles Canady, Patricia Kelly, Stevan Northcutt, Craig Villanti and Douglas Wallace. The Times recommends retention in all cases.

The most interesting feature of this group of judges is that only one has three or more years of experience in his current post. Northcutt - an extremely well-regarded judge - was appointed in 1997, but the rest of the field is relatively new to appellate judging. It is going to take at least a few more years to get to know their level of professionalism and fair-handedness. Still, there is little in the record so far to suggest that any of these judges is not living up to the requirements of the job.

The standard used to determine whether to retain a judge is different from a typical election. Rather than choosing between two or more candidates, merit retention asks whether a judge has ethically and competently performed the job.

A judge's liberal or conservative philosophy on the bench is not particularly relevant. We are far more interested in whether they are properly prepared on the bench, write clear, legally sound opinions, hold themselves up to the highest judicial ethics and treat lawyers who come before them with courtesy and fairness. We expect that judges not harbor prejudices or exhibit favoritism, and they should be able to shoulder the court's workload. After talking to a cross-section of practitioners who regularly do appellate work, we concluded that all of the judges and justices up for merit retention reasonably meet this test.

When asked in a Florida Bar poll whether the judges and justices on our local ballot should be retained, attorneys from across the state, familiar with their qualifications, said they should. The lowest margin of approval was for Canady, who garnered 79 percent of attorneys recommending retention. The highest was Northcutt with 89 percent.

In addition, a check by the Judicial Qualifications Commission, the body charged with policing judicial misconduct, found that none of the jurists on the ballot had been the subject of formal charges in their current positions.

We recommend a "yes" vote for merit retention for all the judges and justices on the local ballot.