How Shall We Vote?

Readers: I know this is awfully late in the game as we go to the voting booth tomorrow to vote for Circuit Judge, choosing between Adrian Soud (left) a member of our church, and Mark Hulsey (right), but I received the following email today from a reader and it got me to thinking about the vote for judge tomorrow and thought I'd share it with you:

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Mr. Watchdog - I read your site occasionally. The email below was forwarded to me by a family member. Please feel free to post it for your readers if you think it relates to your topics. In my opinion, it looks like lay leaders at FBC Jax think they can handpick leaders, even inexperienced judges to rule over us.

Jacksonville voters: If you are planning on voting Tuesday, you may not have much information on the judge candidates. Please help make our judicial system better for yourself as a future person in front of our judges, and for our attorneys, who will be practicing in front of these newly elected judges. OUR CIRCUIT JUDGES MUST PRESIDE OVER AND DECIDE CASES IN FIVE AREAS OF LAW - criminal, civil, family law, probate and juvenile law.

MARK HULSEY (http://hulsey4judge.com/experience.html) has 25 years trial experience, including family, commercial, products liability and negligence litigation and is a great candidate with over a decade of military experience as well as having raised a family. He is running against 34-year-old Adrian Soud, who is a personal injury lawyer who worked only one year with a large law firm (did he ever actually see ANY client's during that training year before he left the firm?) before working for himself in his own office ever since. He has NO JURY TRIAL EXPERIENCE in four of the above areas of law he will be presiding over if elected! Why is Adrian Soud even running against Mark since Adrian admittedly has no experience with family law, juvenile law, probate cases or criminal law? It may be because his dad was a judge with a reputation of integrity and people know the family name. Also, Adrian also has the support of influential people at the First Baptist Church downtown, who would like to see one of their own elected, regardless of any legal experience deficiencies he may have. As reported in the Jacksonville Times Union (who has endorsed Mark Hulsey): "Soud's father, A.C., was a Circuit Court judge for 26 years. His mother, Ginger, spent nine years on the City Council. But the elder Soud said a spot on the bench is no hand-me-down."Forget politics," the retired judge said. "No one should assume they're going to get a position on the Circuit Court bench as a matter of entitlement or legacy. It's just simply too important." I agree! Please vote for Mark Hulsey, not Adrian Soud!

For the out-of-town readers: Adrian Soud is a former Treasurer-Secretary at our First Baptist Church, and has grown up at the church. I believe he is a Sunday School teacher as well. His dad has been a judge and member at FBC Jax for decades, and his mom also a long record of stellar public service. A great family with an impeccable reputation. I personally want Christians like Adrian Soud to run for office - that is great - but now I'm a bit perplexed on who to vote for in this election. It seems hard for me to fathom how a man with limited trial experience at all, at just 34 years of age, and who has very limited experience in practicing law in 4 of the 5 areas of law that he would preside over as judge...could do a good job in that position whether he be a Christian or not. For those FBC Jax church members who might be inclined to vote for Adrian because we know of him, his family, and his reputation...would not the wiser choice be to vote for a more seasoned, experienced man? Do we really want a 34-year old personal injury lawyer from our church to take over the important role of Circuit Judge?

Would be interested to hear some thoughts from the rest of you. By the way, you can visit Adrian Soud's election website at: http://www.soudforjudge.com/.