City Newspaper Archives - 3/2008

PUBLIC DEFENDER: Reconciliation afoot?

Published by Jeremy Moule on Mar 12, 2008
Advocates of a nonpolitical public defender selection process are waiting to see if their attempts at political reconciliation will bear fruit. They've already produced olives.

During Tuesday night's County Legislature meeting, the Rev. Franklin Florence addressed legislators, while Bob Bonn handed each Republican legislator an olive branch. Both men are part of a coalition that wants a permanent change in the way the defender is chosen. Florence asked Legislature President Wayne Zyra to meet with the coalition leaders on March 20.

"We think that citizens and our representatives ought to be able to sit down and interact," Florence said. "That's all we ask and all we expect."

Citizens who wanted to attend the Legislature's February 12 meeting to petition their government were kept from doing so, Florence said. The people simply wanted to be heard on the public defender selection process, he said. And now they are upset that the Legislature appointed a candidate, Tim Donaher, without a nonpolitical screening committee.