On Nov. 8, Floridians will go to the polls to choose a president, a U.S. senator, members of Congress and other elected officials.
An important, but sometimes overlooked part of the ballot, is the merit retention vote for Supreme Court justices as well as judges in Florida’s five District Courts of Appeal.
This year, three Supreme Court justices and 28 DCA judges will face a merit retention vote.
As part of The Florida Bar’s efforts to educate voters on this issue, the organization has published a brochure with profiles of those up for a merit retention vote.
The print version of the brochure is being distributed to judges and justices who will appear on the ballot. A limited number also are available by contacting [email protected].
The brochure can be downloaded at floridabar.org/thevotesinyourcourt.
The document is a source for information on judicial elections, including English and Spanish versions of the “Guide for Florida Voters” plus links to more information, including the Code of Judicial Conduct and short videos on merit retention.
The Bar will add links to a merit retention poll of Bar members, which will be completed in early September.
Election dates are Tuesday and Nov. 8. All county and circuit judicial races appear on the primary ballot, with runoffs in November. The merit retention vote is in November.
Bar eschews bonds in favor of equities
Responding to continuing record low interest rates, the Bar Board of Governors has approved a change in investment policies that reduces Bar holdings in bonds and other “liquid alternatives” and increases its investment in equities.
Investment Committee Chair Ian Comisky told the board at its July meeting the committee has been carefully reviewing the Bar’s investments with its outside investment adviser on whether a change in investment strategy was needed.
“It’s tough in bond investments,” Comisky said, noting interest rates have continued to decline with the interest on 10-year Treasury bonds hitting 1.33 percent. “We had proposals (at the committee’s) May (meeting) around recommendations to adjust the portfolio, and we went through detailed asset allocation review and a series of different presentations.”
The result was a proposal to decrease the Bar’s bond investments, invest in other “liquid” investments including hedge funds, and reduce the portfolio’s cash reserve and increase significantly investments in large cap domestic and international stocks and moderate in median and small-cap stocks.
There will be slight uptick in the volatility of the investment portfolio, Comisky said, but over the next seven years the changes should increase the Bar’s returns from 5.7 to 6.1 percent. (If that occurs, it could mean up to an extra $1.4 million in investment earnings.)
“The bond market, as difficult as it is and the interest rates as low as they are, some shift to equities made some sense,” Comisky said.
The board unanimously approved the recommended investment policy changes.