Local Elections: Judge, 18th Judicial Circuit, Group 17

Here's our next election overview for the nonpartisan office of Circuit Judge, 18th Judicial Circuit, Group 17. This is for the election on August 26, 2008.

Meryl L. Allawas

There's not a lot of information out there on judges at this level, and it's been hard finding information on both of these candidates other than what is found on their web pages. Meryl Allawas' campaign page tells us that she is currently the incumbent and that she was appointed by former Governor Jeb Bush. Prior to holding this office she was a state prosecutor specializing in child abuse and sex crimes cases.

Robert T. Burger

The challenger in this race Burger's campaign page tells us he's a "Florida Bar certified trial lawyer with 33 years of experience." We can translate this by taking a look at his law office page which tells us he's a personal injury/medical malpractice lawyer.

Conclusion

The only real interesting fact about this race is that Meryl Allawas was reprimanded by the Florida Supreme Court for "not expeditiously issuing rulings in a dozen cases." That sounds pretty serious to me. Allawas claims that she has learned from her mistakes and is now better able to handle her caseload. Burger has not hesitated to point out her reprimand on his web site and seems to be running his campaign on the theme of "I work hard." There is something just a little bit sleazy about Burger but since it's clear that Allawas has actually been incompetent... I'm think I'm going to vote for Burger.