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Judicial process, politics intersect

The recommendation of Thomas Minkoff for a Pinellas judgeship raises the question: Is the process really apolitical?

By ADAM C. SMITH
Published January 1, 2006

Pinellas Republican chairman Tony DiMatteo is on a roll when it comes to judges.

When Gov. Jeb Bush had three Pinellas judicial slots to fill in October, DiMatteo was thrilled to see his top choice - George Jirotka, the longtime volunteer attorney for the Pinellas GOP - get the circuit judgeship.

Now DiMatteo is happy that the county party's new general counsel, Thomas Minkoff, is a finalist for another Pinellas judge's position.

"Tommy's a personal friend. He volunteers a lot of time and effort, and he does a lot of public service," said DiMatteo. "He's my No. 1, and I'll relay that to the governor."

Minkoff is among six county judge applicants recommended to Gov. Jeb Bush by the Pinellas-Pasco Judicial Nominating Commission. The little-watched process for narrowing down judicial prospects is ostensibly apolitical, but Minkoff's case provides a window into how partisan politics and judicial selections can intersect.

A few months before the commission recommended Minkoff, his wife gave $500 to the St. Petersburg City Council campaign of commission chairwoman Cassandra Jackson, a Republican activist who heads the Pinellas Black Republican Club. Among Republican organizations Minkoff lists on his application for judge, he says he's a founding member of that same Pinellas Black Republican Club.

"The bottom line is, I don't appoint judges. That's the governor," said Jackson, dismissing any connection between Minkoff's wife's support of Jackson's campaign and Minkoff winning a nomination.

Since the Legislature gave the governor more control over appointments to the state's 26 judicial nominating commissions in 2001, critics have complained that they have become more political and less independent. Jackson and other members of the Pinellas-Pasco commission disagree.

"We have an incredibly diverse and good group of people on this judicial nominating commission," said St. Petersburg attorney Peter Meros, one of nine members. "There's no political motive or agenda whatsoever."

From the 35 applicants to succeed retiring Pinellas County Judge Karl Grube, the commission on Dec. 16 recommended six to the governor: Minkoff; Assistant County Attorney Carl Brody; private practice lawyers Nathaniel Kidder and former circuit judge candidate Jack Day; Assistant State Attorney Glenn Martin; and State Farm Insurance attorney James Vincent Pierce.

Most of Minkoff's legal experience has been while running real estate development and home health care companies. He lists his current job as CEO and general counsel of Complex Properties Corp., a company owned by his wife.

While he lacks courtroom experience, Minkoff noted that he has handled countless leases, real estate closings and Medicare benefit appeals before hearing officers. Over the last year, he also has volunteered as a lawyer for Gulf Coast Legal Services.

"I don't know that there's any correlation with a tremendous amount of courtroom experience and being a good judge," said Minkoff, 55, of Gulfport.

That's a sentiment echoed by commission members, who say that demeanor and listening skills can be at least as important for a county judge as keen understanding of evidentiary rules. Members declined to discuss their decisionmaking with any specificity.

"We vote on a secret ballot, and why people vote the way they do I can't tell you," said member Josh Magidson, adding that he'd never seen any partisanship on the commission.

Minkoff's Republican activism started in the past two years. That's because his sons wanted to get politically active, he said, and had nothing to do with his interest in becoming a judge.

He and his wife, Elise, gave thousands of dollars to local Republican candidates in 2004, and county records show he gave the Pinellas Republican Party $5,000 in March. He said his wife actually made that donation, and that when she contributed to Cassandra Jackson's unsuccessful City Council campaign, there was no open judicial slot to which he could apply.

After Jeb Bush tapped Jirotka, a veteran lawyer with Fowler White Boggs Banker in Tampa, for circuit judge this fall, Minkoff replaced him as general counsel to the Pinellas GOP executive committee.

Minkoff said his work for the Republican Party had nothing to do with his getting nominated for a judgeship.

"If anything, I think it might have been a negative," he said. "I am politically active and that raises a flag and closer scrutiny on my qualifications."

Adam C. Smith can be reached at 727 893-8241 or adam@sptimes.com

[Last modified January 1, 2006, 00:28:15]