When the need arises, who do we call for justice?

By Bobby R. Henry, Sr.

As the campaign seasons get into full swing, from the top of the ballots all the way down, state, local and national elections, the thought of corruption, bullying  and entitlement are on full display.

In an article published in the Sun Sentinel titled, School Board Member Accused of Ethics Violation Related to Charter Schools Payout, smells of a coordinated campaign attack on School Board member Torey Alston from another Board member, Allen Zeman. This is not the first time  these two have had “differences”.

The article excludes the fact that Alston filed all disclosures, and he abstained on the votes where some would try to possibly tie his wife’s contract to what the District owes to Charter Schools.

When the Westside Gazette questioned Mr. Alston, this is what he had to say: “This complaint was filed by my male colleague who used his right hand to inappropriately touch a male district employee on the buttocks embarrassing him in front of other staff and witnessed by another board member. I’m not surprised my ethically challenged colleague is attempting to rescue his former employee’s sinking campaign that isn’t focused on issues and our children. He’s a part of a coordinated effort to block a young, qualified Black man from remaining on the school board. They attacked Jared Moskowitz and Harold Pryor for endorsing me. The optics of this race are black and white, and the voters will see his political games. The article buries key facts that I answered questions during my interview, appropriately disclosed where there were potential conflicts, and I abstained even when the General Counsel told me I could vote. My bar was higher.”

The old proverb, ‘a tiger doesn’t change its stripes,’ apparently applies to Broward County Judge Mardi Levey Cohen’s bullying tactics which extended beyond the bench when challenged by Kaysia Earley, Esq., a prominent lawyer in South Florida, during the 2022 re-election campaign. Not to be confused by her husband, Judge Dale Cohen, who also received a public reprimand in 2012 for calling his wife to the witness stand and questioning her. According to the Investigative Panel of the Florida Judicial Qualifications Commission (JQC), Judge Levey Cohen engaged in the type of negative campaigning “not permitted in judicial elections.”

Judge Levey Cohen admitted to the JQC to obtaining Mrs. Earley’s campaign donation reports and sending correspondence to Mrs. Earley’s church. The correspondence was a copy of a complaint Judge Levey Cohen filed with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) challenging the church’s tax-exempt status. The correspondence was hand delivered to the church, and Judge Levey Cohen included a false return address of ‘IRS EO Classification,’ according to the JQC, to conceal its origin. Judge Levey Cohen’s false impersonation of the IRS should be deeply concerning to the public. “Based on the content, timing and totality of the circumstances during this hotly contested campaign, the commission believes that the purpose of the correspondence was to retaliate against the group [church] for its support of her election opponent,” the JQC said. “The return address seemingly identifying the package as coming from the IRS reinforces the commission’s assessment.”

Unfortunately, Judge Levey Cohen’s dishonest tactics did not stop there. She filed several allegations in a complaint with the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) against Mrs. Earley claiming she inaccurately reported her campaign contributions on the 2022 M3 report.  After a thorough investigation, the FEC dismissed the allegations and concluded Mrs. Earley’s reporting relied  on  information provided to her from her donors, which she promptly corrected. In another misguided act, Judge Levey Cohen forwarded unauthenticated and unverified e-mails with false allegations regarding Mrs. Earley without verifying the accuracy contained in the communication. She disseminated unreliable and false information about Mrs. Earley to the Sun Sentinel Newspaper and a representative of the Wynmoor Condominium Democratic Club (WCDC), which insinuated Mrs. Earley fraudulently obtained money from the Paycheck Protection Program.  Once again, after a thorough investigation including documents obtained by the Small Business Association (SBA), Mrs. Earley was cleared from the false allegations and gained the endorsements of both the WCDC and the Sun Sentinel.

In emails sent by Judge Levey Cohen on July 5, 2022 and July 19, 2022, she wrote, “Kaysia may have gone too far this time. Running against a sitting judge is a tough battle for anyone, and the candidate’s (sic) life is opened to the public.” Judge Levey Cohen also resorted to name-calling, stating Mrs. Earley was a “great actress” and “con artist”.

During the 2022 campaign, Mrs. Earley was the owner of Earley Law Firm and also worked full-time, remotely, as a government employee of the United States Patent and Trademark Office in Alexandria, Virgina. In what appears to be a continuous attempt to intimidate and harass Mrs. Earley, Judge Levey Cohen maliciously contacted Mrs. Earley’s employer in Virgina, informing her supervisor of the unfounded allegations.

“My opponent’s disparaging comments and continuous schemes  to  bully  me out of the judicial race should be concerning to the public. She continued to utilize her position of authority, yet she failed every time,” Mrs. Earley declared. “My opponent ran an intimidation, harassment and bullying campaign,” Mrs. Earley said. “She even utilized her son to intimidate me at various early voting campaign locations. During the election recount, her husband, Judge Dale Cohen, sent an email to the Sun Sentinel advocating for his wife’s ‘qualifications’ for re-election and struck me against my will. A police report was subsequently filed, and I reported the incidents to the JQC,” she said.

Coincidently, Judge Dale Cohen resigned May 31, 2023, after the submission of Mrs. Earley’s JQC complaints. “Judge Levey Cohen’s overly aggressive behavior towards me during the campaign created a well-founded fear, which prompted me to file an injunction which documented her harassment towards me,” Mrs. Earley said, describing the unrelenting pressure she felt from Judge Levey Cohen to drop out of the race. “All I wanted to do was run a campaign I knew I was qualified for. I want to ensure no one experiences this type of abuse on the campaign trail, especially in a judicial race,” Mrs. Earley declared.

Although Judge Levey Cohen admitted to her egregious conduct during her campaign re-election, unfortunately, the damage was already done, and she won over Earley in August 2022 by a 317-vote margin, of 230,877 total votes cast. The small vote margin calls Judge Levey’s ‘victory’ into question. There are those who have called for her removal from the bench based on Judge Levey Cohen’s admissions in engaging in unscrupulous behavior while on the bench, by knowingly misrepresenting facts concerning her opponent and intentionally misleading the public during the judicial election.  Her actions should be questioned as undermining and suggestive to an erosion of the public’s confidence in the integrity of the judiciary, which may warrant a reprimand to deter this type of behavior.

It is now up to the Florida Supreme Court to either approve or deny the proposed stipulation for a reprimand, based on the possible violations of Judicial Cannons 1, 2A, 7A(3)(b) and 7A(3)(e)(ii).

       The public may contact the Florida Judicial Qualifications Commission, Post Office Box 14106 Tallahassee, FL 32317, (850) 488-1581 and via email at contact@floridajqc.com and Chief Judge Jack Tuter, div07@17th.flcourts.org 201 SE 6th Street, Chamber WW20170, Fort Lauderdale, 33301,(954) -831-7576 to express their concerns about any Judge’s reprehensible behavior and questioned their tenure to remain on the bench.