Florida Agenda

By ARNE BLACK

“Nobody should be in office for 36 years,” Chris Mancini says, and he has a point. The former Federal prosecutor is speaking of the current Broward County State Attorney, Mike Satz, who Mancini intends to unseat in the upcoming August 14th Democratic Primary. Satz was first elected to the post in 1976, when Gerald Ford was President of the United States, and has held it ever since. “He keeps saying that he’s been re-elected. He submits his name, no one runs against him, and he gets reappointed to the position,” says Mancini.

“If you analyze Satz’s wins and losses in court for the past three years, he has the highest lost-case rate in the state of Florida. He likes to say that he’s only lost 641 cases. Those are major cases involving murders, robberies, and homicides, in addition to DUI cases, which, to me, are equally as dangerous,” Mancini adds. “If you are on the highway, the most likely way you’re going to get injured is by some drunk driver. Satz has an enormous loss rate in prosecuting these people.”

When approached about his failure in court, Satz points to the plea bargains he negotiates. “Almost 40 percent of his plea bargain cases are drug-residue cases,” Mancini asserts.xxx “Cocaine or marijuana is found on people, or in cars stopped for routine traffic violations. These people aren’t a danger to the public. It’s ridiculous to cite those cases as meaningful. There’s no public protection going on here. There’s no violent crime being stopped or eliminated.”

In the past few years, major crime has risen in Broward County, after having taken a dip in 2009, with crime against gays on the increase. “I don’t believe there has been an openly-gay person hired at the State Attorney’s office in any position of responsibility,” says Mancini. “If the purpose of the State Attorney’s office in a diverse community like Broward County is to represent minority groups, Satz has failed completely by not extending a position to the gay community,” he adds.

“Gays are the target of robbery at nightclubs late at night, as well as being the victims of the actual employees of those clubs. If the State Attorney wanted to do something about this, he could have targeted those individuals who come into this community with the sole purpose of robbing gays,” Mancini notes, pledging to actively pursue such cases.

“[Satz’s] whole system is geared to running large numbers of cases through the system, to give the appearance that he is protecting the public. All the cases that Satz talks about are the ones in which he’s ridden on the coattails of the Feds. After the federal officers have made a case, he tags along and cleans up the leftovers,” says Mancini.

“What I’d like to know,” Mancini asks, “is why he hasn’t filed a single prosecution from the Scott Rothstein ponzi scheme? Yet he took money from Scott Rothstein in 2007 for his campaign. Police officers were providing prostitutes to Rothstein’s clients. That’s a state crime that Satz should be prosecuting. Police officers are dealing drugs. That’s a state crime that Satz should prosecute,” he adds.

The candidate claims that when answers are demanded, the incumbent’s reasoning doesn’t match the reality. “Satz says he doesn’t have enough money, yet he has a staff where six or seven people make $150,000 a year.

These are the same people who show up at the political rallies handing out the literature in the middle of the day: State employees doing private campaigning. And he’s gotten away with it for 36 years.

FORT LAUDERDALE – Former federal prosecutor Chris Mancini’s campaign to unseat the current Broward State Attorney—who was first elected to the office in 1976, the year Jimmy Carter was elected president—takes on a new dimension tomorrow, when the candidate officially qualifies for his run for office, and his name goes on the ballot.

Mancini, a criminal attorney and former litigator with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida, says that a major part of his election strategy with be support from Broward’s large gay community. “I have served the LGBTQ community with Pride for over a decade,” says Mancini. “I understand the importance and needs of this community, and also realize their potential power and influence.”

Mancini, whose previous courtroom trial experience includes the Miami Rivers Cops case, says there is plenty of room for improvement in the way cases are prosecuted under the current system. “As a lawyer, I see many problems with the judicial system in Broward County, and how groups and individuals can be targeted,” he notes. “Unfortunately the current State Attorney’s Office has been ineffective and inefficient in addressing these problems. The 36-year-old system created by the current State Attorney just does not meet our needs.”

If he is elected, Mancini would like to establish an initiative he calls “’Justice Without Prejudice,’ where you do not receive special favors if you have power or money, or suffer undue persecution if you are poor or a member of a minority group.”

Mancini is calling for “a new way of approaching the issues, with new solutions. We need to implement restorative justice programs that have reduced recidivism by 50 percent in states where these programs are used.” He also stressed the “need to fight corruption on all levels of government. We need to ensure that there is one standard of justice; that you do not get special treatment if you have money or a badge.”

Mancini’s campaign headquarters will open on Friday to an invited group at his office at 908 N Federal Hwy, in Fort Lauderdale.

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.

By CHRIS MANCINI, ESQ.

Relationships are complex, particularly cross-generational partnerships. When you mix the co-dependency of both partners with substance abuse, the outcome will never be positive. Cross Generational relationships are often based on money, and the issues that plague these relationships are exaggerated when the couple can only come together when substances are involved. Dependency will then take on a more sinister meaning.

Chris Mancini: “There is a subset of gay couples who fit the following profile: one of them is older, has money, is still sexually active and desires companionship. The other is younger, has no money, is sexually active and desires a great number of things that the older man’s money can buy. They are each suffering from a form of addiction that steals their joy. The hopes and wishes of this couple are mismatched from the beginning and trouble will inevitably ensue, but some of these couples can reconcile their mismatched desires if there is enough mutual respect. They never succeed, however, when the element of alcohol or drug abuse is added to the relationship. With alcohol or drugs on board, their love boat always hits the rocks and this couple ends up in my law office or at The Mission of St. Francis with a variety of legal and personal problems that include domestic violence, assault and battery, stalking/harassment and personal and real property disputes. They then discover that the courts are a clumsy and expensive way to address the issues that have been simmering beneath the surface of their lives. There is a better way. In the immortal words of the Rolling Stones, “You can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you just might find you get what you need.”  Experience has taught me that hopes and dreams and good wishes are never a match for understanding and preparation.

Jack Labarga: “A perfect example of what Chris is talking about walked into my office this week; an older gay man with money and a young lover almost half his age. I find it interesting that it’s the older man that usually feels that it’s the younger one who needs help, but when I asked the older man, “What’s different this time?” his answer was “I won’t be giving out any money this time!” I replied, “You’ve known this young man for only a month and he’s already cost you a small fortune. Didn’t he get that new watch on his wrist from you?” “Yes.” “And aren’t you supporting him?” “Yes.” I replied, “You see the underlying issue (or at least one of them) is your lack of self-esteem. Your worth is attached to what’s in your wallet and if you have enough cash, it covers your insecurities and makes you popular and needed for the time being.” I went a bit further and found that he had become wealthy from an inheritance from an older lover. This is the stark nature of a disease cycle that may never get broken. True partners can’t walk on egg shells full of fear of not being accepted. Like any couple, when the issues continue to get shoved under the carpet, a home becomes a house that has nothing to offer but misery.”

Jerry Stephenson: “I met the gay couple Jack is describing and soon realized that the younger man has a history of quitting everything he’s undertaken. He’s lost and he needs the older man to believe in him because he doesn’t believe in anything, especially in himself. He’s good looking and talks like he has it together, but he denies the addictions that are leading him to bankruptcy, hospitalization, prison and even death. These two men are interdependent. The shortsightedness of the older man who says he knows that money won’t buy him love but acts like it will is fueled by the shortsightedness of the younger man who believes that money is the only thing that can make him happy, but it doesn’t.”

Chris Mancini: “That said, not all couples act this way. Many of my friends are in cross generational relationships and where money and substance abuse are not involved mutual respect and love win out. I know that love is at the heart of this problem. We all seek love, and the wisest of us realize that love is, really, the only thing of importance in our lives. Unfortunately, we have to learn the hard way or be taught how to love others without enabling them or ourselves to live a lie. The essence of love is love of self and self-sacrifice – but there is a world of difference between self-sacrifice and selfishness. At my law office and at The Mission of St. Francis, we have a variety of tools such as an alcohol and drug detection device that alerts to the presence of alcohol or drugs in sweat or urine. We provide a variety of legal means to enforce compliance with both voluntary and 100% confidential therapy programs or court-ordered programs.”

“This kind of help can make your misery optional.”

This article is a collaborative work by attorney Chris Mancini, Esq., Jack Labarga, director of The Mission of St. Francis, and Dr. Jerry Stephenson, addiction therapist.

EDITOR’S NOTE:

Chris Mancini, Esq., practices law at 330 S.W. 2nd St., Suite 212, Fort Lauderdale, FL and can be reached at 954-522-2744 or his cell: 305-219-6919; chrisjmancini@aol.com and www.chrismanciniesq.com

Jack Labarga is the director of The St. Francis Mission, a four decade old recovery center that has been of service to over 10,000 people, located at 208 S.E. 8th Street, Fort Lauderdale, 954-761-3281. www.themissionofstfrancis.com; info@themission.us.

Jerry Stephenson, PhD., CAP, is a gay man and a 25 year practicing licensed addiction therapist. He has published several self-help books and

has appeared on many TV and radio shows to discuss this subject. He can be reached through The Mission of St. Francis, on his cell at 954-632-1529, or drjerry.net