Honorable Judge George Sprinkel, IV – Indoctrinated by the traditional sciences such as genetics, mechanics, chemistry and electronics, middle-class Americans have come to believe in the absolute certainty of progress. Today, we have wireless communication, cell phones, the Internet, email, digital TV, pharmaceuticals, joint replacement, etc … all which got their start in the consumer markets well within our lifetimes and memories. But in middle-class Americana, we have trouble separating the progress made in the traditional sciences from their softer counterparts such as the social “sciences” and the political “sciences”.

For example, we have a tendency to believe that as a result of the social and political gains made during the Civil Rights movement of the 1950’s and 1960’s, our right to vote and our right to live free from government-sanctioned racial discrimination is as secure as the law of gravity. But consider this scenario – You go down to your precinct to vote in the morning and the poll workers say that you are not registered and they send you away. You then go to your Supervisor of Elections office and verify that you are in fact registered and the precinct you went to earlier was the correct one. You go back to your voting precinct and upon insisting to search the precinct’s voter registration list, you see your name, but the poll workers still do not let you vote. You then just shrug your shoulders and go home.

When you get home will you see a phone message from the U.S. Supreme Court or the Florida Supreme Court that was sent as a result of the “laws” of political science or the “laws” of social science? The answer is of course not, so unless you pursue the defense of your right to vote, no law of nature is going to intervene for you in the matter.

But what if you did pursue the matter and you did in fact go to court, you would expect to win, right? Well consider the case of Thomas J. Kelly v. Lew Oliver, Chairman of the Orange County Republican Executive Committee (OCREC) with the Honorable Judge George Sprinkel, IV presiding.

British Reformed Sectarian Party,


Born In Justice!!!

On June 25, 2001, despite a bulky, exhibit-laden response to the contrary, the Ninth Judicial Circuit Court, the Honorable Judge George Sprinkel, IV, presiding, ruled in Thomas J. Kelly vs. Lew Oliver, Ninth Judicial Circuit of Florida, CIO 01-0000567, 826 So.2d 317, PCA, that a political party is a "private, voluntary association" which has "a First Amendment right to define those persons who constitute its association, and this right is protected against governmental and judicial interference." Thus after one 30-minute circuit court hearing, our rights to go down to the Supervisor of Elections office and register to vote as a Republican or Democrat or any other party in Box 14 Party Affiliation has been taken away. Call your County Supervisor of Elections office and ask them if the Republican or Democratic or any other party can prevent you from registering with their party when you check Box 14 Party Affiliation on your voter registration form. The answer will be that they can't.

Unlike the laws of the physical sciences, the social and political “sciences” are at the whim of human nature which in this instance fell under the jurisdiction of an unreflective, middle-class cog, George Sprinkel. As a component of his in court ruling, Judge Sprinkel even allowed the Defendant’s attorneys to prepare the language of the order which he would then sign. And so it came to be that despite a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case to the contrary, Smith v. Allwright (1944), and an opinion from the Florida Attorney General to the contrary, political parties in the judicial eye of Judge Sprinkel are no different than the Fraternal Order of the Eagles, the Defendant in Reed v. Quatkemeyer, 647 So. 2d 172 (Fla.2nd DCA 1994), a case which Sprinkel cited and relied on for his "private, voluntary association" ruling.

In fact during the course of the case, Judge Sprinkel in an ex parte hearing did not seem interested at all in learning the merits or facts of the case, he simply asks, “What’s the style of the case?” to learn who the parties are. Then when handed a motion for injunctive relief by our Chairman Thomas J. Kelly, the Honorable Judge immediately turns to the last page showing the attorneys for the Defendant who were Republican Boy Wonder Tom Feeney, Speaker of the Florida House at the time, and his law partner Michael O’Quinn. Our Chairman was representing himself and at this point things did not look good. The Honorable Judge denies the motion then suggests that our Chairman submit an Order To Show Cause. This demonstrated that the court had not read the Defendant’s Memorandum of Law. The Honorable Judge also let it be known in court that he knew the treasurer of the Orange County Republican Executive Committee (OCREC), Jim Moye.

Thinking the judge had not had time to review the case, our Chairman appeared again a few weeks later ex parte and when the judge excused himself before hearing Mr. Kelly, it seemed like history was once again going to repeat itself. Despite having a Certificate of Election from the Supervisor of Elections, Mr. Kelly was again denied any relief to serve in any capacity on OCREC and actually fainted momentarily, but was able to lean, lock his legs and arms and balance his weight on the table, otherwise, he would have hit the ground. The court, Judge Sprinkel presiding, showed its concern and in a very Orwellian tone asked our Chairman if he was on any medication. Once revived everyone had a cheery face on, so our Chairman smiled with them as he briskly left the courtroom in case the Honorable Judge had any experience as a family judge and with the swoop of an exuberant pen would have this plaintiff, pro se, mentally committed.

On May 29, 2001 came the actual hearing. After an opening remark by the Honorable Judge that Mr. Kelly did in fact have a Certificate of Election from the Orange County Supervisor of Elections (Exhibit A from the complaint), the Defendants reiterated their “private, voluntary association” argument. For the remainder of the hearing, the Honorable Judge directed his questions at Mr. Kelly. Our Chairman had an Attorney General opinion on his side, the previously mentioned AGO 83-74, which he referenced. The judge’s response, a dismissive, single word “1983” presumably meaning that the opinion was patently obsolete in no need of review. The judge then tries to feign familiarity with the legal issues of the case and states that executive committee members don’t have to sign the Florida Statute 99.021 Candidate Oath . Well not only did the Defendant not introduce this argument, i.e. the judge is now arguing the case for the Defendant, but the Honorable Judge then gets everyone at the Defendant's table to nod their head and solemnly agree with the judge. Our Chairman then immediately refutes this by reading F.S. 99.021(2) in court,

        The provisions of subsection (1) relating to the oath required of candidates, and the form
        of oath prescribed, shall apply with equal force and effect to, and shall be the oath required of,
        a candidate for election to a political party executive committee office, as provided by law. The
        requirements set forth in this section shall also apply to any person filling a vacancy on a political
        party executive committee.

The Honorable Judge's response ... ... "OK.", then he moves on to something else.

Even more damning was the following practice by the judge in court. Although the Defendants admitted to the Honorable Judge at the beginning of the hearing that they had received their copy of Kelly’s response in the mail, the Honorable Judge claims to have never received his copy so with a groan, he borrowed the Defendant’s copy but simply thumbed through it like a prop throughout the hearing, then with five minutes left in the hearing, the Honorable Judge announced that he had had enough of this and for our Chairman, Mr. Kelly, to wrap things up.

Without any second thoughts, the Honorable Judge ruled in court that political parties are “private, voluntary associations” just like the Fraternal Order of the Eagles and our Chairman's case was to be dismissed. Our Chairman was stunned and one of the Defendant’s attorneys who seemed very apprehensive at the beginning of the hearing became almost spasmodic with relief, then witnessing all of this the Honorable Judge’s final words were, “You can appeal if you want, I don’t care.”

At times Judge Sprinkel seems to like to act like a very procedural Country Gentleman Judge but people can take advantage of that by acting "gentlemanly" in his courtroom but in a totally differnt manner once the judge has ruled in their favor. Look at this letter delivered "VIA HAND DELIVERY" which our Chairman picked up at Defendant's attorney Michael O'Quinn's office from O'Quinn's secretary, not O'Quinn. O'Quinn had called our Chairman to say he had a standard form and document for our Chairman to pick up but was very non-descript about what the standard form and document were. When our Chairman picked up the document the next day, he felt that O'Quinn had tricked him. Read the letter and ask yourself why didn't O'Quinn simply tell our Chairman on the phone that he was planning to have Judge Sprinkel execute the order the next day. O'Quinn's letter also did not state at what time he was going to have the judge sign the order, so maybe it was ex parte which happens at the beginning of the morning giving our Chairman even less notice to appear. Our Chairman was furious and felt that O'Quinn would not have done this if Sprinkel wasn't such a pushover in instantly dismissing all of our Chairman's in court responses as well as filed responses so he left O'Quinn's office and immediately went to a payphone and started screaming about what had happened into Judge Sprinkel's answering machine. Another difficult hurdle our Chairman had to constantly jump over was that O'Quinn and Feeney's law office was only accessible by an elevator and because so many vagrants hung out around the bus stop there on Central Boulevard you needed to buzz your way to use the elevator. If no one was manning the buzzer, you couldn't get to their law office. One day Federal Express was unable to deliver a letter for this very reason. Our Chairman then decided to send all of his expedited filings both Federal Express and U.S. Post Office to double his chances that an overnight letter would get to O'Quinn and Feeney.

But all is not lost. Despite the current impact of Judge Sprinkel’s ruling, the British Reformed Sectarian Party believes that the U.S. and Florida Constitutions prohibit party loyalty oaths as practiced by the Republican and Democratic Parties here in Florida and with time on our side these party loyalty oaths will be abolished hopefully in a Florida court but if not then in a federal court.

On a final note our Chairman has learned that both he and Judge Sprinkel graduated from the same high school and university - Winter Park High School and the University of Florida - further showing that the Honorable Judge's treatment of our Chairman as a stray, pro se freak was ill-informed like many things the judge rationalized during the case.