Broward County Judge Claudia Robinson, who reached an agreement with the state’s judicial watchdog to serve a 30-day suspension over an ethical violation, submitted her resignation Thursday.
Her resignation takes effect nearly two months after the Judicial Qualifications Commission put their agreement on hold to investigate “additional matters.” She has spent just over three years on the job.
Broward Chief Administrative Judge Jack Tuter sent a memo to the county’s judges announcing Robinson’s Feb. 12 resignation date.
Robinson came under investigation after the JQC learned that she had steered more than 80 percent of her division’s mediation appointments to Michael Ahearn, an unpaid adviser on her 2014 election campaign.
Her actions “created the appearance of impropriety and favoritism in the mediation appointment process,” according to the commission’s formal charges.
Robinson conceded the charges in November, and the JQC announced on December 1 that she agreed to the suspension.
But the agreement was not to be final until the Florida Supreme Court signed off on it. The court has rejected several judicial discipline agreement over the past few years, including those reached with Circuit Judges Cynthia Imperato and Lynn Rosenthal, both of whom resigned.
Robinson unseated Judge Ian Richards by a margin of less than one percent in the 2014 campaign and was not scheduled to run again until 2020.
Robinson declined to comment.
Her resignation opens another vacancy on the Broward bench. Governor Rick Scott is now choosing from six candidates to replace Broward Circuit Judge Alfred Horowitz, who retired last month.
