In race for Public Defender, Republican candidates spar over who's more conservative
A debate on a Highlands County radio station between defense attorney Blair Allen and her opponent, Christopher Desrochers, turned contentious during several turns on air.
The outspoken Desrochers, a Winter Haven attorney, said he was a conservative Republican (as did Allen), and he assailed his opponent for being a member of the NAACP as evidence she is a left-wing liberal.
The radio show was on the D&D Live show for NewsTalk WWTK 730AM in Sebring on July 22. The candidates for the Public Defender's Office were moderated by on-air hosts Don Elwell and Daniel F. “Dan” Andrews.
Desrochers waited until the end of the show to drop the mic on his opponent’s NAACP membership.
He also ruffled the feathers of his opponent during the debate by suggesting the Public Defender’s Office needs a chaplain, which may cross the separation of church in the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause.
Similar comments by candidates for national and state elected offices have been referred to as dog whistles to their ardent supporters, including MAGA voters.
Both candidates seek to occupy the seat of retiring Public Defender Rex Dimmig.
The Public Defender’s Office defends the indigent, mentally ill and homeless, among others unable to afford a private attorney. A defense attorney is expected to ensure the defendant’s rights are maintained in court proceedings against them and seek equal justice for their clients.
The Public Defender’s Office for the 10th Judicial Circuit serves defendants in Polk, Highlands and Hardee counties.
Florida House: Meet the four Republican candidates for the open District 49 seat in Polk
The race will be decided on Aug. 20 as Polk County voters take to the polls. Early, in-person voting starts on Saturday, though many Polk County voters already have their mail-in ballots.
The contest is a universal election, meaning all registered voters with any party affiliation will be able to vote for either candidate.
Both candidates were provided with similar questions to answer, and the following is a summary of their responses.
Blair Allen
Allen, who has worked as a public servant throughout her career, was born and raised in Lakeland. In her first year, she worked at the State Attorney’s Office and she has worked for 16 years as a trial attorney for the Public Defender’s Office.
She has covered cases in the criminal, appellate and administrative divisions within the office. She has also served as a felony trial chief, which includes supervising other attorneys as well as maintaining her own case load.
If elected, Allen, 43, of Lakeland would be the first woman to lead the Public Defender’s Office. In a phone interview, she said she wanted to run a positive campaign and would have liked the chance to respond to her opponent’s remarks on the show. She said his statements raised alarm bells for her.
She said this election comes at a time when the political climate is more volatile than it might have been in past election cycles. Though she realizes that political views can be expressed in a partisan contest such as the public defender race, unlike nonpartisan judicial elections.
“To me, the Public Defender represents everyone,” she said. "That includes both of the main parties and other affiliations and even non-registered voters because public defenders represent defendants from all walks of life.
“So I always want to make people feel included and that they can trust me,” she said, adding that, yes, she is a member of the NAACP.
Florida House Six Republicans contend for chance to take open seat in Florida House District 48
“When a candidate makes certain statements that are exclusionary, that concerns me,” Allen said. She added she does not want the race to become “over-politicized because that is not what we are about.”
During the radio show, Desrochers launched another missile, saying he wanted a chaplain hired in his Public Defender’s Office if elected. He said a religious leader would be good for helping attorneys in the office with their mental health.
Allen responded after the show via email, saying, “He insinuated that our office employees and staff cope with stress by self-medicating with drugs or alcohol in his statements, including he 'want[s] them to turn to real help, instead of a bartender or a drug dealer.'"
Desrochers was quoted saying this at Vote411.org, which is why he says he wants to hire a chaplain, Allen said. “He should not have said that about myself or my co-workers, who are the most diligent and selfless people I know. His words are false, baseless, and hurtful.”
She said that office staff are all enrolled in the State of Florida’s Employee Assistance Program, which provides free counseling services 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to all state employees.
“Mr. Desrochers owes every member of my office an apology,” Allen said. “It is unclear how he would be able to professionally work with the office staff when he repeatedly makes unprofessional statements.
Christopher Desrochers
While Desrochers does have years of experience defending clients in criminal cases in federal and state courts, the lion’s share of his work has been in civil cases. Still, his criminal practice represents at least 35% of his cases.
He started a private practice straight out of law school and has practiced law for 31 years as a sole practitioner. He compared such experience to being a CEO for a corporation and said the Public Defender’s Office is like a midsized corporation.
“In the business world, I’m the one who writes the checks. I’m the one who hires and fires the people,” he said.
“As the public defender, you're basically the CEO of a large law firm or a midsized corporate firm, and that has a lot of management responsibilities along with it and a lot of management accounting, fiscal accounting and a lot of going out and trying to find money just like the business world does,” he said.
Desrochers said he would be more businesslike as the head of the Public Defender’s Office and was critical of the current administration. He considered Dimmig’s management style as more like “running on autopilot.”
He said reorganization and restructuring of businesses are part of his civil practice, so he would seek to use that experience if elected to create a more efficient agency of criminal defense lawyers for the impoverished.
At a glance: Polk County School Board elections: See our stories, read their answers
While Allen is a trial lawyer, she has some experience in government bureaucratic service. Differentiating himself, Desrochers said being a bureaucrat is not necessarily a prerequisite for the post.
“My opponent likes to say she’s been in every division. .... Unfortunately, she’s not in the leadership circle,” he said.
Desrochers said that Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd told him the Public Defender’s Office was not working to release inmates locked up beyond the 60-day sentence for a second-degree misdemeanor charge. And under Allen, who is the Felony Division 6 chief, the defense attorneys are given too many cases, often more than 130-at one time.
What brand of conservative?
Both agreed their party affiliation would be beneficial to the office, with Allen saying it would be easier to ask the Republican Florida Legislature for funding to continue the work of the public defender.
Desrochers said that not all Republicans are the same, that a majority of judges in the circuit are conservative, and he was a “real conservative,” which meant he could reach the “viewpoints” of judges during proceedings because he knows how they think.
“Because of that, I can tone my arguments in a way that reaches their viewpoint, the way they think,” he said. “It doesn’t mean they are going to agree with me 100% of the time, but at least they are willing to listen.”
Allen called her experience protecting the individual freedom of defendants a conservative approach. She said it is ensuring that government is not intruding on the rights of individuals to have a fair trial and other rights promised in the Fourth Amendment, such as protections from unreasonable search and seizures, including electronic data.
“So we do stand up for real conservative values even as a public defender,” she said.
When asked how she can defend criminals, she said, “I explain to them, I don’t defend criminals, I defend our Constitution.”
Typically quiet The election for Polk Property Appraiser in 2024 has gotten hot
She added that under the Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, everyone accused of a crime has a right to effective legal representation, protection from government overreach and a fair trial.
Further, the Public Defender’s Office reduces the risk of retrials through effective legal representation and therefore can avoid the wasting of taxpayer dollars in criminal justice proceedings.
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Candidates for public defender spar over conservative credentials
