As Broward Public Defender Howard Finkelstein prepares to retire after 16 years in office, three Democratic candidates have stepped up to replace him. Here's why attorneys Ruby Lenora Green, Tom Lynch and Gordon Weekes say they should take the baton. Responses have been edited for style and content.

Criminal and civil litigator Brion Ross of the Brion Ross Law Group in Fort Lauderdale will also be running in the general election as a write-in candidate.

Related: 2020 South Florida Elections: Use this Voter Guide to Learn More About Candidates Running for Judge

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Ruby Lenora Green

Green has been an assistant Broward public defender since in 2012, and has served as a supervisor and chief of county court. Before then, she worked as an assistant public defender in Jacksonville.

Why are you running for this position?

The common misconception is that public defenders are not real attorneys, and in the eyes of the public, we are called public pretenders. I want to change that. Justice needs to be blind, and the laws need to be implemented the same for everyone. People need to have faith in the system.

I have witnessed the system work against the poor, mentally ill, homeless and people of color for so long, and very little has been done to change it. Dreadful acts of violence against people of color have permeated this nation for hundreds of years. I have seen false accusations compromise a person's ability to provide for their families. For far too long we've had a criminal justice system that treats people better if they are rich and guilty than poor and innocent. I bring a different perspective. The time for justice is always right now.

I also want to improve strained relationships between the judiciary, public defender and state attorney because we have to work together in a way that does not compromise our client's ability to receive effective assistance of counsel. Things cannot remain the same. We are in desperate need of progress for the community's sake. The world wants change. I will be that driving force that propels this office into the 21st century and beyond.

What about your experience qualifies you for the position?

My life experiences have prepared me to be the public defender. I am from the same community and same socioeconomic background as the people who use the services of the Public Defender's Office. I was the sole document signor in my household since the second grade because my mom didn't have the opportunity to learn to read or write. She had to leave school at a very young age to pick beans, cotton and strawberries in the fields. I'm the only one of 15 children to attend and graduate from college.

Professionally, I have frontline experience and I have run huge organizations. I also understand budgets. Currently, I am the president of Broward Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. I have been a member of, or held leadership positions in, over 15 organizations in Broward County. I was honored as Legacy Miami's top 40 under 40 leaders of today and tomorrow. I've worked at the Public Defender's Office as a supervisor and chief of county court. I trained, helped hire and manage new attorneys and two supervising attorneys in the misdemeanor division. I second-chaired trials with attorneys to encourage their trial skills. So, I know what it takes to run the office. I know what works and what doesn't. I listen to the opinions of colleagues and staff, and do what I can to foster a work environment that produces the best performance.

What's your biggest achievement so far?

My biggest achievement would have to be showing my daughter and others who come from situations like mine that, no matter where you come from, it doesn't have to be where you end up. "The ability to triumph begins with you." I am living my dream in serving the underprivileged and providing justice.

What would a successful term look like for you?

Smaller jail/prison populations; being able to have successful and meaningful conversations with community stakeholders and partners, keeping the dialogue open; arrest rate is down, less people are coming into the system; no people of color being sentenced disproportionately; more than enough funding for the attorneys, staff and resources we need; more technology advancements; office morale at a record high; transparency.

When we have a criminal justice system that benefits the entire community — one that is focused on a holistic approach to give clients better access to mental health and substance abuse programs, jobs, schooling, promote more and greater inclusion in diversion programs and housing to decrease recidivism; provide social workers for misdemeanor and felony units; provide assistance with driver's license reinstatement and provide competent immigration legal services; create an equitable fiscal plan inclusive of technology updates, qualified experts and competent training for attorneys; champion for funding to ensure retention and longevity of attorneys and staff.

I am going to go to Tallahassee to fight for funding and do whatever it takes for the attorneys and staff to have a living wage. I will support criminal justice reform by pushing waiver of mandatory minimums, tracking and admonishing sentencing disparities.

What is the most important issue facing your county at the moment?

COVID-19 and how we are administering justice remotely as the country is changing. Jury trials will be a problem, and as some people are waiting for their actual day in court, justice will be delayed. We are all trying to figure out the best way to move forward. But even in the midst of a pandemic, people of color are being killed by the system. We need to work on and address the underlying societal views, structures and indoctrination that are allowing for disparate, violent treatment of individuals of color. Much work is needed to achieve racial justice.

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Tom Lynch

Lynch is an attorney, mediator and expert witness in Fort Lauderdale. He's also a former county court and circuit judge, and former chief assistant public defender.

Why are you running for this position?

I want to go back to my roots. I was hired by the public defender when I left law school. I was trained by some of the best criminal defense attorneys in the area. I was selected to be the chief assistant two years later. Presently, there is insufficient training of the attorneys, and the morale is terrible. Most of the chief assistants and supervisors do not have caseloads and do not try cases. Public defenders are trial lawyers, and people that can't afford an attorney deserve great attorneys. If I am successful, all lawyers in the office will have caseloads and will try cases.

What about your experience qualifies you for the position?

I was chief assistant public defender in charge of interns, county court, mental health and the juvenile division. During that time, I tried about 90 jury trials, including 12 death penalty cases. After I left the office, I started a law firm. At age 33, I was elected as a county court judge. Eleven years later, Gov. Lawton Chiles appointed me as a circuit court judge. During the 32 years I served on the bench, I was unopposed. When I left the bench, I started another law firm that concentrates on mediation and expert witness matters.

What's your biggest achievement so far?

I believe that my biggest achievement was being a public servant for many decades.

What would a successful term look like for you?

I will improve the morale in the office by equalizing caseloads of the attorneys, and by dramatically improving training. I will also demand that the clerk of court pay the $12.5 million owed to the Public Defender's Office. I will demand that an audit be preformed. If the funds are not turned over, a suit will be filed. The employees and the clients deserve the funds they are entitled to.

What is the most important issue facing your county at the moment?

Poor morale, insufficient training of lawyers and unequal caseloads of assistant public defenders.

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Gordon Weekes

Weekes is executive chief assistant Broward public defender. He joined the office in 1997 and became the first assistant public defender to specialize in representing children charged as adults in Broward County.

Why are you running for this position?

I am running for public defender to ensure that "each shall stand equal" in the criminal justice system. I have worked my entire career to act as a voice of reason and compassion. I have stood against the criminalization of youthful misbehavior, supported people living with mental illness and those battling addiction. As public defender, I will continue to work to ensure that equality, fairness and justice is accessible to everyone in the community through the work we do in each individual case.

The public defender is entrusted with defending the poor. This sacred responsibility thus requires that we defend all of society by ensuring that Constitutional safeguards and due process are protected in defending the least affluent. The work we do is the only safeguard between the often overwhelming power of government, wayward judges and police abuse. The public defender is entrusted with the conscience of the criminal justice system.

What about your experience qualifies you for the position?

As executive chief assistant, I rang the alarm when a woman was forced to give birth in jail without medical assistance of any kind, and left to labor in pain for seven hours and deliver her baby alone. It was because of this that the governor signed into law legislation that would ensure that incarcerated women are safe, healthy and treated with dignity throughout the state.

As chief assistant public defender of the juvenile division, I handled cases wherein children were charged with murder and attempted murder. I was also the first APD to specialize in the representation of children who are treated as adults in criminal circuit courts. I spearheaded an investigation and created an entirely new approach to collecting and utilizing Brady material. I lead on discovering the failures of drug and DNA testing in the crime lab. I was also the lead attorney who challenged the use of evidence obtain during the filming of a reality television show, "Police Women of Broward County."

I have tried cases involving firearms, armed robbery, sex offenses, first-degree burglary with battery, battery on law enforcement offenses and a whole host of third-degree and misdemeanor drug and DUI offenses.

What's your biggest achievement so far?

My biggest achievement is working for the betterment of our children. I have heightened awareness around abuse within juvenile facilities. By shedding light on the privatization of juvenile commitment services and the abusive providers, I forced the Department of Juvenile Justice to cut ties with providers that had horrible track records with helping children.

I have championed and helped craft diversionary alternatives to the criminal justice system. I was instrumental in creating the civil citation program and a school-based diversion program that significantly reduced the arrests of children in our community. These program are a valuable tool for law enforcement officers. They afford an officer and child the opportunity to address the misbehavior while holding the child accountable for his or her conduct outside of the juvenile justice system.

I am also passionate about engaging with our youth in the community. I created the Summer Youth Justice Program to give children the opportunity to learn, but, more importantly, so that they could have positive exposure to the criminal justice system.

What would a successful term look like for you?

Success as the public defender would include enhancing the level of representation within the courts, addressing the disparate impact that the criminal justice system poses to communities of color, remaining a champion of fairness and the conscience of the courts so as to restore faith in our criminal justice system. It will also include establish a meaningful work group to analyze and identify disparate outcomes and treatment within the criminal justice system. Success can also be measured when we identify adequate outpatient and residential mental health and substance abuse treatment. When we abolish monetary bail for nonviolence offenses. But the most meaningful measure for a successful term is a reduction in recidivism for nonviolent offenses through the implementation of all of the foregoing.

What is the most important issue facing your county at the moment?

The recent commutation of the sentence of Roger Stone sent a clear message — that the rich and connected could skirt justice while everyone else would be held to account. The death of George Floyd at the hands of an officer further highlighted the public's distrust of the criminal justice system because so few police have been held accountable for abusive practices. Sentencing disparities have long been existent and well documented. These all exemplify the inequities that exists in our system, and they stand as vivid and stark reality that plague communities of limited influence and affluence, and of color.

We have to address the perceived racial bias within our justice system or the community will lose faith in our courts. This must be of primary concern moving forward. Finding a solution to the problem of disparate treatment in the criminal justice system will be emotionally difficult and requires a commitment to have necessary, yet uncomfortable, conversations. It will also require a long-term commitment of will and resources.

Anecdotally, we know that racially disparate treatment exists. When confronted with data from the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, the judiciary recoiled and the opportunity was squandered. We have to embrace the data and use it as a tool to help identify the actions or decisions that exaggerate disparate impacts.

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