High Praise For AG Nominee Pam Bondi

- November 27, 2024 -

Bipartisan Praise For Pam Bondi

Attorney General nominee Pam Bondi is receiving bipartisan praise.   Fox News: In Florida, Bondi quickly earned a reputation for cracking down on opioids and the many "pill mills" operating in the Sunshine State when she was elected as the state's attorney general in 2010. At the time, Florida "was the epicenter of the opioid crisis," Florida statewide prosecutor Nicholas Cox said in an interview.    It was also a hub for so-called drug tourism: Out-of-state residents traveled to Florida from across the country to purchase opioids in bulk, relying on the state's many-house pharmacies, "cash-only" clinics and a lack of statewide prescribing laws to purchase the addictive medications, largely without restriction.    When Bondi took office, opioids were killing around seven people each day, Dave Aronberg, the state attorney for Palm Beach County, who formerly served as Bondi's drug czar, said in an interview.    There were also "more pain clinics than McDonald's locations" in Florida at the time, he said, illustrating the magnitude of the problem.   Aronberg, a Democrat who ran against Bondi for attorney general in 2010 before she appointed him to the post, credits his former boss as being the person "most responsible for ridding the state of Florida of destructive pill mills."    He and others point to Bondi's push for legislation that helped eliminate pill mills in the state, her crackdown on doctors and clinics responsible for prescribing the pain pills en masse, and her work in enforcing Florida's "Statewide Prescription Drug Diversion and Abuse Road Map" to best coordinate federal, state and local efforts as helping end the crisis.     But after her election, Bondi tapped him to be her drug czar— an unorthodox move that Aronberg and others said demonstrates Bondi's commitment to solving problems and working across the aisle on top priorities. "It really said a lot about her because she got a lot of criticism, withering criticism, from some members of her own party" who were upset she would choose a Democrat for the role, Aronberg said.   In Florida, Bondi "was not seen as a very partisan person," he added, citing her "strong working relationship with Democrats," which continued even after being sworn in as state attorney general. "She would support legislation regardless of whether it was supported by Democrats or Republicans," Aronberg said, and in return, she was well-liked across the aisle.