PEARSON v. RUNDLE

Now we are cooking with oil! 
In what was an open secret whispered  brazenly in the  hallways of the REGJB, Melba Pearson, a former ASA, has filed to run for State Attorney against Kathy Fernandez-Rundle. 

WLRN was one of the outlets that broke story here, choosing to run as an unflattering picture of KFR as they could find.  

Fernandez-Rundle, Janet Reno's handpicked successor (something we also hear drives her to distraction) has been State Attorney longer than some of her assistants have been out of diapers. 

Ms. Pearson- if you're listening- and we hope you are, here are some things you can challenge our State Attorney on. 

First and foremost- Why have your prosecutors abandoned their constitutional duties to seek justice when it comes to sentencing, and placed their recommendation solely and completely in the hands of victims???  
Judge: "This is a first offense car burglary. The twenty year old defendant is eligible for PTI"
Prosecutor: "Sorry judge, the victim wants the max five years in prison."  Rinse and repeat. Over and over Rundle and her minions abandon the trust placed in them by the people of Miami-Dade County to make the fair but unpopular decisions that prosecutors are supposed to make. They abandon their duties because Rundle quakes at the political and public relations problems with not kow-towing to a victim in a case. Shame on her. For that alone, she should be replaced. 

Second problem: Too many chiefs and not enough Indians. Want to get a copy of discovery? "Sorry judge, I spoke to my chief, who spoke to her chief, who is waiting to speak to his  chief before we can provide the defense with the a-form." 

How many prosecutors does it take to change a light bulb at the SAO?  One- and thirty four supervisors. 

The office is an administrative and bureaucratic nightmare, so designed to prevent independent thinking by a prosecutor. A line prosecutor pretty much has to have their voir dire questions approved before they can ask them. "Sugar in that coffee?" "Hang on, I have to get approval." 

Janet Reno, the two words KFR hates to hear,  trusted her prosecutors to make the correct decisions in court. Ms. Rundle doesn't trust them to sharpen a pencil without supervision and approval. Well, that's not really true. She doesn't trust them to get a pencil to use without approval. Sharpening it is a whole other set of supervisors who have to sign off on it. 

We call on Ms. Pearson to promise to hire smart, independent thinking prosecutors who can be trusted in court to make the dozens of decisions on cases every day, without seeking approval from a line of supervisors that stretches from the REGJB to Joes on Miami Beach, and back. ("Want some stone crabs from Joes for lunch?" "Hang on, I have to get approval.")

We will have more to say on this subject. But for now, to Ms. Pearson: welcome to the party. You have a real chance to be an agent for change.