FT. LAUDERDALE, FL – Former federal prosecutor Chris Mancini announced his candidacy last week for the office of Broward County State Attorney. Mancini is mounting a primary challenge to incumbent State Attorney Mike Satz, a Democrat who was elected to the office in 1976. This is only the second time in 36 years that Satz has faced a primary challenger. Both Democrats will face off in August.

Mancini, a defense attorney whose practice includes LGBT family matters such as domestic partnership agreements, durable powers of attorney, and the dissolution of domestic partnerships, is a former Deputy Chief of the Major Crimes Division for the U.S. Attorney’s office (Southern District of Florida) whose most famous cases included the Miami River Cops and the Church of Yahweh racketeering trials.

In announcing his candidacy, Mancini said that he will not accept any contributions from criminal defense attorneys. “A State Attorney who accepts campaign money from a potential adversary is just not right, plain and simple. It creates an appearance of impropriety,” he argued.

Mancini says that at a time when major corruption cases in Broward County–such as that of disgraced attorney Scott Rothstein—are being pursued by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, accepting donations from those involved in the criminal court system creates an image of the “pay-to-play” system, where people with money can buy their way out of a just sentence.

The former prosecutor says that as the incumbent, Satz owes it to voters and taxpayers to eliminate the potential appearance that the State Attorney’s office can be purchased. To this end, he challenges Satz to eliminate all future fundraisers with the Criminal Defense Bar and to return all donations his campaign has already received.

“I will accept not one penny from the Defense Bar, and I challenge the current State Attorney to return the monies given to his campaign from those who argue against his dedicated assistants in the courtroom.”

The winner of the August primary will face perennial Broward County candidate Jim Lewis, who is running as a Republican in the general election in November. This will be the first potential general election challenge that Satz has faced since 1976.