JP Election Brief: Survival of the fittest as more candidates are eliminated

The JP Election Brief
Pulling back the curtain on the drama of judicial elections
In this issue...
Election news from: Maryland, Oklahoma, Missouri,  New York and Florida

June 26, 2014

by: State Courts Staff

The wave of June primaries has come to a close, as Maryland and Oklahoma held their judicial primaries this week, but the drama is far from over. In many races across the country, candidates have been eliminated in preparation for the general election on November 4. This week, we cover what happened in Maryland and Oklahoma on Tuesday, and we'll take a look at an interesting situation of an outgoing Missouri representative whose attempts at hopping from one judicial race to another left him empty-handed. A Florida county court race is looking competitive as three challengers try to unseat a judge who was charged with a DUI in 2011, and you might be surprised to find out how New York's supreme court elections work.

Important dates: Filing deadline: 7/7: Michigan

Highlights from the Maryland primary

Maryland:

The results of Maryland’s primary on June 24, 2014 have been tallied, and the ballots are set for the November 4 general election, including multiple judicial races. However, some election officials warned that, due to what could be a “historically” low turnout, a relatively small number of people could end up choosing the state’s judiciary.

See: Maryland judicial elections, 2014

Court Auditor Thomas R. Simpson, Jr. beat two sitting judges in Charles County’s Republican primary, which means he will again face judges Jerome Richard Spencer and Hayward James West in November for a seat on the 7th Circuit Court.

Scott Rolle, the former state’s attorney, won the Frederick County Republican primary and will again run against sitting Judge Danny Brian O'Connor for a seat on the 6th Circuit Court for Frederick County.

In Montgomery County, challenger Daniel Patrick Connell will appear on the November ballot for the 6th Circuit Court after winning the Republican primary, even though sitting judges Gary Eugene Bair, Audrey A. Creighton, Nelson W. Rupp, Jr., and Joan E. Ryon bested Connell in the Democratic primary. Creighton was successful despite questions surrounding an incident in May where she was allegedly assaulted by a former roommate with whom she had a personal relationship. The incident raised questions as to the nature of her relationship with the accused, and whether she had unduly provided him with legal counsel while she was a judge (See: Audrey A. Creighton, "Judge abducted by former friend, lover").

Democratic Judge Jimmy Sarbanes and Republican challenger Melvin Caldwell Jr. each won their party’s primary for a 15-year term on the 1st Circuit Court for Wicomico County, and will again face each other in November. Though the general election will be nonpartisan, the primary was an opportunity for each political party to demonstrate their support for their candidate.

Baltimore County judges Justin James King, Colleen Cavanaugh, Julie L. Glass, and Paul J. Hanley successfully fended off a challenge from attorney Kelby Brick. Judge Fred S. Hecker’s defeat of attorney Steven Tiedemann in Carroll County came as little surprise, as Tiedemann had withdrawn from the race and supported Hecker after the deadline to remove his name from the primary ballot. In Cecil County, attorney Kevin Urick failed to unseat Judge Brenda A. Sexton.

In Anne Arundel, Calvert, Harford, Prince George's, and Washington counties, sitting judges ran unopposed.

Finally, in the City of Baltimore, Page Croyder’s attempt to unseat Judge Alfred Nance failed when she came in eighth, finishing behind all seven sitting circuit court judges.

One judge elected in Oklahoma's primary

Oklahoma:

Results from Oklahoma's primary election are in. There were a total of 18 candidates in five judicial races across four different districts.

See: Oklahoma judicial elections, 2014

One candidate has been elected judge by receiving over 50% of the vote in the primary--Justin P. Eilers. He walked away with 50.3% of the vote after competing against Jeremy Bays and Mike Stake for a district judge position in District 4. He does not need to run in the general election. There were a total of 9,209 votes cast in that race, including absentee ballots and early voting.

In the remaining four races, no one received the majority of votes, so the top two candidates will now face each other in the November general election.

District 14 had two interesting races. For Office 2, Tanya N. Wilson (29.7%) and Sharon Holmes (33.5%) are moving on to the general election. It was a fairly close race between those two, with Holmes receiving 114 more votes than Wilson. Marijo Copeland and David C. Phillips are out of the race, coming up with 22.2% and 14.6% of the vote, respectively.

Also in District 14, the race for Office 14 is still to be decided. Incumbent Kurt Glassco almost got away with the majority vote, but fell short with 48.6%. Consequently, he must oppose Jill Webb, who came in second place with 28.1% of the vote, in the general election. Webb received 12,753 fewer votes than Glassco, but still has a chance to pick up ground before she faces him again in November. Jon R. Patton and Michael Jordan Fairchild were eliminated.

The results were similar in the race for Carter County associate judge in District 20. Thomas K. Baldwin, who is currently a special judge, also fell just short of the majority vote. He got 48.5% of the votes, while second place candidate Brett Morton received 25.9%. Tim Burson and Bob Pinkerton were the other two candidates, and they are now out of the running.

In District 22, the race for the Pontotoc County associate judge was much closer. Preston Draper, with 29.2%, was eliminated. Lori Jackson came out on top with 37.5%, and Heather Hammond Wright came in second with 33.3%. Oklahomans will get a second chance to vote for one of these two in November.

Candidate who dropped out of race to replace John Waters is denied re-entry--by Waters

Missouri:

Every Thursday, Judgepedia's State Courts Staff highlights interesting events in the world of judicial elections across the nation. Make sure to use Judgepedia's Election Central the rest of the week as a hub for all your judicial election needs.

It all began with the unfortunate death of Presiding Judge Mark Orr. He passed away at the beginning of June, while he was employed by Missouri's 38th Circuit Court (Christian and Taney counties).

The Missouri Supreme Court then chose a retiring associate circuit judge, John S. Waters, to replace Orr on an interim basis.

Since Waters, who has been an associate judge since 1999, is retiring, candidates filed to run for his seat this year. There were five Republican candidates--Laura Johnson, Patty Shilling, Doug Bacon, Ron Cleek and State Rep. Kevin Elmer. Elmer, who was elected to the Missouri House of Representatives in 2010, opted in January not to run for re-election to the legislature so that he could run for the judgeship instead. On June 10, in the wake of Orr's death, Elmer dropped out of the race and sought the Republican nomination to fill the new vacancy for Orr's position as circuit judge rather than for Waters' position as associate circuit judge. A special election to replace Orr, featuring the Republican and Democratic nominees, will be held on November 4.

Elmer cited his experience practicing law in the circuit court, explaining, "Most of my time practicing law has been in the circuit court than it has in the associate circuit court, it’s the type of courtroom that I’m more experienced in." He added:

“	I hate to say how confident I am, but I was comfortable asking to take my name off the ballot.	”
—Kevin Elmer

The lead judge position also pays an extra $10,000; the salary is $127,000, compared to $116,858 for the associate judge position.

To Elmer's surprise, however, his party's 13-member nominating committee chose someone else--Laura Johnson. Johnson, who had not dropped out of the associate judge race, nevertheless submitted her name for consideration for Orr's seat, saying people encouraged her to run. On June 17, the committee chose her over Elmer and the other applicant, Rodney Daniels.

The Democratic Party will nominate its own candidate for the special election. Whoever wins in November will finish out Orr's term, which would have ended in 2018.

The turn of events was unfortunate for Elmer, who tried to re-enter the race for associate circuit judge. He asked Waters, now the interim circuit judge, to undo a court order allowing Elmer to withdraw his candidacy for that race. Waters denied Elmer's request to put his name back on the ballot.

“	This was a case of a petitioner getting what he wanted, it was what he asked for, and then his plans went awry...I find it interesting that the legislature in its wisdom has provided a method to get out of a race, but not a method to get back in a race.	”
—John S. Waters

“	This (hearing) involved two separate options in life and I've got a thousand options in front of me.	”
—Kevin Elmer

None of those options include being on a legislative or judicial ballot in 2014.

There will be a Democratic candidate for the associate judge seat, but the party will not hold a primary election. The Republican primary is on August 5 and is now a three-way race between Cleek, Shilling and Bacon. Judgepedia will post the results here.

New York's unique supreme court election system

New York:

The New York judicial system is known for its complexities and quirks. Some courts in New York operate statewide; others claim jurisdiction only in New York City (or everywhere but New York City); still others exist only in specific counties. To add to the confusion, the state's "supreme courts" are not, as one might suspect, the courts of last resort—and even more unusual than the name is the very process by which these courts elect their judges.

According to state elections code, candidates for the New York Supreme Court (the primary trial court) are selected through a party convention system. Though primary elections are held, participating state citizens vote for convention delegates rather than potential judges. These delegates convene and select candidates to fill November's general election ballot.

The system has not been without criticism. In 2004, a group of voters, unsuccessful judicial candidates and a civic group known as Common Cause fought to do away with the process, calling it unconstitutional and claiming that it discouraged party outsiders from seeking judgeships. A federal appeals court ruled in their favor in 2006, but the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously overturned the decision two years later. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia wrote in the court opinion, "None of our cases establishes an individual's constitutional right to have a 'fair shot' at winning the party's nomination."

This year's party delegates will be selected in the September 9 primary election. The supreme court candidates they choose must file by September 23.

For a list of supreme court seats up for election this year, see: New York judicial elections, 2014.

Three challengers face embattled incumbent in county court primary

Florida:

Three challengers will square off in the August 26 primary against incumbent Judge Kathryn Nelson of the St. Lucie County Court in Florida. Lawyers Roseanna Bronhard, Albert B. Moore and Leonard S. Villafranco will attempt to defeat Nelson, who was arrested in 2011 and charged on counts of DUI with property damage and resisting arrest without violence. Nelson, 55, has served on the St. Lucie County Court since 2005 and has raised a total of $24,710 for her campaign from loans and donations so far, according to the TCPalm.

Challenger Roseanna Bronhard, 48, is a resident of Port St. Lucie. She earned her J.D. from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1990. Bronhard later received her Masters of Law (LL.M) degree in taxation from New York University. A member of the Florida Bar for over 21 years, she has worked as an attorney in Florida for nearly a decade. Her work experience also includes serving as a judicial staff attorney/trial court law clerk from 1993 to 1997 and as a court probate counsel in Broward County from 1997 to 2002. The TCPalm reported that Bronhard, as of June 12, had not received any donations to her campaign but has loaned her campaign $7,856 and had spent almost that much.

Albert B. Moore, 49, is a resident of Fort Pierce. He has practiced law in St. Lucie County since 1990. Additionally, he's served as a traffic hearing officer in both St. Lucie and Martin counties. Moore was also appointed as general master for the St. Lucie County judicial system, where he heard cases under the supervision of a circuit judge on mental health, family law and dependency. As of June 12, Moore reported a total of $4,675 in contributions from 19 donors and loaned his campaign $53,750, for a total of $58,425. The records indicate he had spent $22,134 of that money.

Leonard S. Villafranco, 53, is a resident of Port St. Lucie. In 2001, he earned his J.D. from Nova Southeastern University, Shepard Broad Law Center, in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. His legal and professional experience includes working with numerous Florida law firms from 2002 until the present, as well as working as an account execuitive for Franklin Press, Inc. and William Graphics, Inc. Villafranco also taught industrial arts at Minerva Central High School in Olmstedville, New York from 1982 to 1983. In 2012 he received the Exceptional Pro Bono Service Recognition from the Florida Supreme Court, Florida Pro Bono Services Coordination Association. The TCPalm reports that he has collected a total of $10,632 from 38 contributors and has spent $6,021 on his campaign costs.

Keep an eye out on August 26 for the results from this highly contested primary!

See also

• Judgepedia's Election Central
• 2014 judicial election dates