A Brilliant Mistake.

Wow this seems like pure unadulterated horse hockey:

A new pro-Bondi political committee has fired back, with a website accusing Gelber of down-playing his past as a criminal defense lawyer ``defending convicted drug dealers, con men and scam artists.'' The site is www.TheRealDanGelber.com .

Gelber said his work as a defense lawyer was mostly serving on a legal team at two law firms and filling in for an absent colleague in a court hearing.

Gelber does criminal defense work?

That's not an even remotely fair description.

And even if he did, why is that a bad thing?

Has Pam ever heard of the criminal justice system and the jurisprudential reasons why accused suspects are entitled to competent counsel?

Boy I'm in a fatalistic mood but I don't think this election could get any worse.

Apparently they are even after the Robed Ones up in Tally, according to this email I received from "Citizens for an Independent Judiciary":

This general election, several Florida Supreme Court Justices are on the ballot for “merit retention,” and we urge you to vote to keep them on the bench. All Florida Supreme Court Justices must appear on the ballot every six years—a process that gives the people an opportunity to vote against justices who have acted unethically.

This year, however, the justices on the ballot are being targeted for their legal opinion concerning a SINGLE issue. This is one precedent that should not be established and will lead us down a dangerous road. Don’t allow these esteemed justices to be ousted because of a single legal opinion. The simple truth is removing these justices from the bench would be a gross abuse of the merit-retention process, which is designed to oust members of the judiciary who have proven themselves unfit for office; it is never intended to be a political referendum based on a single opinion.

 Ok, I agree with all that.  There are important institutional purposes behind retaining appointed judges, even the axiomatic ones.

The email continues:

All of these justices are people of great experience, education and integrity, and they have done their best to render justice based on facts and law applicable to each case—not the popular political climate at the moment.

"Great experience, education and integrity"?

Well let's not go overboard.

Still, they are our Robed Ones and certainly deserved to be retained, particularly in the face of an ugly under the radar, highly partisan smear campaign.

You can learn about efforts to protect the independence of our judiciary from these unfair political attacks here.

"East Wind, Rain."

Sheesh, who ordered all the buckets of rain on our golden streets? Too bad the City couldn't afford umbrellas for our downtown ambassadors; they're all hanging out at Walgreens or Stabucks right now. Well, at least the planters that the City dropped in apparently random spots around downtown will get nice and wet. I wonder what our homeless will be doing in them later? Naah, better not go there.

Meanwhile, it says here that Judge Highsmith is planning on retiring. No, you haters, he wasn't already retired. A decent and fair-minded judge, IMO. Can you say that about all our federal judiciary?

In other judge news, apparently Justice Cantero has a bright sunny future, all the bootlickers quoted in the DBR say here. Anyone else agree? Better get on the record now before your absence is duly noted.