The Tampa-area papers have quietly but persistently been following the story of Judge Thomas E. Stringer, Sr. of the Second District Court of Appeal who is in hot water with the Florida Judicial Qualifications Committee for hiding assets and other alleged mis-deeds with an aging stripper. For those who need the salacious details with pictures of our judge and exotic dancer, see this St. Pete Times article.
Apparently Hizzoner and our lady of the night met at a diner in Tampa and that turned into a relationship involving Hawaiian property, exotic cars as gifts, bankruptcies in Vegas, and Rolex gifts (we note that Ms. Yamanaka graciously gave one of the watches to Mrs. Stringer).
Read the JQC’s Notice of Formal Charges. Note the first paragraph (of course) has to point out that Yamanaka is an “exotic dancer” but then there is no mention of any sexual impropriety in the Notice. The media dutifully took the bait. The story has received national coverage because of the stripper-angle: note how the USA Today’s title, “Judge Accused of Sheningans With Stripper” is a misleading cheeky re-packaging of the local paper’s title, “JQC Accuses Judge of Fiscal Shenanigans.” The omission of the word “fiscal” in the title makes a key difference, doesn’t it?