{"id":46540,"date":"2025-11-14T15:02:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-14T15:02:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/46540\/"},"modified":"2025-11-14T15:02:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T15:02:09","slug":"hillsborough-state-attorney-backs-out-of-criminal-justice-panel-after-organizer-declined-to-provide-questions-in-advance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/46540\/","title":{"rendered":"Hillsborough state attorney backs out of criminal justice panel after organizer declined to provide questions in advance"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ASuzy Lopez in Tallahassee, Florida on March 26, 2025. Credit: Press Handout \/ SAO13<\/a><\/p>\n

Late last month, State Attorney Suzy Lopez dropped out of the 3rd Annual Tampa Bay Criminal Justice Summit, where she was scheduled to speak on a panel alongside Hillsborough County Public Defender Lisa McLean<\/a> about topics including death penalty prosecutions, election crimes and drug courts.<\/p>\n

Emails obtained by Creative Loafing Tampa Bay showed that Lopez withdrew from the panel after she was not given a list of questions before the event.<\/p>\n

The state attorney is an elected position responsible for prosecuting all crimes within a judicial circuit. Lopez was elected to represent Florida\u2019s 13th Circuit covering all of Hillsborough county.<\/p>\n

She was appointed in 2022 when former State Attorney Andrew Warren<\/a> was removed from office<\/a> by Gov. Ron DeSantis after he signed a pledge not to prosecute people under the state\u2019s abortion laws.<\/p>\n

Lopez won election to the seat in 2024<\/a>, earning nearly 53% of the vote over Warren.<\/p>\n

The emails, obtained by CL through a public records request, showed a week-long conversation Lopez and her communications director, Erin Maloney, had with an organizer for the criminal justice summit. Lopez asked the organizer if he could provide her with a list of questions in advance, and he initially said yes. The organizer later told Lopez that the panel moderator was not planning on providing questions in advance. The organizer instead sent a list of topics to be discussed to give her time to prepare.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need the questions, not just the topics,\u201d Maloney responded. \u201cIn order to have a real conversation, we need to prepare the State Attorney.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maloney also said that some of the topics didn\u2019t apply to the state attorney\u2019s office, such as \u201celection crimes,\u201d which she said are not handled by Lopez\u2019s department.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the moderator you chose does not want to be forthcoming about what he\u2019s asking, then we will bow out because the State Attorney already has a very full schedule that day,\u201d Maloney continued.<\/p>\n

In a separate email to Lopez, Maloney said: \u201cIt is my suggestion that you do not attend this event unless we receive the questions or even simply topics he will ask about. This is not a political debate- we agreed to their terms ahead of time, and now they are trying to change the rules.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lopez agreed, and Maloney informed the organizer that Lopez would be withdrawing from the event.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe discussed having questions beforehand as we do for every panel that we take part in, and we agreed to that ahead of time,\u201d Maloney\u2019s email to the organizer reads. \u201cThis is not a political debate, and as always, we like to be fully prepared with statistics and the most up to date answers for the audience. Even just seeing the topics, it is clear that some of them would not even apply to our office.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked about the emails<\/a>, Maloney told CL that this was a miscommunication, not an attempt to dodge public accountability. Panel audiences, Maloney said, would rather hear polished answers: \u201cThese panels get into the weeds legally so we want to be prepared.\u201d<\/p>\n

She also said that questions are typically provided in advance for panels that aren\u2019t supposed to be political debates.<\/p>\n

Maloney told CL that it\u2019s not a policy for the state attorney to receive panel questions in advance, despite the email to the event organizer where she said they discussed having questions ahead of time \u201cas we do for every panel that we take part in.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Maloney pointed to audience Q&A sessions often held after panels as an example of Lopez taking questions without preparation.<\/p>\n

When asked if there was a situation in which Lopez would speak on an unscripted panel, she told CL, \u201cIt\u2019s just hard to answer a hypothetical.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AElizabeth Martinez Strauss at WMNF in Tampa, Florida on July 26, 2024. Credit: Ray Roa \/ Creative Loafing Tampa Bay<\/p>\n

Elizabeth Martinez Strauss, an attorney who ran for Lopez\u2019s state attorney seat in 2024, told CL that Lopez may have backed out to avoid confronting challenging questions on the fly. Strauss said that she has enjoyed personal conversations with Lopez in the past, but when the topic turned to policy, Lopez lost her footing.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Lopez] doesn\u2019t like to be thinking on her feet,\u201d Strauss told CL. Audiences want to hear from officials directly, even when they don\u2019t have all the answers, Strauss\u2014who earned just under 30% of the vote in the primary for the state attorney\u2019s office\u2014said.<\/p>\n

She didn\u2019t blame the state attorney for wanting the questions in advance, and said that since Lopez was appointed rather than elected, it\u2019s possible that she didn\u2019t initially want a position that put her in the electoral spotlight.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut, I mean, if you\u2019re competent and you know what you\u2019re doing, you shouldn\u2019t be afraid of answering questions,\u201d Strauss continued. \u201cIf you don\u2019t know it, you should just have the insight to say, \u2018I\u2019m not going to guess about a number or a specific fact.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

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This article appears in Nov. 13 \u2013 19, 2025<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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