My favorite Palm Beach Post columnist- Randy Schultz

I've been a subscriber to the PB Post for 15 years. The paper's editorial page has always had a decidedly liberal in its leanings and I find myself in disagreement with the paper more times than I agree with it.

The editor of the editorial page for the same 15 years is Mr. Randy Schultz. Out of the 10 or so editorial columnists at the paper, Mr. Schultz is the only one I read on a weekly basis. His Sunday columns are always well written and seldom ever resort to the name calling some members of the left call a political dialogue today. We don't always agree but I respect Mr. Schultz's opinions.

Yesterday his latest column was about how the system of electing judges in Florida has many flaws and as Mr. Schultz and the Post editorial board have often argued be replaced with judges being appointed instead.

Mr. Schultz cited the case of Art Wroble, first elected as a judge in 2000. Judge Wroble allegedly used his influence to get elected without opposition. In a recent survey of lawyers on Circuit and County Judges in Palm Beach County, Mr. Wroble came in a distant last.

The full column can be found at- http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/content/opinion/epaper/2005/06/12/a1e_schultzcol_0612.html

No questions for a judge - until now
By Randy Schultz
Palm Beach Post Editor of the Editorial Page
Sunday, June 12, 2005
If this comes off sounding like one of those I-told-you-so columns, that's because it is.

Five years ago, I wrote to deplore the fact that Art Wroble became a circuit court judge in Palm Beach County simply by paying the election filing fee. Since no one else entered the race, he didn't have to face the voters. Since the position was elected and not appointed, he didn't have to face the judicial nominating commission. It seemed like a bad way to pick someone who would be presiding over major criminal trials, big lawsuits and the difficult family and juvenile courts.

Oh, the outrage. People called, e-mailed and wrote to tell me what I knew: Art Wroble is a really good guy. He loves the University of Florida, from which he holds three degrees. He's a past president of the Palm Beach County Bar. He served on the board of the Legal Aid Society. He was a member of the judicial nominating commission. He left his law practice in 1990 when his Army Reserve unit was called up before the Persian Gulf War.

Yes, but how did anyone know that he also would be a good judge if he never had to answer any questions? My problem was the system, not Art Wroble. But with his six-year term up in 2006, the problem seems to have become Art Wroble.
Worst score out of 47 judges

Last week, the Palm Beach County Bar released its most recent poll of the county's judges. Among the four ratings categories, the most important is "Knowledge and application of the law." Only 7.3 percent of the respondents rated Judge Wroble as "Excellent." Nearly 70 percent said he "Needs Improvement." Only two other circuit judges got "Excellent" ratings of below 30 percent, and their numbers were double and triple that of Judge Wroble.

Critics of the poll — who tend to be judges who score low and their supporters — will note that only 10 percent of lawyers who got the poll responded. Because the poll is anonymous, critics complain that lawyers use it to get back at judges for unfavorable rulings. But if you look at results over time, most of the better judges tend to get better scores, and all of the weaker ones get low scores.

And overall, Judge Wroble got the worst score of the 47 circuit and county judges who were rated. In addition to the 7.3 percent for "Excellent" knowledge of the law, he got just 23 percent for impartiality, 16.4 percent for preparation and 21.8 percent for demeanor. You'd think he would have tried harder since the last poll, which gave him only 22 percent high marks for knowledge of the law. He's lucky that the poll shows only individual ratings, not the rankings of past years.

But what does this mean for the public, as opposed to the lawyers? It means rulings like the one in 2002 when Judge Wroble gave a murder suspect from Jordan five days to appear, even after prosecutors asked for no bail. The man skipped town.
Judicial election gamesmanship

Judge Wroble ran unopposed in 2000 by calling in lots of favors from lawyers. It's all part of the political gamesmanship of judicial elections. While most trial-court judges get to the bench by appointment, Florida requires merit selection only for appeals court judges and Supreme Court justices.

As I said Mr. Schultz writes a good column. He just doesn't see the flip side of the coin, appointments can be equally bad. I wrote an email to him yesterday. Here it is-

Mr. Schultz,

I read your column with interest in regards to Judge Art Wroble who was elected to his office. You feel strongly that Mr. Wroble wouldn't be on the bench if he had been appointed.

Lets look at the case of Eileen O'Connor a judge in Broward County. Appointed by Gov. Bush in 2003. Judge O'Connor was a former federal prosecutor.

1- In March 2005 she jailed Stacey Forbes a juror candidate for lying on his application and when asked if he had a criminal record. Mr. Forbes had no motive to lie, he is semi-illiterate. The APPOINTED judge sentenced him to four months in prison. Without a lawyer representing him either.

2- Now its learned Judge O'Connor lied on her judicial application. See she was asked on the form if she had any complaints filed against her. There were, including one settled by the office she used to work for.

We can go tit for tat that there are bad judges out there, the system is rigged. But better allow the voters the choice to pick them particularly when people's rights can be taken away in a fit of anger. If you want I'll link you to my blog postings on O'Connor where the whole sordid Forbes affair is posted. You can also go to MiamiHerald.com and just enter the name of Eileen O'Connor.

I've written to Mr. Schultz at least a half dozen times in the past. Almost always he replies and here was his response-

OK. I don't know if I'll write soon, but I'll check it out.

Fair enough. I'm going to email him again and give him the link to my blog here. If I get further comments I'll post them.