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Ready to shuffle the bench

Six candidates look to become one of the two new county judges, both assigned to west Pasco. More could join the races.

By JAMAL THALJI
Published July 9, 2006

This fall, voters will reshape the Pasco County bench.

The Legislature awarded Pasco two new county judgeships, which were both assigned to west Pasco. With six candidates declared so far, those are the most competitive judicial races.

A new Pasco-Pinellas circuit judge will take the bench in the West Pasco Judicial Center when the governor appoints a replacement for John Renke III, who was removed last month for campaign violations.

And the county could get an additional circuit judge. The Legislature awarded one to the Pasco-Pinellas circuit, and Circuit Judge W. Lowell Bray Jr., the county's administrative judge, asked the circuit's chief judge to assign it to Pasco.

Qualifying for the county judge races ends at noon July 21. The Sept. 5 primary is weeks away. Then it's on to Nov. 7, the general election.

A candidate can win outright in the September primary with at least 51 percent of the vote. If not, the top two vote getters square off in November.

And the candidates are ...

Three candidates are vying for each new county judgeship, groups 6 and 7. County judges oversee misdemeanor crimes, landlord-tenant disputes, domestic violence injunctions, traffic infractions, small claims court and lawsuits for less than $15,000. A statewide raise Oct. 1 will bring their salary to $137,020 a year.

The Group 6 race is between lawyer Bruce Przepis, Assistant Public Defender Anne Wansboro and former prosecutor Frances Werner-Watkins.

Przepis, 55, and his wife, Pauline, moved here from New Mexico and raised their two children in Pasco. He served brief stints as a Pasco sheriff's deputy and a prosecutor.

He left the Sheriff's Office in 1983 for law school at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale and went into private practice in 1989 in family and criminal law.

"I feel I have something to offer, and I want to serve the people of this county who have been very good to me over the years," Przepis said.

Wansboro, 39, brings 13 years of experience as a lawyer, most of it in two stints as an assistant public defender in Dade City, Clearwater and New Port Richey. The University of Florida law school graduate is board certified in criminal trial law, and since 2002, she has helped train rookie state attorneys and public defenders.

She and husband Peter have a 4½-year-old son.

"I think (county court) is a good opportunity for the judge to make a good impact on people," she said, "to make sure they know the judge is going to be fair, the judge is going to hear them out and the judge is going to be courteous."

Werner-Watkins, 35, graduated from Nova Southeastern University's law school in 1998. The next year, she joined the Pasco-Pinellas State Attorney's Office, where she concentrated on juvenile casework, running county programs for young offenders and truants.

Last year, she joined the west Pasco firm of Attridge, Lucas, Green, Jefferis, Magee and Magazine.

The Pasco native is a member of one of the county's founding families and the daughter of prominent builder Gene Werner, who helped provide much of the land for Werner-Boyce Salt Springs State Park. She and her husband, Scott, have two daughters.

Werner-Watkins said she missed public service.

"I want to take that a step further," she said, "taking what I had done as a prosecutor and taking my experience this last year in the private sector and taking that into a judicial role."

The Group 7 race is between Frank Grey II, Anthony Salzano and Candy VanDercar.

Grey, 51, is a lawyer who has practiced real estate, probate and civil law for 21 years. The Stetson University law graduate is named for his grandfather, who started in real estate in the 1920s. Coldwell Banker F.I. Grey & Sons is now a prominent real estate firm run by the candidate's brothers, John and Chuck Grey.

The candidate spent more than a decade in a law firm with former Pasco lobbyist Clyde Hobby before starting up the firm of Davis, Marlowe & Grey II. He and his wife, Cheryl, have three kids.

"I think I'm qualified to represent ... and be of service to the community," Grey said.

At 34, Salzano, an assistant county attorney, is the youngest candidate. He graduated from South Texas College of Law in Houston in 1999 and has worked for Pasco County since 2001, advising county government on legal issues and reviewing contracts.

He and his wife, W. Elizabeth Blair, have a 5-month-old son. The candidate said a judge he knew as a boy in Ohio inspired him to seek the office.

"I've always admired him and looked up to him, and ever since I've always aspired to be a judge," Salzano said.

If elected, VanDercar, 57, will be starting her third career. She was a defense lawyer when she graduated from Stetson University's law school seven years ago. Before that, she spent 17 years as a school psychologist in Hillsborough and Miami-Dade counties.

She and her husband, David, have a 23-year-old daughter. She said her psychological training left her well prepared for a legal career.

"I specialized with families having emotional and behavioral difficulties," she said. "Going into law with that is a wonderful foundation. I found very often there were striking similarities."

Another Pasco lawyer, veteran prosecutor Mary Handsel, is running for Pasco-Pinellas' Group 9 circuit judgeship. Her competition is two other public servants from Pinellas County: fellow Assistant State Attorney Glenn Martin and Assistant Public Defender Christine "Chris" Helinger.

The rest of the pack

The process for picking Renke's replacement will start once the 6th Circuit Judicial Nominating Commission gets a letter from the governor. The nine-member panel will solicit applications, interview a select group, then give Gov. Jeb Bush three to six names to pick from.

So far, several of Pasco's incumbent judges are unopposed for re-election: Circuit Judges Joe Bulone (Group 24), Lynn Tepper (Group 4) and William Webb (Group 14) and County Judges Robert Cole (Group 2), William Sestak (Group 1) and Marc Salton (Group 3).

Judicial races are nonpartisan. Circuit and county judges serve six-year terms.

Pasco-Pinellas circuit judges preside over criminal felony cases, civil, family and probate law, juvenile court and lawsuits asking for more than $15,000 in damages. They will make $145,080 come an Oct. 1 statewide raise.

Age: 57

Education: Stetson University law school

Employer: Candy VanDercar, Esq.

Age: 51

Education: Stetson University law school

Employer: Davis, Marlowe & Grey II

Age: 34

Education: South Texas College of Law

Employer: Pasco County Attorney's Office

Age: 39

Education: University of Florida law school

Employer: Pinellas-Pasco Public Defenders Office

Age: 55

Education: Nova Southeastern University law school

Employer: Bruce E. Przepis, Attorney at Law

Age: 35

Education: Nova Southeastern University law school

Employer: Attridge, Lucas, Green, Jefferis, Magee and Magazine

[Last modified July 8, 2006, 22:46:28]