Shaw would put people over politics
When state Rep. Sean Shaw entered the Democratic primary for Florida attorney general, the Republican Attorneys General Association issued this warning:
“There should be no doubt, Shaw would join progressive Democrats across America as an activist attorney general — legislating through the court at every turn.” To which we say, bring it on.
During her nearly eight years in office, Pam Bondi has been perhaps Florida’s worst attorney general. Rather than use her chief law enforcement officer post to help the public, Bondi has largely used it to promote a right-wing Republican agenda.
Bondi relentlessly fought to uphold Florida’s ban on gay marriage. She enthusiastically voted to make Florida the hardest state for ex-felons to regain their civil rights. Her lawsuit against the Affordable Care Act, if successful, would end protections for people with pre-existing conditions.
Bondi sided with polluters in suing to block cleanup of Chesapeake Bay – hundred of miles from Florida. She was slow to join the lawsuit against BP following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. And not until last May did she finally file a lawsuit against the makers and distributors of prescription painkillers, despite the yearslong toll that opioid abuse has taken on Florida.
Most notably, Bondi refused to file a lawsuit against Trump University after the Donald J. Trump Foundation donated $25,000 to an organization supporting her 2014 re-election campaign. New York’s “activist” attorney general, by contrast, secured a $25 million settlement for those who said they had been defrauded.
Now Bondi wants to choose her successor – Ashley Moody, who won the Republican primary. Bondi endorsed Moody early, which surely helped her defeat an opponent who spent $3.5 million of his own money. Jeffrey Siskind is also on the ballot as a No Party Affiliation candidate.
Moody has qualifications. She worked for the respected, Tampa-based firm Holland & Knight and served as a federal prosecutor in Florida before being elected a Hillsborough County Circuit judge in 2006.
Despite her credentials, Moody shares too much of Bondi’s ideology, which has damaged Florida long enough. She believes the Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional, though the U.S. Supreme Court has said otherwise.
Moody opposes the constitutional amendment that would allow automatic restoration of rights for felons (except those convicted of murder or sexual assault) who have paid their debt to society. The amendment has wide support from liberal and conservative groups.
Though Moody pledges to wage a “databased attack on the opioid epidemic gripping our state,” she lists that priority sixth among issues on her campaign website. Ranking higher are the Second Amendment, the “rule of law” and protecting “the rights of the unborn.”
Moody has the right resume, but the wrong approach. However good a lawyer and judge she is, Moody would be the wrong kind of attorney general.
Like Moody, Shaw has deep roots in Florida. His father, Leander Shaw, is a former justice on the Florida Supreme Court. He is a former state insurance consumer advocate. His law practice consists mostly of going after insurance companies. So it’s easy to see why Moody has raised $4.2 million compared to Shaw’s $1.7 million. Shaw would be an attorney general more in the mold of activist Bob Butterworth, who served from 1986 until 2002. Butterworth’s highlight was his work on the tobacco lawsuit that brought the state $11.3 billion.
Shaw promises to challenge the Legislature’s poor funding of public schools — something that has led 19 counties to ask voters to raise local property taxes this fall.
He would push adherence to Amendment 1, approved by voters to set aside more state money for land and water conservation.
He would end the effort to undermine the Affordable Care Act, including its protection for people with pre-existing conditions.
He would push for tougher gun control laws and support the repeal of Florida’s dangerous “Stand Your Ground” law.
He would hold pharmaceutical companies responsible for their role in the opioid epidemic.
He would prosecute hate crimes and workplace discrimination.
He would pursue those who commit fraud and identity theft.
He would fight to implement the consitutional amendment that legalized medical marijuana, including the smokable kind.
He would push the automatic restoration of civil rights to felons who’ve served their time.
He would fight to preserve public access to government records and meetings, as the Florida Attorney General’s office once did.
He would protect the integrity of Florida’s elections and monitor the next redistricting, which happens in 2022. The Florida League of Women Voters spent a lot of money challenging the Republican map-drawing in 2012, a case that resulted in new congressional and Florida Senate districts being drawn. Bondi’s office should have brought that challenge.
“If (the League) had not brought their cause of action, the Legislature's unconstitutional, gerrymandered redistricting plan would have remained in place, and this offense to Florida's Constitution and the basic foundation of our democracy would have gone unchallenged,” wrote Florida Supreme Court Justice Barbara Pariente.
In its email, the Republican Attorneys General Association said, “Florida deserves an attorney general who defends the rule of law, protects its citizens and champions opportunity for every person.”
We agree. And the candidate who best fits that profile is Sean Shaw.
Editorials are the opinion of the Sun Sentinel Editorial Board and written by one of its members or a designee. The Editorial Board consists of Editorial Page Editor Rosemary O'Hara, Andy Reid and Editor-in-Chief Julie Anderson.