Four judges deserve ‘yes’ votes, one doesn’t

The lawyers who know the most about them give high marks to four appellate judges seeking new six-year terms in the Nov. 6 election on the ballots in Broward, Palm Beach and four other South Florida counties. We recommend that voters agree.

They are Supreme Court Justice Alan Lawson and Judges Burton Conner, Jeffrey Kuntz and Carole Taylor of the Fourth District Court of Appeal at West Palm Beach. That is the court of last resort for most cases originating in Broward, Indian River, Okeechobee, Palm Beach, St. Lucie and Martin counties.

In a poll conducted for the Florida Bar, 87 percent of lawyers with knowledge of Lawson recommended that he be retained in office. Taylor polled 87 percent, too, with Conner at 85 and Kuntz at 82. Those are decent grades, considering that the nature of their work requires judges to disappoint someone half the time.

Voters are sometimes confused by these appellate court elections, in which the names of incumbent judges appear without opponents and the voter’s choice is between yes and no. These are not — repeat NOT — recall elections. The judges haven’t necessarily done anything wrong, and in this election we know of no organized opposition to any of the four.

Unlike trial judges, who are still subject to contested elections, Florida’s appellate judges are all appointed by the governor from lists submitted by nominating commissions. Voters approved this in 1976, following ethical scandals at the Florida Supreme Court, to minimize political influence on the courts to set policy.

Voters retain a voice, however, in what are called retention elections. This is the first one for Lawson, whom Gov. Rick Scott promoted from the Fifth District Court of Appeal last year.

Taylor, a circuit court judge in Broward County when Gov. Lawton Chiles appointed her to the Fourth District in 1998, was a former public defender and assistant prosecutor in federal and state courts.

Conner, appointed in 2011, was previously a circuit judge in the Okeechobee-St. Lucie-Martin-Indian River circuit.

Kuntz was in private practice in Fort Lauderdale with the GrayRobinson law firm before his appointment in 2016. This is his first retention election. Taylor and Conner were both retained with 77.8 percent of the vote six years ago.

The Bar asked lawyers to consider eight factors for each of the judges: quality and clarity of judicial opinions, legal knowledge, integrity, temperament, impartiality, absence of bias or prejudice, demeanor and courtesy. Whether they agreed or disagreed with particular decisions wasn’t supposed to be a factor, and shouldn’t be for voters either.

There’s a discordant note, however, from the Bar’s poll in the Fifth appellate district, which covers most of the Interstate 4 corridor, including Orlando and Daytona Beach. Only 66 percent expressed approval for Judge Eric Eisnaugle, who was a state representative from Orange County when Gov. Rick Scott appointed him last year. That’s conspicuously lower than other Florida appellate judges up for retention this year. Most scored in the 80s, some in the 90s. The second lowest was 79.

We see the faint praise as a rebuke from many lawyers for what was a conspicuously political payoff from Scott, whose agenda Eisnaugle had supported even when Republican leaders did not. Of the five other nominees Scott passed over, four were circuit judges with 12 to 26 years of experience.

Eisnaugle, on the other hand, had no judicial experience and told the nominating commission he went to court only three to five times a year. Orlando Sentinel columnist Scott Maxwell wrote that Eisnaugle had “never actually taken a single trial to a jury verdict.” He was known for trying to give the Legislature more power over the court system, and for sponsoring a ridiculous NRA-backed bill to prevent children from being punished for eating breakfast treats nibbled into the shape of a gun.

Such thin credentials wouldn’t have gotten Eisnaugle past a nominating commission before the law was changed in

2001 to let the governor appoint all nine members of each nominating commission, instead of only three. If he were on the Fourth District ballot close to home, we would recommend voters not retain him.

But Justice Lawson and Fourth District Judges Taylor, Conner and Kuntz all came to their present offices with appropriate credentials, have performed credibly and deserve a “yes” vote on Nov. 6.