Veterans, a Lighthouse and a Parade

I had the honor of addressing the Sarasota County Veteran's Commission this past week. Veterans face a variety of problems that can bring them into contact with the criminal justice system. About ten percent of the inmates in our local, state and nation correctional facilities are veterans according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. A recent study by the Rand Corporation estimates that about 20% of the veterans returning from Iraq or Afghanistan may be facing severe mental illness or suffering from head injuries. The Surgeon General of the Army, and the newly formed Pentagon center on brain injury are sending the message that seeking help is a sign of strength. At risk veterans need services before they come into contact with our courts. Judges and attorneys need information from veterans so that we can give better representation and make better decisions. And law enforcement and other first responders may need training on dealing with those suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. I hope to see many more veterans and the rest of our community when the new national cemetery has its groundbreaking on June 1, at 2:00 p.m. The cemetery is located on Clark Road (SR 72) about four miles east of the interstate. The Navy band will perform and it should be an exhilarating ceremony.

This past Saturday I participated in the "Be a Visionary" walk, at Sarasota Jungle Gardens, to benefit the Manasota Lighthouse. The Lighthouse provides services to visually impaired clients. A variety of doctors, staff, patients and benefactors gathered on a lovely morning. I was privileged to walk with Ruth Book, 87 years old, a spunky and intelligent companion, pictured with me above. Ruth educated me on many aspects of the challenges facing the visually impaired. I will say it again--the best part of campaigning is learning of all of the wonderful people and services in our area.

My walking was not complete, though, as I marched the entire length of the Heritage Day parade on Saturday evening. This is the biggest event of the year in Bradenton and an estimated crowd of 200,000 people lined the parade route. The Manatee County Democratic party sponsored a float. About 30 of us handed out 10,000 American flags to the spectators. We received an overwhelmingly positive reception along the way which makes me feel good about our prospects this November. Regina marched with me and we enjoyed a well deserved meal at Demetrios that evening.

I hope to see you this week as I attend the DeSoto Democratic banquet, the Manatee Bar Association beach party, and the performance of the Gulf Coast Community Choir on Sunday at the First United Methodist Church on Pineapple in Sarasota.

Campaigning on Planet Earth

This past weekend I visited a multitude of events focused on our natural environment. It is encouraging to see the business community catching up with consumer interest in reducing our impact upon the planet. On Friday I attended the Sarasota Area Realtors green exposition. Builders, retailers, landscapers and others provided us with education as to products and services that reduce energy consumption or chemical impacts. This was the first year for the Expo and it seemed to be a rousing success with a steady crowd throughout the day.

On Saturday there was a festival in North Port put on by the group "People for Trees." Dallas White park was a perfect place to attract a lot of families, and hundreds of free trees were distributed to those willing to attend a brief seminar. I then headed to the New Gate school which is located near the boundary of the Myakka River State Park. Again there were a variety of vendors with innovative products, musicians performing as the audience munched wholesome foods, and lots of kids enjoying themselves.

Oscar Sherer State Park hosted the big Earth Day celebration on Sunday. We arrived to set up around 9 am, just as a heavy rainstorm passed through the area. While the shower was brief, it left the trees filled with water that dripped on us throughout the day whenever a breeze came through. Our spirits were not damp, however, because the crowd increased throughout the day with people eager to see the exhibits, hear the performers, and talk politics. Now that my petitions are done, I don't need anything but conversation from passing voters. I have found that folks are very interested in our criminal justice system and eager to learn about how we can make justice work better.

Yesterday I attended the jail summit meeting that involved nearly every municipal or county official from Sarasota, North Port, Venice and Longboat Key. The criminal justice commission is proposing a Community Corrections Center be built to alleviate jail overcrowding. This center would focus more on rehabilitation and reintegration into the community for nonviolent offenders. The cost and location of this new facility remain undetermined. Perhaps later I will try and flesh out the issues surrounding this proposal in more detail. Meanwhile, I have my own campaign to attend to. I will address the Sarasota County Veteran's Commission this Thursday, April 24th, at 1:00 p.m., and you can watch my presentation live on Comcast channel 19 if you live in Sarasota.

Public Defenders Help Protect Us All

Last week I was busy giving talks throughout the area. I spoke at my fundraiser on Bird Key, at a televised "debate" with one of my opponents, Ron Filipkowski, at a candidates forum sponsored by the Democratic Executive Committee, to a Rotary club at El Conquistador in south-west Manatee county, to the North River Democratic Club in Parrish, and to a hundred or so people at the Sarasota Democratic Club. What am I usually talking about?

I typically begin by telling the story of Clarence Gideon, as most people are unaware that the right to court appointed counsel in criminal cases is of relatively recent vintage. (To watch me tell this story, go to my main web-page at www.Adam4pd.info ) It is important to remember that our country was founded on the principle that individual rights must always be respected by the government. But it is one thing to have these rights and an entirely different matter to give these rights meaning. If you are charged with a crime, the charging document reads “The State of Florida” versus YOU and that is exactly what it feels like. The government has essentially unlimited investigative resources that it can marshal to build its case, but the individual citizen may have no resources at all. This is where the Public Defender comes in.

The supreme job of the Public Defender is to stand up for the individual client, to represent their interests, and to let others do the judging. The Public Defender must above all be client centered and be willing to stand next to the individual that the rest of the world has already condemned. For if you do not, if the Public Defender judges his or her client, if the Public Defender marches in lockstep with the government, then this is how wrongful convictions happen and this is how the liberties and freedoms of us all are eroded.

In the past decade, we have all become aware of the problem of wrongful convictions. We have seen one big case after another where people have been convicted of the most serious crimes imaginable in our society and served years in prison, only to have it later discovered that they were innocent all along. We feel for the individual and the lost time that can never be given back to them, but these stories also shake our confidence in our very system of justice. For do we truly protect public safety when we have a rush to judgment that results in a wrongful conviction and means that the real perpetrator is never apprehended? Of course not, which is why we as citizens should always be skeptical, and maintain the attitude of “prove it.”

Perhaps the finest quote ever about Public Defenders came from Judge Gersten in a Florida case from 1991. He said:

"Public Defenders stand alone, armed only with their wits, training and dedication. Inspired by their client's hope, faith and trust, they are the warriors and valkyries of those desperately in need of a champion. Public Defenders, by protecting the downtrodden and the poor, shield against the infringement of our protections, and in reality, protect us all."

Feed the Frog!

The toughest part of a political campaign is fundraising. I think most people, including myself, are reluctant to ask others for money. But my race for Public Defender covers three large counties that have a combined total of over 450,000 voters. We haven't had a Public Defender election in this circuit since 1976 and therefore many people are not aware that they will be voting for this office. And while I have worked hard over the past twenty-three years to earn a solid reputation for vigorous and professional work, we have a host of new residents who have never heard of me or the job. If want to be elected, I am going to have raise a significant amount of money just to address basic voter education about this race.

A few weeks ago, Ambassador Leidel held a small fundraiser for me at the Landings. His delightful wife Bev brought out a wire frog with a gaping mouth to be used to collect contributions. At the end of the evening, Bev presented Regina and I with the frog to use for future events. This past weekend, Bob and Suzanne Atwell hosted a fundraiser for me at their lovely home on Bird Key. It had been a wet weekend in Sarasota and there was an 80% chance of rain for Sunday. The reception was scheduled from 5-7 and I must confess that I said a little prayer that the rain would hold off until 7:30. Fortunately, whatever the reason, the deluge waited until after most of the guests had come and gone. I am delighted to report that it was a huge success. Over one hundred people turned out for shrimp, cheese, drinks and to hear me speak. As you can see from the above picture, the frog was filled to capacity. Thank you to everyone who made the event a success, including the Atwells, my host committee, the Sarasota Democratic Party, and to my guests. If you would like to help "feed the frog," please visit my main web-page at www.Adam4pd.info, as I am now set up to take online contributions.

I have been speaking a lot lately and I have a major address at the Sarasota Democratic Club on Saturday, April 12. Each time I get the opportunity to talk, I learn something from the experience. I have been speaking about the Consitution, the relationship between the citizen and their government, the history of the Public Defender's Office, our local criminal justice system, and the success of the Drug Court program. I am trying to engage my audience to enter into a conversation about criminal justice so that together we can decide our priorities. I have been receiving excellent and thoughtful questions from people that cause me to constantly seek out additional knowledge so as to be better prepared to answer. I believe that campaigning should be a dynamic experience where I learn as much about the community as they learn about me. So if you see me out on the trail, do not hesitate to let me know what is on your mind. Of if you belong to a club or church or neighborhood association that would like to know more about criminal justice, please get in touch with me with an e-mail to Adam@Adam4pd.info and I will be happy to come visit.

Four thousand, six hundred and fifty two

That was the number of signed petitions that I needed from the citizens of DeSoto, Manatee and Sarasota counties in order to qualify for the ballot. The deadline was yesterday, March 31, 2008, and it looks like we made it with room to spare. Let me tell you, this was not an easy process to complete. For starters, these petitions are a little complicated and require a date, an address and a date of birth or voter registration number in order to be validated. Some people are a little leery of signing, and others have illegible handwriting. The Supervisor of Elections in each county has to validate each petition and will quite properly disqualify those not up to par.

Regina and I started collecting petitions in October. Our first big event was “E-Fest” where we collected almost 150 during the afternoon. We continued our work until January, when we realized that despite our efforts we were not quite half way home, and that time was running out. Fortunately, there are a lot of wonderful people and clubs throughout our tri-county area. On January 29, the day of the primary election, there were folks at almost every precinct in the region collecting petitions. The Democratic Clubs in Venice, North Port, Sarasota and Anna Maria Island went to work. The Manatee and Sarasota Democratic Executive Committees encouraged their members to help. And people used the power of the Internet to encourage others to download, sign my petition and send them to me. Pretty soon it was like Christmas at my home as my mailbox filled up with envelopes from voters I have not yet met. I would like to thank every single citizen who signed, and would like to especially thank all the volunteers who made this possible. Thanks to your efforts this will save my campaign a filing fee of over nine thousand dollars.

We had an excellent week in addition to the petitions. Perhaps our favorite event was attending the Parrish Heritage day parade. A small rural community in northeast Manatee County, Parrish finds itself increasingly surrounded by development. Along the parade route were small signs that read “Save Parrish.” People were very friendly and in a good mood as we watched the Lakewood Ranch Marching band, a contingent from the Southeast Guide Dogs, and a bevy of golf carts, firefighters and children with beads.

I also enjoyed my visit to the Spring Festival at Palmer Ranch to benefit the Child Protection Center. A large crowd enjoyed bands, vendors and classic cars on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. On Sunday we attended the annual concert “Give Hunger the Blues” on Hillview Street behind Sarasota Memorial. Then it was off to the opening ceremony for the “Embracing Our Differences” at Island Park. Large posters contain colorful artwork and meaningful quotations, most of which have been provided by area students. Let me also thank the great students at the beautiful Venice campus of Manatee Community College who turned out for my lectures there last week, the people of North Port who turned out for the “meet and greet” Saturday night, and the Longboat Key Democratic Club for the fun party on Sunday.

One of my major fundraisers for this campaign will be held this Sunday, April 6 on Bird Key. If you would like to attend, or make a contribution, please check out my newly revamped webpage at www.Adam4pd.info. I have added a lot of photos, video and an events page so that you can keep up with my activities. Drop me a line at Adam@Adam4pd.info if you would like further information.