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Dan and Dave Visit The Panhandle
The two top Democratic candidates for Attorney General speak out
On Wednesday, Nov. 11, the top Democratic candidates for Florida Attorney General, Dan Gelber and Dave Aronberg, were in Pensacola for a candidate forum at Booker T. Washington High School and to garner support from the local Dems. Both state senators stopped by the Independent News office at separate times to discuss their campaigns.
Aronberg, 38, is a Miami native. He graduated from Harvard College with a degree in Government and from Harvard Law School. As an attorney, Aronberg worked closely with then-Florida Insurance Commissioner Bill Nelson to investigate European insurance companies that refused to honor World War II-era policies sold to victims of the Holocaust. In 1999, Aronberg became an Assistant Florida Attorney General for economic crimes. Aronberg was elected to the Florida Senate in 2002 and is its youngest member. He will complete his third term in 2010.
Gelber, 49, grew up on Miami Beach. He has a BA from Tufts University and a Juris Doctorate from University of Florida College of Law. At age 25, he was appointed as one of the youngest federal prosecutors in the nation. Ten years later, Gelber was selected by U.S. Sen. Senator Sam Nunn (D-Georgia) to be Chief Counsel and Staff Director of the U.S. Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations where he directed U.S. Senate investigations into global terrorism and weapons of mass destruction. He served in the Florida House of Representatives from 2000 to 2008, when he was elected to the Florida Senate.
IN: Why are you running for Attorney General?Aronberg: I am going back where I came from. I knew I wanted to be AG as soon as I set foot in the office working for Bob Butterworth (Florida Attorney General, 1987-2002). I think the AG can bring real change to Florida.
Gelber: I have the skill set for it. I have 25 years that set me up for this job. I feel I have a substantial amount more law enforcement than the others. I think people view that as part of the job and it is part of the job.
IN: What do you see as the role of the Attorney General?
Aronberg: It's Florida's shame that we continue to lead the country in consumer fraud and economic fraud. I think it's Florida's shame that young people continue to die every year from prescription drug abuse. These are two things that the AG has continually ignored.
People forget that we used to have an AG that was cutting edge. Remember it was Florida that took on tobacco, and Ford Explorers. It was the Florida AG who took on the hotel in Daytona Beach for discriminating against African-Americans. Florida used to be a leader in consumer protection and civil rights, now we are a follower. There is no innovation.
Gelber: I do believe have people have a fatigue in Tallahassee and everyday I think people believe they don't have anyone looking out for them. We've got a pension fund that has been under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Where has the AG been?
In the South, we have had a tradition of AGs that are strictly pro consumer and I'll put my reputation against anyone regarding this. There's no reason we aren't originating the cases instead of just hoping that some other state has the same problem.
IN: How do you believe your experience is an advantage?
Aronberg: I am the only one who has actually worked in the AG office. I've worked for the federal government where I was one of 15 White House Fellows and served as a special assistant to the Secretary of the Treasury Department for international money laundering.
I've been a senator longer than any other candidate in this race, so I'm ready. I also know what it's like to run in red areas (his senate district is primarily Republican). I'm running a 67-county race and I know what it's like to get elected in counties like Escambia and Santa Rosa.
Gelber: I feel like people are looking for experience in law enforcement and legal experience, which are really the two parts of the job. I spent nearly a decade as a federal prosecutor in Washington, one of the largest offices in the nation, and worked my way up to be the top deputy in the office. I did public records cases, drug cases, gang cases, all the run-of-the-mill cases you do in South Florida.
I'm the only one who can come in and say I've managed thousands of cases. I also asked by U. S. Sen. Sam Nunn to run the Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations and spent several years running that committee which is an elite group of attorneys.
IN: If elected, on what issues will you focus as Attorney General?
Aronberg: My focus will be consumer fraud and public safety. I also to make gangs a priority. It's an issue throughout Florida, including in Escambia County. Another issue is prescription drug abuse. Nine people die a day from this but most of our focus is on illegal drug abuse. We need to get rid of the "pill mills" that are nothing more than legal drug dealers owned in many cases by ex-felons.
As a state senator, I've been focused on identity theft, gangs, Chinese drywall, prescription drug abuse, sex offenders. These are the issues that need to be the focus of the AG, and these have been the issues I've been focused on my entire career.
Gelber: My wife is a fellow prosecutor in South Florida. I have friends who are prosecutors. Everybody in my family are prosecutors. There is more economic crime in Florida than anywhere. I think the AG has to be very aggressive in this. One of the jobs the AG has to do is advocate more resources for this.
I'll find a way to go after corrupt public officials. Florida has more charged public officials than any other state in the union.
I'll also do things a little bit different. I'll sue the Florida Legislature for not funding our public schools. I don't think the lawmakers are complying with the state constitution when it comes to adequately funding Florida's schools. I intend to be very aggressive.
