Torraco Picks Up Lombardo Endorsement For State Attorney Race

Democrat John Torraco has picked up an endorsement from a Republican for State Attorney race in the 12th Judicial Circuit.

Peter Lombardo, who lost in the Republican primary to Chief Assistant State Attorney Ed Brodsky, endorsed Torraco Tuesday during a press conference in Sarasota.  

“I ask my fellow Republicans and members of all political parties to look past politics and vote for John Torraco for State Attorney,” Lombardo said. “This race affects us all and will have an immediate effect on our safety and security.  John Torraco has the experience necessary to turn around the failures and reputation of our State Attorney’s Office.”

The announcement describes Lombardo as a lifetime Republican crossing party lines despite support for all other Republican candidates in the General Election. 

“Ed Brodsky is a threat to the public safety of our community,” Lombardo continued. “The people of Sarasota, Manatee and DeSoto Counties deserve far better.  From low conviction rates to shocking failures at keeping dangerous criminals behind bars, Ed Brodsky is at the core of the dysfunction and mismanagement of the current State Attorney’s Office.”

Torraco said he was honored to have the endorsement.

“Peter Lombardo’s career as a prosecutor and his time spent in the State Attorney’s Office has given him an insider’s perspective into the shortcomings of Ed Brodsky and his State Attorney’s Office," Torraco said. "The people of the 12th Judicial Circuit deserve a State Attorney who will stop wasting their tax dollars, and will put justice before politics.”  

Torraco, a law instructor at State College of Florida, also has endorsements from the Florida Democratic Party, Democratic Veterans Caucus of Florida and International Union of Police Associations.

For Brodsky's part, he has picked up numerous endorsements:

• State Attorney Earl Moreland
• 12th Circuit Public Defender Larry Eger
• Sarasota County Sheriff Tom Knight
• Manatee County Sheriff Brad Steube
• DeSoto County Sheriff William Wise
• Retired Manatee County Sheriff Charlie Wells
• State Prosecutor Nick Cox
• Fraternal Order of Police's Manatee, Sarasota & DeSoto chapters

Brodsky said Lombardo's endorsement is a way to make up for Lombardo's defeat, according to The Herald Tribune:

"So much for his claim to being 100 percent Republican," Brodsky said. "This is nothing more than sour grapes."

Brodsky knocked Torraco and Lombardo for negative campaigning. He also said Torraco's commercials and brochures are misleading because they give the impression that Torraco was a high-profile attorney in Washington. The ads say Torraco "worked" and "served" under two federal judges, in the Department of Justice and the White House counsel office.

Each of those jobs lasted less than a year, with Torraco working as a law clerk or unpaid law student."