Sworn in by Intemperate Ex-Judge, SARAH ARNOLD Appointed County Commissioner by Governor DeSANTIS

Who is SARAH ARNOLD and exactly why did Governor RON DESANTIS appoint her County Commissioner? Who supported her? Who else applied?  

ARNOLD did not deliberate, but lustily made the motion. to approve Senator TRAVIS HUTSON's massive expansion of his SilverLeaf development.  ARNOLD sort of sounded like a robot throughout the entire meeting on. December 21, 2021.  Watch the video. 

SARAH ARNOLD is wife of CASEY ARNOLD, shareholder in a corporate law firm whose slogan is "Build Your Business. Protect Your Wealth."  Fisher, Tousey, Leas & Ball has many corporate clients.  The public had no idea who SARAH ARNOLD's husband was, or who her father-in-law was --  is this quite intentional, as Governor DeSANTIS released only the barest of information, while stiffing open records requests for weeks?

Here's a photo of SARAH ARNOLD being sworn in by a retired judge, C. JEFFERY ARNOLD, her father-in law, grandson of the "legendary" J. Ray Arnold, an "influential Lake County pioneer, who operated one of the biggest sawmills in the Southeastern United States and biggest employer in Lake County." 

The Daily Commercial reported:

"During the years the mill ran, nearly around the clock, the Arnold family amassed great wealth and property across Central Florida. Arnold’s grandfather was convinced there was oil beneath the surface in Florida and even offshore. He drilled for oil south of Groveland in the 1930s. The well did strike oil, but not enough to be viable.

Until the sawmill burned down, Groveland enjoyed tremendous prosperity under the Arnold family’s generosity. Arnold was a visionary who placed an emphasis on education and the community’s welfare. He recruited outstanding educational leaders and teachers to the city and built an elaborate gym that included a swimming pool, two bowling alleys, billiards and a rifle range.

"J. Ray Arnold was known as a sharp-shooter, and the gun he always carried was passed down to his grandson."

In December, I reached out to him and asked for an interview, but Judge Arnold modestly demurred, saying he didn't think his life was that interesting, although his hometown newspaper did when it wrote about his giving a talk about his family to the local historical society.

At the end of a long career on the bench, retired Judge C. JEFFREY ARNOLD appears to have had emotional problems with First Amendment protected activity by public defenders and other criminal defense lawyers -- and a bad reputation for anger management issues -- resulting in the Chief Judge taking him off criminal cases in Orange and Osceola Counties!

So this is the judge that Commissioner Arnold chose to swear her in?  What does that say about her?

In May 2014, I advised candidate Nancy Shaver that when she was elected, she could choose anyone she wanted to swear her in.  She chose an African-American woman, Judge Peggy Quince of our Florida Supreme Court, sending a message.

So Commissioner SARAH ARNOLD chose her own father-in-law, ex-Judge C. JEFFREY ARNOLD, scion of a rich Lake County family, sometimes hotter than a two-dollar pistol, to swear her in.  That sent a message.  Message received. 

  

From Click Orlando:

Judge reassigned over offensive comment to public defender

Judge C. Jeffery Arnold taken off criminal bench by chief judge

May 25, 2012

ORLANDO, Fla. – Orange-Osceola Circuit Judge C. Jeffery Arnold, a man of many words when it comes to sentencing criminals, immediately apologized last week after uttering two words he wished to take back: fat ass. 

He was referring last week to assistant public defenders as a group, not one in particular. But it was enough for Chief Judge Belvin Perry to quickly reassign the 18-year judicial veteran from one of the busiest criminal divisions to the judicial woodshed: Osceola County Juvenile Court. 

Arnold's comments came as he and a top lawyer for the Orange-Osceola Public Defender argued over whether he had the authority to order her lawyers to appear with prosecutors before Arnold to discuss the status of plea negotiations. 

Public Defender Bob Wesley said his assistants have resisted the edict, because it often is a waste of their time and it requires them to share strategy and reasoning that is usually protected by the attorney-client relationship. Other times, clients simply want to exercise their right to a trial. Ad

But Arnold was having none of it during the May 14 discussion with Wesley's trial chief, Melissa Vickers. 

"I'm not going to have some 1-year, or 2-year-old lawyer sitting there and telling me there's nothing to discuss on a case that's sitting on my docket and clogging the thing up. It ain't gonna ever happen," Arnold said, according to a court reporter's recording of the discussion obtained by Local 6. "They're going to come over and we're gonna talk about the daggum cases and if they don't come then that's going to create a problem... because I'll hold them in contempt of court when I schedule them for a hearing and they do not show up." 

"Some clients just want a trial," Vickers said moments later.

"That's fine. We'll give them a trial. That's fine," Arnold responded.

"Then what do we need to discuss if it's a trial?" Vickers countered, pushing Arnold over the verbal edge.

"I need to know," he said, his voice rising. "Somebody needs to tell me and they can get their fat ass over here and tell me what it is, too." 

Instantly, Arnold realized he'd gone too far.
"Excuse me. I apologize. I'm getting irritated by the resistance I'm getting of trying to end up improving the quality of your lawyers' daily life." 

"I understand," Vickers replied, apparently taken aback. "The conversation is turning inappropriate and I think we should stop at this point." 

"I agree," the judge said. 

They did continue talking at the bench for a few more minutes during a break between plea hearings, and no agreement was reached. 

Wesley said he did not complain to Arnold or Perry about the comments, but word of them spread throughout the courthouse. 

Perry would not comment on why he reassigned Arnold, but Local 6 has confirmed it was related to the "fat ass" comment. 

Arnold has not responded to a phone message seeking comment. 

It was not the first time Arnold's comments have raised eyebrows. During a sentencing in February he made an offhand remark about a Seminole County woman accused of burning down The Senator, an ancient cypress tree that attracted thousands of tourists. Ad

"I was tickled to find out they caught that - lady," he said, pausing as he searched for and settled on the word lady. "They should take her out at dawn and shoot her." 

Arnold has been a county or circuit judge since 1994, founding and heading the circuit's successful collections court since 1999.