Debate Dust-up in Judicial Race

Judge Regina Arditti has been poised and in control so far in this campaign season. That is an accomplishment in and of itself considering the storm of controversy that has surrounded her first term as judge.

But her opponents really haven't picked a fight with her or engaged her in any meaningful way on the campaign trail. In fact, most people wonder where the hell her opponents are. So far, I hear they are trying to court the attorneys which is a mistake. Attorneys don't win elections, but that's another post.

Anyway, this is the first time I saw a candidate even flirt with taking Arditti on.

And it didn't go very well. She showed she could be rattled and she clearly looked defensive.

What's interesting about that is the fact that her opponent, Ray Gutierrez, sorta fumbled the attack on Arditti. Maybe he was just probing to see how she would react, but things got heated. As you can see at the end of the video Gutierrez went to shake her hand and she didn't shake it back.

The audience noticed it, but Arditti says she didn't see him reach out to shake hands with her. Arditti's daughter and campaign staffer stopped her after she got off stage to let her know that he tried to shake hands with her.

They had a bit of an exchange in the back of the gym and hallway after they got off of the stage. I think they were debating the numbers that Gutierrez was using to say that Arditti isn't clearing cases very quickly.

That is a long story and something I will address in another post. I have seen his numbers and spoke with Judge Arditti about it, I'm just checking their homework before I post about it.