June 10, 2010

JIM LEWIS GOES INDEPENDENT

Fort Lauderdale Lawyer Jim Lewis, age 52, has declared that he will seek the office of Florida Attorney General with no party affiliation.  Lewis was previously registered as a Republican candidate for Attorney General but will now bypass the August 24, 2010 Republican Primary to take his candidacy to the people in the November general election as an independent. 

Lewis is a former Assistant State Attorney from Orlando, and a former Florida Statewide Prosecutor.  He was also a Special Grand Jury Prosecutor for Florida Governor Bob Graham. 

Lewis gave his reasons for running as an independent, “The extreme right isn’t always right, and the far left leaves common sense left out”.  “We have serious issues to face here in Florida and we don’t have time for the same old party politics.  Citizens of Florida and the nation are ready to elect qualified candidates without party affiliation who have the courage to do what’s right for the people.  I want to bring my issues before all the voters of Florida, not just the 20% that will likely vote in the August primary.

Florida needs leaders who realize that government can not solve all of the problems of the world with taxpayer money.  When government becomes big enough to solve all your problems, it becomes strong enough to take everything you have .Florida needs leaders who realize that smaller more efficient government and lower taxes will bring private sector jobs.  We can’t survive being a nation of consumers.  We have to make something, clean industry, technology, agriculture, tourism, all must be invested in to grow our state’s economy back to health.

Florida needs leaders who are elected because of their experience, character, and ideas, not solely because of their ability to raise money from special interests to finance campaigns.  I have pledged not to spend over $100,000 dollars on this statewide campaign, most of which will be self-funded. I will not take pac money or matching taxpayer funds to finance this campaign.  With economic times so tough, I can not justify using taxpayer money to finance a campaign when we can’t afford to keep teachers and police on the job.  Florida needs an Attorney General who will stand up to the big corporations, the cable companies, the cell phone companies, the oil companies, the banks. I don’t want their money, I want them to be good corporate citizens and be fair to the citizens of Florida.

I am not a career politician, I am a citizen that is tired of watching arrogant public officials waste our tax money on the same old worn out, lame, bureaucratic strategies that don’t work.  We must place limits on Government or it will continue to place limits on US.  Bureaucracy will choke the life out of our freedoms if we let it.  The constitution as written, is all that stands between us and being dragged  down the path of socialism.

I am tired of reading about public officials who abuse the public trust and use our tax dollars as their personal piggy bank.  If I become Attorney General of this state, expect aggressive prosecutions of public officials who abuse the public trust.  No more federal country club minimum security camps for corrupt politicians, a Florida State prison will do just fine.

I am a fighter by nature.  I have fought our government when I believed it’s actions were wrong.  I have and I will challenge public officials who have wasted our tax dollars. 

We can not turn over the keys to the Florida Attorney Generals office to a career politician or to someone who has never had to earn a living in the private sector. 

Experience is important, I’ve been a Florida lawyer for over 30 years, 12 of those were as a Florida Prosecutor fighting for and protecting the people of Florida.  I spent 8 years in the Attorney General’s office as one of Florida’s first statewide prosecutors, and as a former Assistant State Attorney in Orlando, I know first hand the fight that State Attorneys face everyday to protect us in courtrooms around our state.  My experience as a trial lawyer for 30 years, and an adjunct law professor for 20 years, have taught me a lot about our legal system.  The biggest problem, too many lawyers,90,000 at last count, too many law schools, putting out too many new lawyers.  Too many frivolous law suits largely because too many lawyers.  I want our law schools to cut back on enrollment to let demand catch up to supply.

Government works best when it runs like a private business, having to function efficiently and providing quality service to its customers.  The customers are us; the citizens of this state.  Government must change and adapt and be ahead of the curve to be effective.   Twenty percent of our state prison inmates are there for drug possession only.  That’s over 20,000 people.  We are facing an epidemic of pharmaceutical opiate abuse in this state, 80% of the nation’s oxycodone is dispensed here in Florida.   We are paying for these drug addicts, approximately $22,000 each per year, not getting drug treatment and contributing nothing to society.   We need these prison beds for violent and repeat offenders.  A child molester, a rapist, or murderer should never get out of prison, however these drug addicts should be in self-pay halfway houses operated by private concerns for profit, working and paying taxes like the rest of us.  Putting someone in prison for a mandatory 25 years for a bottle of pain pills is inhumane to that drug addict, but its more inhumane to us the taxpayers who get to pay the bill for his incarceration for 25 years.  How can we justify locking up a 19 year old kid from Kentucky who comes to Florida to buy pain pills and give Rush Limbaugh a pass for doctor shopping for the very same pills. 

The Attorney General of this State must have the ability to stand up for the protection of our children.  I have four children and they have taught me a lot about life and what is important.  The Florida dependency and juvenile justice systems need work.  People that pray upon children need to know Florida is a bad place for them to be.  We have tough laws but also need more funding and better training for our Police, Prosecutors, and Judges to protect us from violent offenders and sexual predators.  Where I agree the only appropriate penalty in the most horrific of murder cases is death, we have to look at the death penalty, is it really worth the 23 million dollars we pay for each execution?  Are the families of murder victims really served by waiting 10 to 20 years for endless appeals at taxpayer expense?

The Attorney General must protect our natural resources including the preservation of our drinking water.   We must protect our beaches, coral reefs, the everglades, and natural beauty of our State.  I oppose the exploration of oil and natural gas off our coasts.  As your Attorney General I will hold those persons or corporations criminally responsible if they damage our environment, and thereby threaten our quality of life and economic future

The courts must do a better job with dead beat dads and dead beat moms requiring them to support their children instead of us, the taxpayers, supporting them.

The next Attorney General as a member of the cabinet will make many important decisions that will shape the future success or failure of our state.  But it is the day to day decisions, supervising 1100 employees, including many assistant attorney generals, that requires an experienced Prosecutor and private sector business person like me, to do a good job.

 I’m Jim Lewis, the trial lawyers and the other special interest groups who peddle influence in Tallahassee don’t want me to be your next Attorney General, and that’s why you, the taxpayer,  the citizen, should want me to be your next Attorney General.  I will fight for our state, I will fight for our future, I will fight for us, because this state belongs to us, our children, and no one else.  Our State is not for sale, our leaders should not be for sale, help me, Jim Lewis, stand up and fight for Florida’s future and fight for us”.

Jim Lewis can be contacted at 954.523.7949 (office) or 954.907.2788 (cell) or email at Jimlewisforflorida@yahoo.com

Politcal advertisement paid for and approved by Jim Lewis, no party affiliation, for Florida Attorney General.  Not paid for at taxpayer’s expense.

EMPLOYMENT HISTORY

1981-1985 Assistant State Attorney, Orlando, Florida

1985-1986 Office of the Governor, Tallahassee, Florida, Special Prosecutor to the Statewide Grand Jury or Florida

1987-1992 Office of Florida Attorney General. Assistant Statewide Prosecutor, Fort Lauderdale, Florida

1990-present Adjunct Professor of Law, Nova Southeastern University, Fort Lauderdale, Florida

1993-present Law Offices of James S. Lewis and Associates, Fort Lauderdale, Florida

COURT ADMISSIONS

Florida Bar May 1991

United States Supreme Court March 1985

United States District Court July 1988

Southern District of Florida

Middle District of Florida June 1982

United States Court of Appeals September 1983

Eleventh Circuit