La Gaceta Newspaper

From “As We Heard It,” by Patrick Manteiga, Oct. 2, 2020

Democrat State Attorney Andrew Warren faces a challenge from Mike Perotti, who is in-house counsel for the Hillsborough County Sheriff.
Perotti spent years at the Sheriff’s Office, first serving under Cal Henderson. He has a wide range of experience there from law enforcement to the jail. He offers to do much of the same programs and reforms instituted by Warren except he says he can do them better. He also offers to be more consistent.
We were the only newspaper to endorse Andrew Warren when he ran to unseat Mark Ober. This time, we will have more company. We supported him in 2016 because he promised reform. He kept his promise. He concentrated his resources on prosecuting violent and repeat criminals and working on prevention, treatment and rehabilitation for the thousands caught up in the system from minor crimes due to drug addiction and mental illness.
He is also working to help low-income people to comply with the law instead of just fining and jailing them. Out of the 60,000 to 70,000 cases his office deals with each year, a staggering 10,000 or so cases are from driving on a suspended license.
Warren tells us when he got there, only about 4 percent of these people had their cases dismissed becasue they obtained a valid license. His office, by working with these people to resolve their fines and unpaid tickets that caused the suspensions, has resulted in around 35 percent getting their licenses restored and their cases dismissed. He has increased the use of civil citations and provided a balance between restraint in dealing with peaceful protesters and toughness in going after looters and arsonists.
La Gaceta confidently endorses Andrew Warren for State Attorney.