JORGE E. CUETO

FOR CIRCUIT COURT JUDGE

Vote August 26, 2008

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I believe a significant thing to consider in evaluating a candidate for any position is what motivates the person to seek the position.  After all, a person willing to submit himself to the scrutiny of strangers must really want the job.  When those strangers are the electorate of the county in which you live, it makes it that much more challenging.  The electorate considers the credentials of each candidate and passes judgment on each applicant’s fitness for office, and rightly so.  That review not only includes professional standards but other more personal characteristics.

 

             Why is the motivation to submit to this process important?  Because if the motivation is an unhealthy one, the candidate may turn out to be a poor judge. 

For example, the thirst for power is one of those unhealthy motivators that are frequently seen to manifest themselves in many of our courts.

 

             I cannot fully tell you why I have a vocation to the office of circuit judge without relating to you where I come from and how I got to where I am.  My family witnessed firsthand what it is to live in a society without basic legal protections or recourse to a fair and impartial judiciary.   My home was searched without a warrant on several occasions and my mother was roughed up.  My father was imprisoned for two years for exercising political rights that we take for granted.  He was routinely tortured and contracted a virulent strain of tuberculosis in that prison.  The concept of habeas corpus was not one that was observed by that government.  Law enforcement agents of that system believed that we were unworthy of any respect, compassion or human dignity.  The fear and the rage of being powerless is not something academic to us.

 

             My family escaped our homeland by seeking asylum through the Costa Rican Embassy, eventually arriving in this great country of ours. You see, I know what it is like to be the object of directed, unrestricted power - a power not curtailed by any limits or due process.  This experience has instilled in me a deep respect and appreciation for the rule of law.

 

             This country through its laws gives us the security, protection and confidence to live life freely and in the fullness of human dignity.  When I eventually became a police officer, I was fully aware that the awesome power of the state to deprive a citizen of his liberty was entrusted to me.  It is in that position that you find out who you are and of what stuff you are made.  I can tell you that I learned so much about myself.  I know I am that I have been faced with life and death situations and have performed my duties in an ethical and professional manner, no matter what the situation.  I have witnessed the incredible hurt and loss suffered by the victims of crime on a firsthand basis.  I have learned that the words honor, integrity and social responsibility are not abstractions, but words to live by.

 

             I became so enamored of the rule of law that I became a lawyer.  I have practiced in the areas of government law, corporate and commercial law, and criminal law.  As a prosecutor, I have made every effort to seek justice for victims and to punish the guilty to the full extent of the law.  But, I have also sought to identify those defendants who would benefit from programs that could lead to personal redemption.  I have been tough on corruption and will be just on the bench.

 

             I have been a union member and top corporate executive.  Because of the life I have lived, I would bring to the bench a perspective grounded on real and personal experience.

 

             So what is the reason I want to be a judge?  Because I want to continue my over 20 years of public service to this, my community, as a fair, impartial and well-balanced judge, equipped with a varied technical legal background and the richness of the life I have led.  I can think of no more noble a calling than to bring redress to the victim and ensure those rights afforded to all by the Constitution are protected.  That is why I am asking you to vote for me for Circuit Court Judge on August 26^th, 2008.

 

                                                                              Thank you,

                                                                              Jorge E. Cueto