Florida judicial elections, when they happen, hold out little entertainment value for voters. The ethical canons of the legal profession — yeah, we were surprised too — discourage candidates from criticizing opponents or promising to rule a certain way if elected.
Name, rank and serial number are about all you're going to get out of a lawyer who wishes to be a judge and hasn't made enough friends yet to obtain a gubernatorial appointment.
That's why the Planet wanted to extend a tip of the pencil to Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Court hopeful Jack St. Arnold.
Instead of passing out standard palm cards at political gatherings, St. Arnold is promoting his candidacy for circuit judge with flair and a little something practical.
After exchanging greetings, St. Arnold is likely to hand you a pencil. It's a strange-looking one. His Jack St. Arnold-for-circuit judge pencils are handsome writing instruments with dual erasers at the T-shaped head.
So the pencil looks like a gavel. Get it?
St. Arnold isn't all gimmicks. His resume includes a six-year ride on the Dunedin City Commission in the 1990s, along with other civic contributions.
If you vote in Pinellas or Pasco counties, you won't need to one of his pencils to write in St. Arnold's name. He's on the Sept. 10 primary ballot in the Sixth Judicial Circuit's Group 28 race, facing Robert Boe Michael of St. Petersburg. The winner fills the robe of retiring veteran jurist David Seth Walker.
—Francis X. Gilpin
This article appears in Jun 19-25, 2002.