Judicial Races -Veteran Judges' Losses Reflect Political Trends
                      Judicial Elections Aren't What They Used to Be
                          in Miami-DadeCounty, with Hispanics and
                       Women Increasingly Gaining the Upper Hand

By Jay Weaver
The Miami Herald Fl
Sep. 02, 2004

The losses by three longtime Miami-Dade judges in Tuesday's election seem astonishing given the power of incumbency, but they point to the changing dynamics of judicial elections.

Hispanics, women and minority candidates have been gaining momentum since 2000, when two white male incumbents lost their seats.

''When you look at the demographics of Miami-Dade and you look at the voter registration in Miami-Dade, you cannot win countywide without overwhelming Hispanic support,'' said 10-year County Judge Jeffrey Swartz, who lost to civil lawyer Ada Pozo Revilla by about five percentage points.

Also on Tuesday, Cuban-American civil lawyer Barbara Areces walloped 24-year Circuit Judge D. Bruce Levy by 16 percentage points. Levy did not want to discuss the race.

Peter Adrien, a senior lawyer for the Legal Aid Society of Dade County, whipped eight-year Circuit Judge Henry Harnage by 14 points. Harnage declined to comment.

Areces and Adrien -- who had weak to mediocre ratings in the Dade County Bar and Cuban American Bar Associations' polls of trial lawyers -- all drew heavy votes from Hispanic areas such as Little Havana, Westchester and Hialeah.

''Judicial incumbents are not invincible anymore,'' said consultant Gerald Schwartz, who worked on Harnage's campaign.

He said that Hispanic candidates have the upper hand in the way that non-Hispanic whites, including Jewish judges, once did in the 1960s, '70s and '80s.

Others agreed that the times -- and power structure -- have changed.

''The backing of the legal establishment doesn't necessarily guarantee an incumbent victory as we've seen from [Tuesday's] results,'' said Robert Fiore, president of the Dade County Bar Association. ``Unfortunately, there are times in our electoral process when those with the most knowledge of the candidates -- the lawyers -- don't always come out on the winning side.''

Harnage's loss was particularly unsettling for that legal establishment, partly because of Adrien's campaign strategy. There had been a backlash against Adrien in the legal community for trying to use his mother's Portuguese maiden name, Camacho, on the ballot.

During the campaign, a group of prominent lawyers supporting Harnage challenged Adrien's use of ''Camacho'' as his middle name, saying he was misleading Hispanic voters. Adrien, born in Antigua, eventually agreed to drop it.

More controversy followed Adrien on Election Day.

Adrien was joined by former Cuban-American Miami Mayor Joe Carollo on Spanish-language Radio Mambi -- WAQI-AM (710). Carollo, whose 2003 divorce dispute was heard by Harnage, told listeners to vote against the judge and for Adrien.

Carollo also criticized Harnage for ruling that a child custody dispute between a Puerto Rican woman and her Jordanian husband must be resolved in Jordan, where the boy was born.

Carollo compared Harnage's decision to that of another judge who sent Cuban rafter Eliáán Gonzáález back home, according to a Herald monitor of the radio program.

The Cuban American Bar Association is seeking to obtain a copy of the radio broadcast, because it questions whether Adrien may have violated Florida's Judicial Code of Conduct.

''I'm extremely concerned about the manner in which Peter Adrien conducted his campaign from the get-go,'' CABA President Ramon Abadin said.

''If what is attributed to Carollo is true, I'm concerned that Mr. Adrien may have violated the code of judicial ethics,'' Abadin said. ``The candidate has to control those boundaries.''

Adrien, who had run unsuccessfully for the circuit court in 2002, did not return calls to his home, office and cell phones.

An attempt to reach Carollo through his divorce lawyer, Evan Marks, was unsuccessful.

In another race Tuesday, veteran federal prosecutor John Schlesinger topped former state prosecutor Teresa Pooler by 14 percentage points for an open circuit court seat. Schlesinger got a campaign boost from his wife, Marilyn Milian, a former circuit judge now with own her TV court show.

Assistant Federal Public Defender William Thomas and civil lawyer Catherine Parks finished first and second for an open circuit seat, edging out attorneys Josie Velis and Don Cohn on Tuesday. Thomas and Parks will compete in a November run-off.

Miami-Dade police attorney Judy Rubenstein crushed lawyer Valerie Manno, a former nurse, for an open county court seat by 18 percentage points.