July 25, 2006
Skahan vs. Saafir, Criminal Court Division 1
Of all the judicial races in Shelby County, few have generated the controversy of this one.Incumbent Judge Paula Skahan was appointed by Gov. Bredesen in 2004. She is white, a lesbian and devoted Democrat.
Her opponent is Tonya Saafir, a young black attorney that has overcome many obstacles to earn her law degree, who is also a Democrat.
I have met Saafir several times and find her to be intelligent, personable and well spoken. The first time I heard her speak I wrote about it and generated a fire storm of comments. It was quite entertaining, except to Saafir who was being smeared quite badly. There were questions about her "Muslim" name and background (false) and the fact that her kids are "half-Muslim" (which doesn't even make sense — is there such a thing as "half-Christian"?). Out of the blue, someone even threw in a shot at Angelo Cobrasci, the force behind the Shelby County Conservatie Republican Club.
John Farmer did a little digging and has an extensive post on the smear campaign.
In the meantime, I have dug a little and have not found anyone who believes that Paula Skahan is a tyrant or an activist judge. The Commerical Appeal says of her:
Skahan, 45, worked as both a prosecutor and defense lawyer for 19 years before becoming a judge, and is familiar with all aspects of the Criminal Court operation at 201 Poplar.Attorney Richard Fields notes:
Judge Paula Skahan was appointed by Governor Bredesen as Criminal Court Judge in 2005 after serving as a public defender, assistant district attorney, and in private practice as a criminal defense attorney. She has handled capital cases as a private attorney as well as over 25 felony jury trials and thousands of other cases in her 19 years of practice. She is supported by law enforcement officer associations as well as defense attorneys and prosecutors. She has received national recognition as the recipient of the “Spotlight Award” from the National Association of Women Judges.Meanwhile, Tonya Saafir has limited experience and does not even practice criminal law. Richard Fields is not impressed:
Her opponent, Tonya C. Saafir, is completely unqualified to be a criminal court judge. She has practiced law for only 2 ½ years with virtually no criminal jury trial experience. She filed bankruptcy in 1998. In 2004 she was sued in General Sessions Court for non payment of debts, yet on November 28, 2005, she purchased a 2006 Cadillac Escalade, and no lien is recorded with the state against this vehicle. On April 8, 2003, she filed a Uniform Civil Affidavit of Indigence in her divorce complaint.Bottom line: Tonya Saafir has agressively pursued improving her life, achieving one goal after another. But it is too soon for this one: she simply does not have the experience to make a claim to a criminal court bench at this point in her career.
It is too bad that Saafir did not choose to go after a true activist judge like Childers.
But as these are the only two choices in this race, I will be voting for the more experienced, most qualified candidate: Paula Skahan.
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Technorati Tags: Tennessee Politics, Tennessee Shelby County Judicial Races of 2006, Paula Skahan, Tonya Saafir, Avoiding Unqualified Judges.
June 8, 2006
Tonya Saafir: Candidate for Criminal Court Judge Division 1
Attorney Tonya Saafir (website not yet active) addressed the SCCRC (Shelby County Conservative Republican Club), and the following is the results of my rather hurried notes.
She was quite a good speaker and had quite a good story to tell:
She is a veteran who is the daughter of veterans. She comes from a patriotic family and her mom was in Desert Storm.
After getting out of the service she went to Austin Peay State University. In spite of being a single mother of four small children (she was divorced), she graduated magna cum laude with a law degree.
She became a public defender and after a year she stepped out into private practice (something difficult to do for anyone, particularly difficult for a single mother whose oldest is ten).
She spoke about trying to raise her children in today's environment. She is afraid for them and feels "locked in" because they have to hide behind locked doors.
She believes in second chances for non-violent offenders. Those that assault, rape and murder are a different story, but she believes in rehabilitation and change.
As I said, Tonya was an impressive speaker. She did not mention her party affiliation, although after listening to her I think that she would be a most conservative Democrat. Voting in Memphis lists her as having voted only three times in the last 12 years, one of which was in a Democrat primary. Then again, she didn't register to vote in Shelby County until September of 2000 and (obviously) she has been rather busy.
Tonya's opponent is incumbent Judge Paula Skahan, who was appointed by Gov. Bredesen in 2004. Skahan has voted 16 times in the last 12 years, 9 of those times were in Democrat primaries.
Judge Skahan acheived local noteriety when she disallowed 33 pounds of cocaine discovered during a traffic stop. The drug smuggler was going eight miles over the speed limit, but Skahan ruled that the police officer illegally detained the criminal and subsequently illegally searched the criminal's vehicle. There has been much debate about the case, but the bottom line is that her decision was upheld by the appeals court.
AlphaPatriot Pick: If the vote were today, I would pick Tonya Saafir. Her drive, committment to family, ability to get ahead in spite of obsticles, her passion, her background and her (admittedly brief) talk about values were impressive. Besides, LeftWing Cracker is supporting the incumbent, a diehard Democrat appointed by Bredesen.