Senior Circuit Court Judge William Wilkes will decide in “a few days” whether Duval County Clerk of Courts Jim Fuller is eligible to run for a fourth term in the Republican primary.
Voters head to the polls Tuesday for primary voting.
Wilkes listened to three hours of testimony Tuesday from the City’s Office of General Counsel and Fuller’s attorneys Rick Rumrell and Lindsey Brock on whether Fuller was subject to term limits that would not allow him to run for a fourth term.
“I’m just going by what the (Florida) Supreme Court says. I think I’ve qualified. We’ll wait to see what the judge says, whether 12.11 is valid or invalid,” said Fuller.
Jacksonville City Charter Section 12.11 imposes a two-term limit on the clerk of courts and other county elected officials. Jacksonville voters in 1992 approved term limits for such officials, limiting them to two four-year terms.
The term-limits decision was declared unconstitutional in 2002 by the Florida Supreme Court in Cook v. City of Jacksonville, but the court receded from that opinion in May.
After the trial, Fuller was hesitant to say if he would appeal the Wilkes’ decision if he were to be disqualified from the race.
“I probably would not (appeal). I would look at that very closely. I think what the judge says here will be a final decision and we’ll go with that,” said Fuller.
The Office of General Counsel, led by Deputy General Counsel Michael Wedner, argued that Fuller is subject to a two-term limit enforced by the recent Florida Supreme Court decision in Telli v. Broward County that receded from its earlier decision that term limits were unconstitutional in Cook v. Jacksonville.
“We ask the court to find Mr. Fuller ineligible and direct him to withdraw his candidacy,” said Wedner.
Fuller’s counsel argued that he was a candidate for the race before the Florida Supreme Court decision on Telli v. Broward County was issued May 10, having filed his statement of candidacy July 15, 2010.
“The court has heard no explanation as to why the City waited until after qualifying. The City waited until after absentee ballots had gone out before they filed suit,” said Brock.
Rumrell and Brock argued that even though the Supreme Court had receded from its opinion in Cook v. Jacksonville, it did not address the earlier ruling that 12.11 was unconstitutional.
Fuller has qualified for the Republican primary to be held Tuesday where he will face Ronnie Fussell.
The Democratic primary will include candidates Bill Hodges and Brenda Priestly Jackson.
The general election is Nov. 6.
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