Bill would permit judges to speak out.

The start of the 2000 sessian for the Florida Legislature is still four months away, but the rhetoric reached an end-of-session fervor during the House Judiciary Committee's November 2 meeting.

At issue was legislation, which cleared the panel by a 4-1 vote, that would override Canon 7 of the Code of Judicial Conduct and allow judicial candidates -- including those applying to judicial nominating commissions -- to take public stands on issues, including those likely to come before them as judges.

In an unusual move, two representatives, who used to be on the Judiciary Committee, showed up to criticize the proposed constitutional amendment. The Florida Bar, following action by its Executive Committee four days earlier, also opposed the measure.

If HJR 175, sponsored by Rep. Fred Brummer, R-Apopka, passes the legislature, it would go to voters on the November 2000 general election ballot and, if approved there, become effective January 1, 2001. Brummer filed a similar measure in the 1999 Regular Session, but it failed in committee and was never revived.

Brummer said the amendment would accomplish two things: "First, it eliminates a free speech limitation. Second, it provides voters with information needed to make sound decisions."

He said Canon 7, by preventing judicial candidates from giving their view on issues, "allows the timid to hide their timidity from the public" and "prevents voters from having any knowledge of the candidates." That lack of knowledge, he added, is why fewer people cast votes in judicial contests than other races on the ballot.

Brummer also got the committee to approve an amendment to his measure which clarified that it also applied to those who apply to judicial nominating commissions for judicial appointments.

As amended, the measure would add language to Art. V, Section 10, of the Florida Constitution. The new provision would read: "A candidate for election to, retention in, or merit selection for any judicial office shall not be precluded from taking a public position on issues."

Rep. Curt Levine, D-Boca Raton, offered an amendment to kill Brummer's measure, but it failed 1-4. He argued HJR 175 undercut the U.S. tradition of a free and independent judiciary.

"The Supreme Court of this nation has specifically found there is no such free speech on the part of judicial candidates when it violates the judicial codes," he said. "I see this as another attempt to separate one of the critical branches of government and to...