If former prosecutor Jeff Ashton, one of two candidates in the race for the Orange-Osceola County State Attorney’s Office appeared lonely as he sat alone on the stage Tuesday night at the 2012 Election Community Conversation, it wasn’t apparent.
Ashton wasted no time in firing away at his opponent and incumbent Lawson Lamar who was invited to participate, but declined to do so. Rumor has it that, Lamar’s life has been threatened by members of the White Supremacist movement and so, he won’t be visible at many debate fora. In attendance at last evening’s community conversation was Alan Byrd, a surrogate of Lamar’s.
Ashton said he is running for State Attorney because Lamar is out of touch with all the communities served by the office and has grown complacent, as he has been unchallenged for 24 years. He believes that the office is too vitally important and ought to be far more responsive to the needs of communities. And should he be successful, Ashton has big plans for overhauling and changing its culture.
Within his first six months, Ashton wants to bring various stakeholders together to re-think how the office functions. “I have ideas of my own, but I want to hear from other people on how can we do this better. Let’s talk about it, let’s figure this out. We can do a better job,” he said.
Ashton charged that under Lamar’s tenure, he has micro-managed the office and has failed in motivating lawyers to make good judgments on the basis of what is best for the county.
“Lawyers can’t be bureaucrats,” a passionate Ashton said. “Bureaucrats are trained not to care. Lawyers need to care… we need to care about doing the right thing.”
According to Ashton, “Mr. Lamar loves to use the word “predator” and he likes to say he has sent more people to prison than any of the other State Attorneys in the entire State of Florida. I think that’s a failure.”
Moderators of the 2012 Election Community Conversation radio personality Monica May and Allie Braswell, President of the Central Florida Urban League, lamented the fact that Lamar was not present and many in attendance took the view that the community was poorer for it.
But Lamar’s absence did nothing to inhibit Ashton from putting forth his views of how the State Attorney’s Office is currently run.
Asked what he would do, if elected, to eliminate the overcharging of crimes which seems to be a pattern of the office, Ashton responded:
“Simply by telling lawyers that they are to charge that which they believe they can prove and have a reasonable probability of proving in court. It’s a very simple idea. Every crime has elements,” he said. He added that many times cases are dismissed by judges even before they get to a jury because, “they simply aren’t crimes.”
Ashton holds the philosophy that every case – whether adult or juvenile — ought to be looked at on its own merits. He doesn’t believe in the automatic granting of Pre-Disposition Reports, meaning in the case of juveniles they automatically go into a program without the offer of probation, community service or an alternative sentence.
“I am not a big believer in bureaucratic policies that dictate resolution of cases,” he said. “Every case needs to be looked at and in this case, we must ask the question, ‘What’s the best way to get this child back on the road of being a productive person you want him or her to be’?”
Asked about the much-talked about ‘Stand Your Ground’ Law and whether it is being used in the manner its intended, Ashton said it is not. He believes the law “encourages the resolution of disputes by violence in the streets.” The law, as it existed for 200 years before the change, “adequately protected victims in the use of deadly force,” he said to loud applause.
Ashton closed his presentation by asking rhetorically whether voters are satisfied with the current functioning of the State Attorney’s Office.
“Are you satisfied with the State Attorney’s Office? Are you safe enough? Is the State Attorney’s Office responsive to your needs or a distant foreign body which affects you without attention, without contact?,” he asked. “We can be better, we can be safer….”
“Mr. Lamar’s only claim to fame is what he says, ‘I put more people in prison than everybody else’,” Ashton reminded.
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.
Jeff, thank you for answering my questions about juvenile plea agreements. I appreciate you taking the time to listen and respond so well to questions from those of us that work for the defense. I have to say, I was impressed.
[…] 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. […]