The primary election on Tuesday, Aug. 26 features two countywide, nonpartisan races for seats on the 15th Judicial Circuit bench in Palm Beach County.
GROUP 30 SEAT — Vacant judicial seats are a rare commodity, and the race for the Group 30 seat on the 15th Judicial Circuit bench features three high-quality attorneys: Maxine Cheesman, Jaimie Goodman and Peggy Rowe-Linn. Each would make fine jurists, bringing different and unique qualities to the bench.
Both Rowe-Linn and Cheesman have sought appointment to vacancies on the bench (the more common way new circuit court judges are minted), while Goodman has asked the voters to place him on the bench twice before.
Cheesman is an impressive, articulate attorney who came to the legal profession later in life. This gives her a distinct disadvantage in a race that pits her against two far more experienced attorneys. While we agree with Cheesman’s assertion that her unique scientific background would bring an unusually analytical mind to the bench, we feel she needs a bit more time in the profession before a judicial promotion.
This leaves Goodman and Rowe-Linn, and in reality, both deserve seats on the bench. Rowe-Linn has decades of experience and a strong local reputation for her work in family law and juvenile issues and would bring a deeply caring attitude to a bench that is too often missing that element. But Goodman brings his own experience, which features many different types of law on different levels of the system. This would make him a highly versatile judge with expertise in many different areas.
Comparing these two very different lawyers is a bit like comparing apples to oranges. Both are qualified, but we feel Goodman had a slight edge. The Town-Crier endorses Jaimie Goodman for the Group 30 Seat on the 15th Judicial Circuit bench.
GROUP 14 SEAT — While a vacant seat up for election is a rarity, challenging an incumbent judge is rarer still. This election features one such race with incumbent Circuit Court Judge Diana Lewis being challenged by Boca Raton attorney Jessica Ticktin.
This is not the first time Lewis has been challenged. After winning her seat in 2002, she was challenged in 2008 for re-election, and again this year in her bid for a third term.
What is clear about this race is that a group of lawyers in this county clearly dislike Judge Lewis’ style. This dislike was reflected in a bar association poll that ranked her last among 34 circuit judges. Then again, being a judge is not a popularity contest. The obscure way Florida elects its judges is full of idiosyncrasies that have a tendency to turn what should be merit-based positions into popularity contests. Granted, Lewis is unpopular in some circles. Then again, she spent a large part of her time on the bench in the supremely unpopular foreclosure division, giving her the unenviable job of being the one forced to kick people out of their homes at the height of the housing meltdown.
While Ticktin is a skilled attorney, she is still fairly young, having earned her law degree in 2003. Lewis had been a practicing attorney for more than two decades before her election to the bench, and the two leading contenders in the Group 30 race have nearly three decades of experience each. While Ticktin might deserve a seat on the bench someday, we do not believe that day is today.
The Town-Crier endorses the re-election of Diana Lewis to the Group 14 Seat on the 15th Judicial Circuit bench.
