Former prosecutor, Jeff Ashton running to become the next State Attorney for Orange-Osceola County will face off against incumbent Lawson Larmar in a live debate Tuesday night from the University of Central Florida. The Debate will be from 7-8 p.m. and could be viewed on News 13.
The encounter between Ashton and Lamar promises to be a lively one.
Ashton has charged that Lamar is out of touch with all communities and that the State Attorney’s Office is not well run. He believes that the Office needs to be far more responsive to communities’ needs. Should he be elected, Ashton has plans for overhauling and changing its culture.
Ashton said recently Lamar’s only claim to fame after 24 years in Office is that, he has sent more people to prison than any of the other State Attorneys in Florida. “I think that’s a failure,” he said.
Lamar, for his part has said, he is running on his record. He has touted his leadership ability and experience having held the office for more than two decades. As in the past, Lamar is expected to highlight the decline in juvenile violent crimes and the merits of the Office’s pre-trial diversion program. The matter of Orange-Osceola County’s low conviction rates will be, no doubt, a topic of hot debate.
Lamar will face Ashton in a Democratic primary set for August 14, 2012. The winner of that race determines who will be the next State Attorney for the next four years.
