August 12, 2026 • 12 mins
Meet the Candidate: Roberta Walton Johnson for Orange County Clerk of Courts
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi, this is Judy Copier.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
I am the market president for Orlando and this has
made the candidates, and I'm excited today to introduce Roberto
Walton Johnson, who is running for Orange County Clerk of Courts.
Speaker 3 (00:14):
Thank you for joining us, absolutely, thank you so much
for having me. This is wonderful opportunity.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Great Please introduce yourself to our listeners.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
Well, hello, Orange County and beyond. I am ROBERTA. Walton Johnson.
Speaker 4 (00:27):
I am a candidate for Orange County Clerk of Courts.
I actually have been an attorney in this area for
more than twenty years. I kicked off my legal career
at Community Legal Services of Mid Florida, where I helped
our most vulnerable population, quite frankly, those individuals seeking to
get benefits that they had been denied. Thereafter, I spent
(00:49):
eight years in Orange County government, working with the Borida
County Commissioners and the District six County Commissioners specifically. And
then I had a very small state and private practice.
But I am a public servant at heart, and so
more than a decade now I've actually served at the
Orange County Clerk of Court's office in leadership. I was
(01:11):
recruited to come there in twenty fifteen to open up
the Lydia Gardner Self Help Center. I'm pretty proud of
that project because it's a project that truly does connect.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
The Clerk's office to the community.
Speaker 4 (01:23):
It's an opportunity for individuals to come in and seek
out assistance, information and resources about how to represent themselves
in court if they cannot hire an attorney.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
It's a full.
Speaker 4 (01:36):
Service center and it really has been a trend throughout
the state. But we rank pretty high, and I'm pretty
excited about that.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
What prompted you to run for this office?
Speaker 4 (01:49):
So after serving as the self Help Center manager and
come into the Clerk's office for that purpose, I brought
my horizon and had an opportunity to go through the
operations other other divisions within our Operations and Service division
manager like Family and Child Support and domestic Violence. Led
(02:12):
each of those areas, and then navigated upstairs to become
a member of the senior executive team. I now serve
as the General Council and Director of Legislative.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
Affairs, so I have it it's some insight.
Speaker 4 (02:26):
I have the opportunity to help make decisions in terms
of how we administrate and how we operate this organization
each and every day. And I also have the opportunity
to engage with our leaders, our legislative leaders, our judicial leaders.
And so when our existing clerk today decided to resign
(02:49):
to run for another seat for me because politics again
and is also not new, I felt like the opportunity
was right. I felt like when I looked around the landscape,
there was no better candidate to step up to lead
this organization than myself.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
What do you feel is the most important issue facing
our community and how would you address up affordability?
Speaker 4 (03:15):
I think right now, in terms of our community, we
are we're a metropolitan area now, right, And it wasn't
so long ago that we were not right, we called
ourselves a town, a community, you know, we referred to
our specific neighborhoods. Now our community is about three to
(03:36):
four county strong, if I can say that, and we
are growing at a very very fast paced and so
whereas governance sometimes is a little slow with infrastructure and
helping our residents to even even you know, when we
talk about transportation right and having a multimodal transportation system,
(04:00):
it is an opportunity I think for us to kind
of from a governance perspective, look across the landscape, right
and see what can we do to help residents because
we are in the middle of an affordability crisis. And
so what I'm running on for the Orange County Clerk,
of course, is how do we connect the community to
(04:21):
the courts?
Speaker 3 (04:22):
Right?
Speaker 4 (04:23):
That really is the threshold, That really is the high
level summary of what the Orange County Clerk's office or
any clerk's office does, is we are that gateway to
help the community access the courts. You have to come
through that threshold in order to have your.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
Opportunity to be heard.
Speaker 4 (04:41):
And so I want to make sure that when people
show up at the clerk's office, they're not showing up
in crisis because they're uninformed and they don't know what
to do or where to go. They show up inform
They know where the resources are, and so it helps
them navigate that space a little bit more.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
Well, have some navigate that space with a clear head.
Speaker 4 (05:02):
Right.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
Nobody really likes to come to the clerk's office, let me.
Speaker 4 (05:06):
Say that, but when you come, I want to make
sure that we're implementing programs and resources to help navigate
that and to help life be more affordable to help
life be In my opinion, it helped individuals to be
more responsive when they are in need.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
What would be.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
Your top three priorities one selected?
Speaker 4 (05:34):
So my first priority is when you lady talk about
how fast we're.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
Growing, that means we're diverse.
Speaker 4 (05:44):
This community is a very, very diverse community. And so
I want to implement a multi lingual navigator program, and
I want that program to work hand in hand with
our self help center. I want to make sure that
when individuals come to the courthouse, just because English is
(06:05):
a second language, that people don't feel disenfranchised. There is
someone to help you navigate this climate so that in
your language right and I want to start out with
two languages on the onset that is Spanish and Creole,
because I believe those populations are growing by leaps and
(06:28):
bounds as it relates to this particular community. And so
I'm pretty proud of that we've already implemented or we
we work hand in hand right now with court administration
for something similar for domestic violence. And because I am
intrically involved, I sit on the statewide Coalition for Domestic
(06:51):
Violence with the Office of State Courts, the Office of
State Court administration here in Florida, and so I'm pretty
excited about that. So I know the landscape and I
know how to implement that program.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
So that's priority number one. Priority number two.
Speaker 4 (07:11):
Is I want to start a text messaging notification program
for individuals to help remind them when they have certain
fines and fees do right. I would say this is firsthand.
I have a twenty seven year old, right, most of
us do. And they're not gonna blame it on the
(07:32):
young people totally. Everybody's you know, oh my god, my
license is suspended.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
I forgot.
Speaker 4 (07:40):
So put something some technological and you know, advancement into
these devices that we keep and carry everywhere that we
go to keep you reminded about what your obligation is.
And if you need to come in and get yourself
on a payment plan, then let's do that. But at
(08:02):
least you have that reminder to safeguard you from being
exposed to a suspension, which costs a lot more when
we're talking about affordability, right, because that's how people get
themselves in these crunches. Another priority of mine is, and
this goes to my base of my attorneys that are
out there, my peer group One of the things I've
(08:23):
heard from that peer group is, you know, I think
it's great what.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
You all are doing, but.
Speaker 4 (08:30):
I would like to see the attorney only customer service
line reinstated, because that's a different customer base. It's a
different customer base than the lay person, the resident calling
about maybe a traffic citation or calling for copies, and
the attorneys have different needs and different questions, and so
(08:52):
I'm going to reinstate that customer service line for our
attorney base.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
I think that's pretty important.
Speaker 4 (08:58):
I have a couple of other things that are contingent
upon legislation, and I'm working really closely with some legislators
to kind of talk through how can we better navigate
this affordability crisis, especially when it comes to keeping people housed.
So I'm pretty excited being sending around the table every
(09:21):
day making these decisions. I get an opportunity to see
what we do great at the clerk's office, but also
those things that we need to improve and those things
that I need to tackle on day one.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
So what would you like voters to know about you
that distinguishes you from the other candidates in this race?
Speaker 4 (09:39):
So I think this is important to note that the
clerk's office is a very complex constitutional office. Everything we
do at the clerk's office is outlined in statute, court
rule or an administrative order.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
This is a constitutional office.
Speaker 4 (09:56):
It's not only a government building and a government in office,
but it's also a member of the judicial branch.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
And so those relationships are important.
Speaker 4 (10:06):
And so on election day, August eighteenth, and there is
going to be one candidate on the ballot that is
a licensed attorney, just one asking to be your next
Orange County Clerk of Court.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
You need to say, announce me.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
And that's ROBERTA. Walton Johnson.
Speaker 4 (10:23):
Absolutely, there is one candidate on the ballot on August
eighteenth with any clerk, administrative or court operations experience on
the ballot, and that's ROBERTA. Walton Johnson. And so I
think that's pretty important. I think everybody touts I have experience,
(10:43):
and you know, and we're all over fifty on the ballot,
and so yes, we all have experience, lots of professional experience.
But it's not just about any experience. It's the right experience.
And I think it's pretty important to be able to
navigate what's happening at the courthouse, to be able to
understand what's happening around you, and to be able to
(11:04):
talk and communicate with our peer groups and our judicial stakeholders.
Right now, all of our judges are lawyers. Our state
Attorney is a lawyer, our Public Defender is a lawyer.
And I think it's important that we also elect someone
who understands how to lead this office and how to
speak like most people speak that are part of the
(11:27):
judicial branch.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
Roberta, would you like to give your website where people
can learn more?
Speaker 3 (11:31):
Absolutely?
Speaker 4 (11:32):
Again, I ask for voter support on election day, August eighteenth,
Roberta Walton Johnson for Orange County Clerk of Court. My
website if you'd like to learn or engage more with me,
is vote roberta dot com. It's very simple, Vote roberta
dot com. There you'll have an opportunity to read my
bio and my long list of endorsements of our trusted
(11:55):
local leaders.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
Roberta, it has been such a pleasure to meet you today. Again,
Roberta Walton Johnson running for Orange County Clerk of Courts.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
Thank you
Hi, this is Judy Copier.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
I am the market president for Orlando and this has
made the candidates, and I'm excited today to introduce Roberto
Walton Johnson, who is running for Orange County Clerk of Courts.
Speaker 3 (00:14):
Thank you for joining us, absolutely, thank you so much
for having me. This is wonderful opportunity.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Great Please introduce yourself to our listeners.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
Well, hello, Orange County and beyond. I am ROBERTA. Walton Johnson.
Speaker 4 (00:27):
I am a candidate for Orange County Clerk of Courts.
I actually have been an attorney in this area for
more than twenty years. I kicked off my legal career
at Community Legal Services of Mid Florida, where I helped
our most vulnerable population, quite frankly, those individuals seeking to
get benefits that they had been denied. Thereafter, I spent
(00:49):
eight years in Orange County government, working with the Borida
County Commissioners and the District six County Commissioners specifically. And
then I had a very small state and private practice.
But I am a public servant at heart, and so
more than a decade now I've actually served at the
Orange County Clerk of Court's office in leadership. I was
(01:11):
recruited to come there in twenty fifteen to open up
the Lydia Gardner Self Help Center. I'm pretty proud of
that project because it's a project that truly does connect.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
The Clerk's office to the community.
Speaker 4 (01:23):
It's an opportunity for individuals to come in and seek
out assistance, information and resources about how to represent themselves
in court if they cannot hire an attorney.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
It's a full.
Speaker 4 (01:36):
Service center and it really has been a trend throughout
the state. But we rank pretty high, and I'm pretty
excited about that.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
What prompted you to run for this office?
Speaker 4 (01:49):
So after serving as the self Help Center manager and
come into the Clerk's office for that purpose, I brought
my horizon and had an opportunity to go through the
operations other other divisions within our Operations and Service division
manager like Family and Child Support and domestic Violence. Led
(02:12):
each of those areas, and then navigated upstairs to become
a member of the senior executive team. I now serve
as the General Council and Director of Legislative.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
Affairs, so I have it it's some insight.
Speaker 4 (02:26):
I have the opportunity to help make decisions in terms
of how we administrate and how we operate this organization
each and every day. And I also have the opportunity
to engage with our leaders, our legislative leaders, our judicial leaders.
And so when our existing clerk today decided to resign
(02:49):
to run for another seat for me because politics again
and is also not new, I felt like the opportunity
was right. I felt like when I looked around the landscape,
there was no better candidate to step up to lead
this organization than myself.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
What do you feel is the most important issue facing
our community and how would you address up affordability?
Speaker 4 (03:15):
I think right now, in terms of our community, we
are we're a metropolitan area now, right, And it wasn't
so long ago that we were not right, we called
ourselves a town, a community, you know, we referred to
our specific neighborhoods. Now our community is about three to
(03:36):
four county strong, if I can say that, and we
are growing at a very very fast paced and so
whereas governance sometimes is a little slow with infrastructure and
helping our residents to even even you know, when we
talk about transportation right and having a multimodal transportation system,
(04:00):
it is an opportunity I think for us to kind
of from a governance perspective, look across the landscape, right
and see what can we do to help residents because
we are in the middle of an affordability crisis. And
so what I'm running on for the Orange County Clerk,
of course, is how do we connect the community to
(04:21):
the courts?
Speaker 3 (04:22):
Right?
Speaker 4 (04:23):
That really is the threshold, That really is the high
level summary of what the Orange County Clerk's office or
any clerk's office does, is we are that gateway to
help the community access the courts. You have to come
through that threshold in order to have your.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
Opportunity to be heard.
Speaker 4 (04:41):
And so I want to make sure that when people
show up at the clerk's office, they're not showing up
in crisis because they're uninformed and they don't know what
to do or where to go. They show up inform
They know where the resources are, and so it helps
them navigate that space a little bit more.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
Well, have some navigate that space with a clear head.
Speaker 4 (05:02):
Right.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
Nobody really likes to come to the clerk's office, let me.
Speaker 4 (05:06):
Say that, but when you come, I want to make
sure that we're implementing programs and resources to help navigate
that and to help life be more affordable to help
life be In my opinion, it helped individuals to be
more responsive when they are in need.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
What would be.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
Your top three priorities one selected?
Speaker 4 (05:34):
So my first priority is when you lady talk about
how fast we're.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
Growing, that means we're diverse.
Speaker 4 (05:44):
This community is a very, very diverse community. And so
I want to implement a multi lingual navigator program, and
I want that program to work hand in hand with
our self help center. I want to make sure that
when individuals come to the courthouse, just because English is
(06:05):
a second language, that people don't feel disenfranchised. There is
someone to help you navigate this climate so that in
your language right and I want to start out with
two languages on the onset that is Spanish and Creole,
because I believe those populations are growing by leaps and
(06:28):
bounds as it relates to this particular community. And so
I'm pretty proud of that we've already implemented or we
we work hand in hand right now with court administration
for something similar for domestic violence. And because I am
intrically involved, I sit on the statewide Coalition for Domestic
(06:51):
Violence with the Office of State Courts, the Office of
State Court administration here in Florida, and so I'm pretty
excited about that. So I know the landscape and I
know how to implement that program.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
So that's priority number one. Priority number two.
Speaker 4 (07:11):
Is I want to start a text messaging notification program
for individuals to help remind them when they have certain
fines and fees do right. I would say this is firsthand.
I have a twenty seven year old, right, most of
us do. And they're not gonna blame it on the
(07:32):
young people totally. Everybody's you know, oh my god, my
license is suspended.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
I forgot.
Speaker 4 (07:40):
So put something some technological and you know, advancement into
these devices that we keep and carry everywhere that we
go to keep you reminded about what your obligation is.
And if you need to come in and get yourself
on a payment plan, then let's do that. But at
(08:02):
least you have that reminder to safeguard you from being
exposed to a suspension, which costs a lot more when
we're talking about affordability, right, because that's how people get
themselves in these crunches. Another priority of mine is, and
this goes to my base of my attorneys that are
out there, my peer group One of the things I've
(08:23):
heard from that peer group is, you know, I think
it's great what.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
You all are doing, but.
Speaker 4 (08:30):
I would like to see the attorney only customer service
line reinstated, because that's a different customer base. It's a
different customer base than the lay person, the resident calling
about maybe a traffic citation or calling for copies, and
the attorneys have different needs and different questions, and so
(08:52):
I'm going to reinstate that customer service line for our
attorney base.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
I think that's pretty important.
Speaker 4 (08:58):
I have a couple of other things that are contingent
upon legislation, and I'm working really closely with some legislators
to kind of talk through how can we better navigate
this affordability crisis, especially when it comes to keeping people housed.
So I'm pretty excited being sending around the table every
(09:21):
day making these decisions. I get an opportunity to see
what we do great at the clerk's office, but also
those things that we need to improve and those things
that I need to tackle on day one.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
So what would you like voters to know about you
that distinguishes you from the other candidates in this race?
Speaker 4 (09:39):
So I think this is important to note that the
clerk's office is a very complex constitutional office. Everything we
do at the clerk's office is outlined in statute, court
rule or an administrative order.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
This is a constitutional office.
Speaker 4 (09:56):
It's not only a government building and a government in office,
but it's also a member of the judicial branch.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
And so those relationships are important.
Speaker 4 (10:06):
And so on election day, August eighteenth, and there is
going to be one candidate on the ballot that is
a licensed attorney, just one asking to be your next
Orange County Clerk of Court.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
You need to say, announce me.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
And that's ROBERTA. Walton Johnson.
Speaker 4 (10:23):
Absolutely, there is one candidate on the ballot on August
eighteenth with any clerk, administrative or court operations experience on
the ballot, and that's ROBERTA. Walton Johnson. And so I
think that's pretty important. I think everybody touts I have experience,
(10:43):
and you know, and we're all over fifty on the ballot,
and so yes, we all have experience, lots of professional experience.
But it's not just about any experience. It's the right experience.
And I think it's pretty important to be able to
navigate what's happening at the courthouse, to be able to
understand what's happening around you, and to be able to
(11:04):
talk and communicate with our peer groups and our judicial stakeholders.
Right now, all of our judges are lawyers. Our state
Attorney is a lawyer, our Public Defender is a lawyer.
And I think it's important that we also elect someone
who understands how to lead this office and how to
speak like most people speak that are part of the
(11:27):
judicial branch.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
Roberta, would you like to give your website where people
can learn more?
Speaker 3 (11:31):
Absolutely?
Speaker 4 (11:32):
Again, I ask for voter support on election day, August eighteenth,
Roberta Walton Johnson for Orange County Clerk of Court. My
website if you'd like to learn or engage more with me,
is vote roberta dot com. It's very simple, Vote roberta
dot com. There you'll have an opportunity to read my
bio and my long list of endorsements of our trusted
(11:55):
local leaders.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
Roberta, it has been such a pleasure to meet you today. Again,
Roberta Walton Johnson running for Orange County Clerk of Courts.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
Thank you
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!