Long-time former prosecutor facing State Attorney Ed Brodsky in Republican primary
Long-time former prosecutor Lisa Chittaro will face off against her former boss, State Attorney Ed Brodsky, in Tuesday’s Republican primary.
The winner will face Democrat Betsy Young in November’s general election.
Brodsky first took office in 2013, after winning the election to replace long-time State Attorney Earl Moreland. He had been Moreland’s second-in-command in Manatee County.
Chittaro was one of Brodsky’s biggest supporters during that election and later supported him again in 2016. However, she said she began to see a shift in how the office was being managed, prompting her to leave in 2017.
Now running her own private practice focusing on criminal defense, Chittaro said she hopes to bring objectivity, transparency and accountability should she be elected state attorney.
“The role of the state attorney’s office is to seek justice. I plan to do that,” Chittaro said.
Throughout this latest reelection bid, Brodsky has held to his “tough of crime” stance, touting a reduction in crime.
“I believe that I have been a good steward to the office,” Brodsky said. “We have been responsive to the needs of law enforcement. We have been responsive to the needs of the community.”
But Chittaro is calling his record into question with concerns about how he is managing the circuit’s pre-trial diversion program, including fees from the program.
“I find it quite troubling that the state attorney has resorted to negative personal attacks on me when he has an indefensible record of releasing criminal illegal aliens back into the community and has created a sanctuary city,” Chittaro said.
She says she knows of at least 30 examples of defendants who have been allowed to go through the program and then went on to commit more serious offenses before being deported by ICE, naming Omar Navis as one example.
At the same time, Chitarro says that the rights of defendants in the very program are being trampled..
“There’s a lack of transparency of where the money is going,” Chittaro said. “It gives the appearance they are buying out of criminal charges.”
It’s something she’s referred to as “cash-register justice” throughout the campaign and says she hopes to end.
Her former boss has raised $171,937.16 and earned the endorsements of local law enforcement, while Chittaro has raised $24,880and earned the endorsement of the National Rifle Association.
Brodsky cites the expansion of the drug court program, creation of the veterans court program and creation of specialty units within his office as accomplishments he would like to build on.
“I think we have to continue to address drug addiction, mental health and alternatives to incarceration,” Brosky said. “What we see is in a significant number of folks incarcerated not just in our area, but across our state and across our country. We have a lot of folks that come in with drug addiction, alcohol addiction and mental issues.”
Brodsky said he would like to focus on addressing the root of those struggling with mental illness or addictions turn to crime.
“When we address the root cause of what is causing them to commit crimes, we can solve multiple problems,” Brodsky said, which include those individuals being able to maintain stable employment and housing.
Shortly after he took office, Chittaro was selected by Brodsky to lead a unit that prosecuted white collar crime, crimes against the elderly and felony animal abusecase . Chittaro was leading that unit when she left the prosecutor’s office after more than 15 years.
Ultimately Brodsky feels he is the right man for the job, claiming neither of his opponents have any management experience outside of running their own private practices.
Chittaro responded: “The role of the state attorney is to be a prosecutor, not a bureaucrat, not a politician.”
This story was originally published August 16, 2020 at 7:00 AM.
