State Attorney Ed Brodsky’s challengers promise to bring trust and diversity to office
State Attorney Ed Brodsky’s challengers Lisa Chitarro and Betsy Young both hope to bring more trust, diversity and accountability should they win office. Brodsky says those qualities already exist.
Incumbent Brodsky is running to hold his seat as the top prosecutor in the 12th Judicial Circuit, which is comprised of Manatee, Sarasota and DeSoto counties.
He faced his Rebublican challenger Chittaro in the Aug. 18 Republican primary. The winner will face Democrat Young in the Nov. 3 general elections.
The three appeared in an hour-long private debate before the Manatee Tiger Bay Club on Thursday.
“Moving forward, I think I continue my commitment to being tough on crime,” Brodsky said when asked about his priorities should he remain in office.
Brodsky cited what he said is a 54 percent reduction in crime since he’s been in office.
“We go after those that commit elder exploitation, white-collar crime. We go after those that are committing violent crimes, that are career criminals. We go after those that go harm animals and those that prey on our children sexually,” Brodsky said.
Chittaro was the prosecutor Brodsky appointed to lead a newly created division in Manatee County in 2013 to focus on white-collar crime, elder abuse and animal abuse. She left the state attorney’s office in 2017 when she said she didn’t like the direction the office was headed.
If elected, one of Chittaro said one of her biggest priorities would be to create a investigative division within the state attorney’s office, a practice common in other circuits, to supplement and assist law enforcement as well as handle cases dealing with public corruption.
It’s an idea that Young agrees with, she said, but she disagrees in how it should be set up. Young thinks the division should incorporate members from other law enforcement agencies.
“I also think there needs to be more proactive prosecution, not reactive prosecution,” Chittaro said.
Chittaro cited the Ryan Flanzer case in Sarasota, in which Brodsky’s office case gave the well-connected man a favorable plea deal after he was charged with firing several rounds into an empty apartment unit in May 2018, as well as the Sheena Morris case, which his office reopened 11 years later after the 22-year-old woman’s death on New Year’s Day in 2009 in Bradenton Beach.
Young said her version of the division would focus on violent crimes, complex crimes and high-level exploitation.
“The other thing I want to do is make sure we are realizing the potential and promise of Marsey’s Law,” Young said. “We see that victims are being left behind by the current State Attorney’s Office and that is something that would be a priority of mine.”
Both women said they would bring diversity to the state attorney’s office. But Brodsky said if people compared his office to law firms and legal organizations in the area, they would see how diverse the state attorney’s office is.
“I would say that we have to be the most diverse law firm in our region,” he said. “We strongly believe in diversity, making sure there are no racial prejudices in prosecutions and criminal justice system starts at home with us.”
