by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
It’ll be a four-way race for the Group 34 Circuit Court seat.
Wes White, Jack Bettman, John Merrett and David Thompson have all filed to run for the seat created by the Florida Legislature during the last session.
White is a sole practitioner in Yulee who specializes in civil and criminal defense and civil rights issues.
“Over 20 years, I’ve done a little over everything,” said White, who’s originally from Coral Gables, went to law school at the University of Florida and moved to Yulee several years ago when his wife got a job at the Mayo Clinic. She’s an emergency medical doctor and now works for Baptist Hospital in Nassau County.
White said after 20 years of practicing law, sitting on the bench presents an opportunity to use that experience in another branch of the law.
“After 20 years I feel I can contribute a lot and help administer justice in an efficient and effective way,” said White, who has already qualified, but admits it will take a lot of work to get his name out in time for the Sept. 5 primary. “Running in Clay, Duval and Nassau counties will require an awful lot of campaigning.”
White is currently representing State. Sen. Gary Siplin of Orlando in a criminal defense trial. He said he’ll officially start campaigning when the trial ends next month.
Bettman was born and raised in Jacksonville, went to The Bolles School, UF for his undergraduate degree and the University of Virginia for law school. Before entering private practice, Bettman served in the Army Judge Advocate General Corps in Ft. Leavenworth, Kan.
“I cut my teeth on court martials,” he said. “It was very enjoyable and I learned a lot from the judges. As long as I behaved in the courtroom, I got to go home at night. Sometimes, my clients didn’t.”
As a judge advocate general, Bettman pled both sides of the law giving him experience he believes would benefit him on the bench. Today, he has his own personal injury and worker’s compensation practice in conjunction with Ansbacher & Schneider, a real estate firm in the Southpoint area. After more than three decades practicing law, Bettman said, it’s time for a change.
“I have served for 31 years as an advocate and it’s time for a new challenge. Who knows how many years I have left in the legal profession. My wife and I talked about it and she said I have good judicial temperament,” said Bettman, who has a former judge in the family. “My stepfather was the late Ray Ehrlich, a former Chief Justice of the Florida Supreme Court. I worked in his office after the Army for four years where I learned how to represent defendants. We defended businesses and insurance companies in civil cases.”
Tuesday, County Court Judge Tyrie Boyer announced that he legally couldn’t seek any of the new Circuit Court seats. Neither White nor Bettman said Boyer’s announcement had any bearing on their decision to run for the Group 34 seat, the one Boyer had been eying.
“It didn’t matter,” said White. “When you decide as a judicial candidate that it’s the right thing to do to run, it can’t be because of who’s running or not running.”
Bettman said he and Boyer go back to the days both worked for Ehlrich’s firm and, while Bettman was sure he’d run, he did know it wouldn’t be against Boyer.
“I had made up my mind to run for Circuit judge; I just wasn’t sure which group I was going to run in,” explained Bettman. “To my close friends, I let them know I was not going to run against Judge Boyer. We go back a long way and Judge Ehrlich spoke at his investiture in 2001.”
Merrett says he’s one the few general practice attorneys left.
“I do criminal law, family law, dependency law and some juvenile delinquency,” said Merrett. “It’s interesting to not look at the same things all the time.”
Merrett is from Jacksonville and his family has deep ties to the area. His grandfather was a homicide detective for the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office and his father was a firefighter for the Jacksonville Fire & Rescue Department. Merrett is a Bishop Kenny graduate and finished law school at Florida State University in 1986.
He said after a lengthy career as a trial attorney that included two stints in the State Attorney’s Office — 1987-92 and 2002-03 — he’s ready for a second career as a public servant, a job he’s been interested in for years. Merrett said the new Circuit Court seats presented the opportunity to do just that, but without having to run against an incumbent judge.
“I would never face a sitting judge,” he said. “The public is well-served by having stability on the bench. It’s (running) something I have always though about and I am in the courthouse every day.”
Merrett said he’s reached triple digits in trials and has been in courtrooms all over the state. Without question, he says, the Fourth Judicial Circuit has one of the best, most-grounded judiciaries in the state.
“We have giants on the bench here,” said Merrett, adding that the relationship between the bench and the Bar isn’t very good in cities like Tampa, Orlando and Miami.
Qualifying ended Friday at noon and Merrett understands the campaigning process will require reaching a lot of people in a very short period of time. The election is Sept. 5, giving the candidates about six weeks to campaign.
“I will rely on some favorable publicity I attained as prosecutor in the State Attorney’s Office where I worked in special operations and on homicide or gun crimes,” said Merrett, who has already contacted local unions, trade associations and the Fraternal Order of Police. “I’m expecting help from those people. I will also spend a significant amount of my own money. The conventional wisdom is this will be a television campaign, but I don’t know yet. I am negotiating with a couple of people about managing the campaign. I will put on a creditable campaign, regardless.”
Thompson could not be reached for comment.