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If not for a broken television set Amira Fox, a candidate for state attorney of the 20th Judicial Circuit, may have followed in her father's footsteps and entered the world of economics instead of law.
Now Fox, 52, is an election away from possibly replacing retiring State Attorney Steve Russell. She is being challenged by attorney Chris Crowley, formerly with the state attorney's office, in the Republican primary Aug. 28. The winner faces write-in candidate Joseph Hoffman in November.
More:Chris Crowley brings conservative, 'tough on crime' platform to bid to be state attorney
"This is my first foray into politics," Fox, chief assistant state attorney, said during a scheduled candidate interview with the News-Press editorial board. She scheduled and then cancelled a one-on-one interview with a reporter earlier.
It was during her sophomore year at American University in Washington, D.C., that Fox's career choice would change.
She had been studying international studies and economics and had considered that arena because her father, Taher Dajani, had worked for the International Monetary Fund.
Using money she earned while interning with the World Bank, Fox purchased a television with an extended warranty.
"About two weeks later the television broke," Fox said. "I marched down to the store and demanded they honor my extended warranty."
It was something in the warranty's small print, which the store pointed out to Fox made her ineligible for a refund or replacement, that got her thinking.
"I went home that night and talked with my roommate ... I said 'listen, this is not going to happen to me again. Can you imagine how many people this happens to daily? I want to learn how to read a contract.'"
More:State attorney race heats up with complaints, counter-complaints among Republican candidates
That hassle with a small television ultimately helped her change majors and she started studying the law, eventually drifting to criminal law.
"It was a little bit of a turning point for me," she said. "Nobody in my family had been to law school."
That degree also led her into the legal world and her first job as a misdemeanor prosecutor in the state attorney's office in 1990.
After a dozen years during which she experienced juvenile law, felony and homicide cases, served in the Glades and Hendry counties offices and was the first female head of the Collier County office, a bit of politics led to a 10-year break in service.
In 2002, State Attorney Joe D'alessandro retired after 30 years in office. His assistant, Marshall Bowers, decided to run, but he lost to Russell.
A self-published memoir penned by Fox's father describes her being asked to resign by Russell as he sought to replace staffers close to his opponent with those closer to him. Fox's personnel file shows her resignation letter, written in magnanimous terms.
During her break, Fox, worked for two years in the law offices of Wilbur Smith and then formed her own law firm with Steve Ramunni.
"We had a law office in Fort Myers that I mainly staffed," she said. "That was very interesting. It taught me to make a payroll during the recession and what it's like to not be paid by the government. That was a very good experience. I consider it invaluable."
More:Crowley, Fox in unique battle for state attorney
Her private practice partner Ramunni described how the two got the practice running.
"(W)e met when she was a prosecutor and I was defending a client charged with murder," he said. "The case went to trial and my first (and constant) impression is that she was the best trial attorney that I have seen in action."
Fox's capability, Ramunni said, "easily would put her in the top 5 percent of trial attorneys nationwide. She has an uncanny ability and talent which puts her right in the jury box. It is almost not a fair fight in that sense."
He said one of the saddest periods in his life was when she told him that she was returning to the state attorney's office to "follow her dream" of being a career prosecutor.
Fox, who is married to a retired Collier County sheriff's deputy and has four children, returned in 2012 as deputy chief assistant in charge of homicide and economic crime.
"Mr. Russell asked me to come back to the state attorney's office almost six years ago," she said.
More:Ethics complaint filed with state commission against assistant state attorney Amira Fox
There are few changes she sees necessary.
"I firmly believe the state attorney's office has been on the right track for the past decade or so" she said, adding "There's always room for improvement. Violent criminals, have to go away."
She pointed to the prosecution of members of what was called the Lake Boyz gang under the RICO task force as a positive development and said violent crime had fallen in Fort Myers since the alleged gang members were arrested
However, shortly after her interview the first trial against four of the alleged Lake Boyz members ended with an acquittal. The state attorney's office has only said it respected the jury's decision and couldn't comment further because other alleged gang members have yet to go to trial.
She sees herself as the superior candidate. "I feel like on my end I have not made this a personal race," she said. "I have remained 100 percent focused on my campaign."
Still, her first foray into politics has not been without some rocky moments.
More:I am proud of my record at state attorney's office: Amira Fox
The campaign has seen several complaints of ethics violations filed against Fox with the Florida Ethics Commission, one which has been dismissed. The complaints claim Fox or her campaign for state attorney have blocked or deleted negative comments made on social media and that Fox campaigned for months for the post before she officially announced her candidacy and campaigned for office during work hours after her announcement.
"They are completely baseless," Fox said of the charges and was adamant that at no time did she campaign before she officially announced she was entering the race. "The investigation will bear me out."
After that early January entrance into the race, Fox said that any time she campaigned, especially during office hours, she took annual leave and has even paid the state back for times she deemed she was campaigning while she was officially working.
There have been numerous campaign forums and debates, some featuring a few contentious moments of catcalling, loud muttering and yelling by members of both camps.
More:Amira Fox: Candidate for State Attorney
Both candidates have had to be admonished at times to not make personal or charged comments during some of the events.
Fox has said she won't be eyeing any higher office.
"I have no further aspirations in politics," she said to The News-Press editorial board. "I'm not a politician."
She said she simply wanted to be state attorney because she loves the law and would have been just as happy to continue being assistant state attorney if Russell had decided to serve one more term instead of retiring.
Others who know Fox speak highly of her.
"Not only is Amira a superb attorney who has successfully prosecuted the most serious of cases with skill and integrity, but as chief assistant state attorney she has helped to build and leads an office of 300 that has a tremendous success record, with a true felony disposition rate of 88.1 percent, and strong relationships with our law enforcement," said Jenna D. Persons, a local attorney with the Strayhorn and Persons law firm in Fort Myers. "The fact that we have the lowest crime rate in the state of Florida shows that we have the right people working to protect our community at the state attorney’s office."
Fox had raised $313,964.99 as of July 25. Her contributors include an array of Fort Myers-area defense attorneys and other lawyers including the Wilbur C. Smith III Law Firm ($1,000) and law firm members Sawyer Smith ($1,000) and Geraldo Olivio ($1,000), the Joe Viacava Law Firm ($1,000), Ringsmith, Day and O'Halloran ($1,000), Scot Goldberg ($1,000) and Associates and Bruce L Scheiner ($1,000).
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Those contributors were acknowledged by Fox, but she said the American system of politics necessitates such contributions.
"You do rely on political contributions to get you there," she said. "I loaned myself $25,000 ... the rest from public and private citizens. I will never ever be influenced in any way, shape or form by anyone who gave me money."
One non-political issue that did surface in the campaign involved a book written by her father 10 years ago.
The book "From Palestine To America," is a self-published 156-page soft cover publication and deals intently with the Middle East conflict between Palestinians and Israelis.
At a May press conference, Crowley brought up the book saying he was concerned about Fox, because the book, which he termed as radically anti-Semitic and anti-Israel, was dedicated to her, her sister, mother and grandparents.
"What I'm asking the members of the press to do today, and I've asked these questions myself, but they haven't been answered: Does Ms. Fox agree with this book?"
More:Assistant state attorney Amira Fox files to run for state attorney; won't have to quit post
The difference, Fox said, was that she did not grow up as her father did.
"He has a very different perspective of growing up," she said. "I don't share much of his perspective as far as my life goes."
She said the raising of her father's book was race-baiting as far as she's concerned.
Connect with this reporter: MichaelBraunNP (Facebook) @MichaelBraunNP (Twitter)
Assistant State Attorney Amira Fox will square off against former state attorney office staff attorney Chris Crowley in the Aug. 28 primary election. The election is open only to Republican voters. Early voting begins Aug. 18 and ends Aug. 25. The winner faces write-in candidate Joseph Hoffman in November.
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