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Prosecutor runs for circuit judge
By CHASE SQUIRES
© St. Petersburg Times, DADE CITY -- Prosecutor Linda Babb has roots in Pinellas County. She has roots in Pasco County. She'll need both. After more than 12 years prosecuting criminal suspects, Babb, 45, is the first Pasco resident to announce a run for Circuit Judge Maynard Swanson's seat. The contest will span the entire circuit, from St. Pete Beach to Lacoochee as attorneys are expected to start jockeying for the seat held by Swanson for nearly 25 years. "Now is just a good time for me," Babb said. "I'm running from the farthest-out point in the circuit, but I still know a lot of people in Pinellas. A few years from now, as time goes on, I don't know how well I'll know that area." Although the first from Pasco, Babb is the second person to enter the race. Pinellas attorney George H. Brown, 43, filed papers last year to run for the seat. The son of a St. Petersburg police officer, Brown has practiced law in Pinellas County for 10 years with a specialty in civil litigation. Swanson, 65, plans to retire when his term expires next year. Babb was born and grew up in Pinellas County. She graduated from Stetson University law school in 1988, and her husband of 23 years is a St. Petersburg police detective. From law school, she went to work as a prosecutor in Pinellas County, working juvenile cases and spearheading an elderly-abuse prosecution effort. She bought her grandparents' farm outside Saint Leo in 1994 when she transferred to the prosecutors' office in Dade City. Since then, she has prosecuted a variety of cases, from juvenile court to felonies. She handles most of the area's domestic violence felonies and coordinates the teen court, in which selected high school honor students serve as judge and jury for teenage offenders admitted into the alternative program. Babb said some of her most rewarding work has been in the area of juvenile offenders. The chance to impress on a young person the consequences of bad choices and keep them from coming back to the court system has been important, she said. "If you ask me what the most important case I've handled is, it's probably one I don't even know about," she said. "It's a case where that young person has gone on to college and a life that doesn't include crime." Although she says she loves her job prosecuting offenders, Babb said being a judge would allow her to grow and to become more active in helping people redirect their lives. Judges can often consider options and offer solutions that prosecutors cannot, she said. "I would like to be able to positively affect people's lives in a way I cannot as a prosecutor," she said. Babb will oversee her candidacy from her San Antonio farm, which has 23 head of cattle. She said she knows she's in for a fight against well-funded and well-connected Pinellas rivals in a broad and expensive media market. But with her connections in Pinellas, and her knowledge of that county, Babb said she won't be at as much of a disadvantage as some might think. The election is still more than a year away, but Babb said she is already planning her run. "I'll probably spend most of my time in Pinellas and west Pasco," she said. "I'm definitely going to be here, too, but I know I've got to be very active there."
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