Some judges are shoo-ins; others are in for a fight
Two circuit judges are unopposed. Other races include a field of four and a face-off with a sitting judge.
By COLLEEN JENKINS
Published May 13, 2006
TAMPA - They've been booted from jobs and the bench. They've entered races, then backed out. They've challenged sitting judges on ballots and the Web.
Hillsborough County, those are some of the people who want your votes in upcoming judicial races.
On Friday, the final day to become an official candidate, Circuit Judges Mark R. Wolfe and Ronald N. Ficarrotta learned they will run unopposed, and therefore automatically be re-elected.
Their colleague, Circuit Judge Robert A. Foster Jr., wasn't as lucky. He will face family law lawyer Catherine W. Real in the September primary election.
Real, in private practice since 1981, scoffed at the notion that running against a sitting judge is taboo.
"I believe every incumbent should have competition," said Real, who also serves as chairwoman for Citizens for Better Courts, and maintains a Web site with information about local judges.
She said she decided to run against Foster because he was the most senior of the incumbent judges up for re-election and the one she has regularly appeared before.
She declined to comment on Foster's role in one of three cases pending against her with the Florida Bar.
Foster in 2002 suggested that a Bar investigator attend a hearing in his court after Real was accused of saying that something had been filed with an appeals court when it hadn't. The judge later told the Bar he didn't think Real had deliberately misrepresented the case status.
The Bar has found probable cause in that case and two others and is drafting complaints to forward to the state Supreme Court, Bar assistant staff counsel Jodi Thompson said Friday.
Foster did not return a call for comment.
Real said she won't accept any campaign contributions from lawyers. She has pumped $70,000 of her own money into her campaign fund.
The battle for retiring Circuit Judge Perry Little's seat also shaped up to be an interesting one Friday.
The ballot will feature four names: Chris DeBock, Elizabeth "Betsey" Hapner, Bernie Silver and Caroline Tesche.
DeBock, a criminal defense lawyer, ran unsuccessfully against County Judge Art McNeil in 2004. It was the latest of several blips in his long legal career.
He has been fired from the Broward County State Attorney's Office and twice from the Hillsborough County Public Defender's Office. He also has been suspended and reprimanded by the Florida Supreme Court.
Hapner, too, has found herself on the state Supreme Court's bad side. She resigned eight years ago from a county judgeship after the Judicial Qualifications Commission found she had neglected her law practice while running for office and given misleading testimony during her bitter divorce. Then the high court retroactively removed her from the bench.
She entered a race in 2002 but pulled out soon after, citing illness. Silver, who was part of the inaugural class of board-certified civil trial lawyers in 1983, practices with the Trenam Kemker law firm in Tampa.
He isn't worried about the crowded field.
"I believe I'm the best-qualified," said Silver, who also served for 25 years as an assistant city attorney for Tampa.
Tesche, a criminal defense lawyer who gained recognition for the so-called stop sign case in 1996, said multiple candidates should raise the race's profile.
"It's derby time," Tesche said. "I think that will generate more interest in it by the public."
Colleen Jenkins can be reached at 813 226-3337 or cjenkins@sptimes.com