Controversial Orange-Osceola State's Attorney JEFFREY ASHTON was defeated for re-election last month. ASHTON was the third Florida State's Attorney to attempt to ooverup the September 2, 2010 shooting of Michelle O'Connell in the home of St. Johns County Deputy JEREMY BANKS.
ASHTON delivered a painful coverup report and immediately took vacation, never returning press calls, and attempting to charge $500 for records. ASHTON looked for adulterous hookups on Ashley Madison website, using government computers.
As my mother would say, "TIME WOUNDS ALL HEELS."
ASHTON was defeated by a first-time candidate supported by a political action committee connected to criminal injustice system reformer George Soros, in a Democratic primary closed to Republicans and no party affiliation voters by a bogus write-in candidate.
Does anyone recall reading about this in The St. Augustine Record?
Aramis Ayala upsets Jeff Ashton for State Attorney
In a major upset, Aramis Ayala, a first-time candidate for Orange-Osceola State Attorney, ousted incumbent Jeff Ashton, who became a household name during the Casey Anthony trial, from office after his first term.
Elyssa Cherney Elyssa CherneyContact Reporter
Orlando Sentinel
Primary election results for Orange-Osceola State Attorney and Central Florida judges
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In a major upset on Tuesday, Aramis Ayala, a first-time candidate for Orange-Osceola state attorney, ousted incumbent Jeff Ashton from office after his first term.
"I'm just grateful," Ayala said on the phone Tuesday night from her victory party at Sugarcanes Rum Bar and Lounge on International Drive. "I'm excited. This is what this whole thing and the process was about. ... Tonight is a celebration of a higher level of integrity for the State Attorney's Office."
What had initially been a sleepy race favoring Ashton took a turn after a Washington, D.C.-based political action committee poured $975,000 into Ayala's campaign in August. Ashton, 58, raised $112,445 for his bid, according to Florida Department of State records.
Ayala's money, linked to billionaire liberal backer George Soros, paid for TV ads and mailers accusing Ashton of enacting racially disparate policies—a claim Ashton says is not true. Ayala said she did not solicit the money but welcome anyone who believed in improving the criminal justice system.
Ayala, 41, clinched the position with 56.9 percent of the vote in Orange and Osceola counties compared to Ashton's 43.1 percent, according to Florida Division of Elections results.
"The voters decided today that the price of the State Attorney's seat is $1.4 million in lies," Ashton said in a statement, providing his own estimate of the donation. "I'm deeply disappointed in this result, but I stand by the good work of my office and the folks who work there."
Primary election results for state races and Central Florida counties
Primary election results for state races and Central Florida counties
Voters elected Ashton to office in 2012, booting out longtime incumbent Lawson Lamar, who reigned for six consecutive terms.
Ashton ran after he became a household name as the prosecutor in the trial of Casey Anthony, an Orange County mother charged in the 2008 death of her daughter.
Ashton lost the case—with Anthony being acquitted of all major charges, including murder—but achieved name recognition and wrote a book on what's now considered the "social media trial of the century."
During his tenure, Ashton eradicated a standalone domestic-violence unit—consolidating it with a broader special-victims division—and reorganized case flow so prosecutors charge their cases instead of being assigned to them. He purged costly management positions, gutted the intake division and created an economic-crimes unit that targets insurance fraud.
Last year, Ashton won $1.3 million from the county to buy tablets for his attorneys and propel his office into a paperless operation. He also petitioned the Legislature for $1.4 million to prosecute domestic-violence and human-trafficking cases as increasing numbers of reports flowed into the office.
His term, however, was not immune to controversy. In August 2015, he admitted that he signed up for the Ashley Madison online-dating website but said he never had an affair as a result. Ayala pointed to the debacle to attack his character.
Ayala, a former prosecutor and public defender, worked under Ashton until she launched her own bid for public office in March. Ayala said she knows the weaknesses of the office because she worked there for two years. She represented the indigent as a public defender in Orange County for eight years before that.
Her main message centered on increasing community engagement with the State Attorney's Office, creating a separate unit for domestic-violence cases and re-establishing a central division to review charges. She also shared her husband's criminal record, saying he served prison time for drug conspiracy and counterfeiting checks a decade ago.
The winner of the Democratic primary essentially grabs the position for the general election. There are no Republican opponents. It's unlikely that write-in candidate Bill Vose will gather enough votes to overcome Ayala.
His candidacy, which closed the primary, has been criticized as a scheme to exclude nearly 500,000 registered Republicans from having a meaningful choice in the race.
Former state legislator and political consultant Dick Batchelor said the Soros-level spending presented an insurmountable challenge for Ashton, despite his own name recognition from holding office.
"It's an upset, but not an unpredictable one because a million dollars was spent," he said.
echerney@orlandosentinel.com
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