A salacious tell-all alleging shenanigans in a Central Florida circuit court has somehow found its way into a Broward judicial race, complete with a peculiar audio clip that would be scandalous — if it were authentic. It’s not, according to the people named in it.
The book was self-published last year by a disgruntled ex-employee of the Ninth Judicial Circuit, who criticized the judges he worked under. Broward judicial candidate Lauren Peffer, best known locally as an animal rights attorney, had been citing the book as evidence that the judiciary in Florida is suffering from a lack of public trust, a trust that she can help restore.
Peffer now says she will stop citing the book after learning its central allegations are in dispute.
“It doesn’t particularly change the ultimate point that is being made” about public confidence, she said. “It’s up to us to do better, to make sure we restore faith in the judiciary.”
Peffer brought the book up several times while campaigning, including during a joint interview with her opponent, Emilio Benitez, before the South Florida Sun Sentinel editorial board in early June. The book has not been reviewed by any news organization, and its allegations have not given rise to any known investigations by the Judicial Qualifications Commission.
Asked for evidence that the book’s contents are causing the crisis in confidence she cited, Peffer provided a link to a recording that purports to be a phone call between Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Carlos Muñiz and Lisa Munyon, chief administrative judge of the Ninth Circuit.
Legal experts say the recording captures a conversation so legally questionable that its authenticity should have been suspect immediately.
Both Munyon and Muñiz, through spokespeople, have denounced the recording as a fake. Its posting, along with several other alleged fakes, have been referred to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office for criminal investigation, said Karen Levy, a spokeswoman for the Ninth Circuit.
The Sheriff’s Office was reviewing an information request about the investigation and did not confirm its existence Friday.
The recording is found on the website of the book’s publisher, and state business records show that the publisher’s sole registered agent is the author. The author’s phone number has been disconnected.
In the recording, the voice claiming to be Muñiz is sharply critical of Munyon.
“If only a tenth of what (the author) wrote is true, then the Florida Court system has … a very big problem,” the man said before concluding without citing evidence that the book is 90% true. “This has turned into a massive public perception issue … Please level with me, what were you thinking when you fired this lifelong court executive (the author)?”
“I’m not sure how to respond to that,” the other voice, claiming to be Munyon, replied.
Despite the expressed concern over a public relations fiasco, and Peffer’s insistence that the book illustrates a significant problem, the book appears to have had little to no impact. Its Amazon page links to no outside or independent reviews.
“Even if the allegations are not true, the image issue it creates isn’t really dissipated for the past and present judiciary,” Peffer told the Sun Sentinel before learning that the recording’s authenticity is in dispute and unlikely. “The accusations are severe, and both judicial candidates and sitting judges will need to go above and beyond to restore the public’s faith in the judiciary’s ethics.”
Others who heard the recording said it defied credibility.
“If I got that telephone call I would say no, we are not going to talk over the phone,” said retired Broward Circuit Judge Tom Lynch, who was alarmed at how inappropriate the recorded conversation was. “If it is not illegal, it was certainly unethical to say the things that were said to her … If this were not fake, someone might go to prison over it.”
The Florida Supreme Court is the final arbiter of complaints that are brought to the Judicial Qualifications Commission, the state’s official judicial ethics watchdog. Justices, like judges, are barred from privately investigating such allegations.
The voice claiming to be Muñiz appears to acknowledge the ethical lapse, wondering aloud what would happen if the recording were to be leaked.
Anthony Alfieri, director of the Center for Ethics and Public Service at the University of Miami School of Law, said the recording should never have found its way to the campaign trail.
“Although Florida ethical standards encourage candidates for judicial office to maintain an open mind in considering factual and legal issues that may come before them as judges, professional competence requires the ability to discern false evidence and misrepresentation and, moreover, to establish a good faith basis in fact through due diligence and reasonable inference,” he said.
Judicial ethics rules prohibit candidates from attacking one another on the campaign trail. Benitez, Peffer’s opponent, declined to comment on the book or the recording.
Rafael Olmeda can be reached at rolmeda@sunsentinel.com or 954-356-4457.
