Dina Keever for State Attorney

The race for State Attorney (the prosecutor for Palm Beach County) has been all over the news, mainly due to the disturbing political tactics of Democrat Dave Aronberg. Based mainly on the facts about Aronberg and related concerns about independent candidate Robert Gershman, we have to endorse Republican Dina Keever for the office.
While we don’t agree with Keever on all the issues, she is clearly competent for the position with lengthy experience as both a prosecutor and defense attorney. Her service as editor-in-chief of the Florida State Law Review is a sign of smarts and hard work.
Most important, she seems to be clean. That’s a stark contrast to Aronberg and Gershman. The only knock we’ve seen against her is that her campaign manager is from the Republican Party, which seems pretty normal for a Republican candidate.
While competent as an attorney, Aronberg’s main qualification appears to be his years as a political insider. His negatives are overwhelming, with the Palm Beach Post demonstrating substantial evidence of his misconduct. He used his position in the State Attorney General’s office to attack current State Attorney Mike McAuliffe. He engaged in an intensive campaign against McAuliffe, coordinating with angry rich guy Marty O’Boyle. And he participated in threats to a sitting judge to intimidate her so she wouldn’t run for the State Attorney position.
And that’s just the stuff we know about. We hope that the citizens of Palm Beach County will recognize that this is not the kind of ethics we want heading the county prosecutor’s office.
Robert Gershman is also tainted by the connection with O’Boyle and his [O’Boyle’s] attacks on McAuliffe. Some have also criticized Gershman for a disciplinary “admonishment” from the Florida Bar in 2010. While that incident seems minor, it doesn’t help either. Like the others, Gershman has sufficient experience as a prosecutor.
But in the end Ms. Keever is the only one who is untainted. She arguably has the strongest qualifications based on her academic record and experience. We’d like her more if she spoke up for more sensible drug laws, but it’s rare to find a prosecutor who’d do that.
In general we do not expect to make many endorsements in political races but in this case we felt compelled to do so. Please vote for Dina Keever on November 6th.