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Democratic Attorney General Primary about Experience, Not Issues

August 4, 2010 -- The Democratic primary for state Attorney General is not a race about stark differences over legal issues. In fact, candidates Dan Gelber and Dave Aronberg share many of the same opinions, which is forcing them into questions of politics and experience to try to differentiate themselves.

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Aronberg and Gelber are both state senators from south Florida, and both are lawyers who have worked as government prosecutors.

Like many Democrats, they disagree with Republican Attorney General Bill McCollum's challenge to the federal health care overhaul, which will require people to have health coverage.

"We're going to end this lawsuit, which is a political lawsuit,” Aronberg said recently. “It's frivolous. It's only being done because Bill McCollum wants to play to his partisan political base."

Both candidates promise to eliminate political considerations in the Attorney General's office and said the Attorney General should focus on public safety and consumer protection. They specifically excluded immigration as part of that public safety agenda, however.

"I don't think you want, in a state with such a high violent crime rate, to give a mission to our front-line police to start asking people for [immigration] papers,” Gelber said. “It's only going to invite racial profiling, and I think it's not the kind of thing that police should be doing."

Gelber and Aronberg criticized McCollum for getting involved in the federal government's lawsuit against Arizona, which passed a law last year that allows police to ask suspected illegal immigrants for identification. McCollum filed a brief supporting Arizona's law.

The candidates also support a recent lower-court decision that the state's ban on adoption by gays and lesbians is unconstitutional. Both said they would not further defend the ban in court.

"You represent the state. Your job is not simply and merely to win, it's to do right,” Gelber said. “If I thought a law was unconstitutional, like the gay adoption ban, I would say so in court rather than advance a position I believe to be disingenuous."

“There are laws that you may have to defend that you disagree with, but on this one, I think this one is so out of bounds,” Aronberg said. “It's the only one of its kind in the country."

So many similarities might leave voters wondering how to make a decision in the Aug. 24 primary. Gelber and Aronberg each suggested experience is the difference.

“I'm the only one in this race who's actually worked in the AG's office,” Aronberg said.

He said the Attorney General’s office is Gelber’s second choice, pointing to Gelber’s initial plan to run for U.S. Senate before he switched races last summer.

"You can't do this job correctly if your eyes are always on some other office, if you're always looking for the next political position on your way up," Aronberg said.

"My opponent is really a very inexperienced lawyer,” Gelber said. He argued his decade as a federal prosecutor makes him a better fit for the job.

“He spent about 20 months himself as an assistant AG,” Gelber said. “I think most of the time he was actually running for office, so I don't think he's ever tried a single case to a jury."

One potential case that has become front and center in this campaign is Florida v. BP.

Aronberg said Gelber might be unable to represent the state because his former law firm is now working for the oil giant. Gelber contended he was never involved with BP and resigned shortly after he found out his firm had been hired.

 

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