LWVAC is proud to have several Life Members—those who have been League members for 50 consecutive years! We’ve set out to interview them all. Here we talk with Arlene and Bennett Brummer…

Arlene and Bennett were born just a few miles from each other in NYC (Arlene in Brooklyn, Bennett in The Bronx), but they didn’t meet until their freshman year at the University of Miami.

There Bennett majored in English Literature and Arlene in Economics. After graduation and marriage, they spent three more years at Miami while Bennett went to law school and Arlene pursued her Master’s.

Peace Corps

In the 60’s the Vietnam War narrowed a young man’s choices; Bennett and Arlene elected to perform their civic duty in the Peace Corps. They had requested a posting in Africa to help in a legal capacity, but were sent to Maracaibo, Venezuela, to teach English at the University of Zulia. Venezuela was becoming a prosperous country that was committed to education--although interruptions by armed communist rebels were not uncommon.

Living in Venezuela offered the couple an opportunity to travel in South America as well as the chance to view our country from another perspective. A young artist friend gave Bennett a painting, depicting a large figure with a small head and small hands looming over the Western hemisphere. This, he said, was the United States.

Poverty Law

After the Peace Corps, Bennett was accepted into a novel program being run from the University of Pennsylvania Law School--it trained lawyers in legal aid for the poor, or “poverty law.” Arlene and Bennett returned to Miami and Bennett began work at Legal Services of Greater Miami, Inc., a private, non-profit, federally-funded agency that aimed to provide solid legal representation in civil matters for those who couldn’t otherwise afford it. Arlene began work for Dade County and later became the Director of Planning for the Community Action Agency, a county department tasked with helping the poor.

Public Defender’s Office

In 1975 Arlene and Bennett attended a course run by the Democratic Party called “Get Out the Vote.” Although Bennett hadn’t ever thought about running for office, after the course he entered the race for Public Defender. Arlene ran the campaign. Bennett won the Democratic Primary, then won the election, and in 1977 Bennett was sworn in as Public Defender of Dade County.

It was the perfect job for him. The office was shaped by the PD’s leadership in every area: demonstrating a moral compass, focusing on courage and skill, recruiting and hiring the best, teaching, introducing tools and technology, building long-term plans for the office, and incorporating new ideas (such as hiring social workers and mental health attorneys).

Bennett stayed in the office for 40 years, 32 as the elected official, winning eight elections (opposed in three of them). Running for office gave him an appreciation for voting, for the rule of law, for the strength of the middle class, and for the power of local politics. He had the advantage of speaking Spanish. Peace Corps values also helped. Perhaps being from New York helped with the largely Jewish condominium associations, which prized voting and wielded a lot of influence in Dade County at the time.

During Bennett’s tenure, the office grew to 400 people, 200 of them lawyers. More than fifty of the lawyers in his office have gone on to become judges in Miami. The number of women lawyers in the office grew from only one to 51%. Conservative Cuban lawyers, who had previously avoided the PD Office, began joining and, in fact, Bennett’s successor was a Cuban.

Bennett retired from the PDO in 2009. He did extensive consulting in judicial and public defender management all over the United States and Latin America.

Arlene was also making her mark in Dade County. With the Community Action Agency, she worked closely with the black and Hispanic communities and had the opportunity to establish a new community center in the predominantly Jewish section of South Beach. Arlene then moved to a newly formed County agency, the Criminal Justice Council which reviewed and evaluated grant applications for innovative criminal justice projects. These were funded with money from the federal Law Enforcement Assistance Administration (LEAA).

Environmental Law

Working with lawyers started Arlene thinking about law school. She had a Master’s in Public Administration, but couldn’t resist the call and in 1979 she entered law school at the University of Miami. Arlene became an environmental attorney at Ryder, whose work in trucks, auto-carriers, service centers, and jet engine maintenance demanded constant environmental vigilance and knowledge of the law.

Retirement

Arlene retired from Ryder in 1996, and continued to practice law in a private firm until 2003. Bennett retired from the PDO in 2009. The couple wanted to move to a less congested area in Florida, but not on the fragile coasts (calling themselves “environmental refugees.”) They chose Gainesville, with its central location, university, and medical facilities.

The League

Arlene and Bennett had joined the League in Miami (but not until they allowed men to vote!) They’ve always felt as though the League’s values were aligned with their work. In LWVAC, Arlene served as secretary while Bennett led the Social & Criminal Justice Committee, formed by then-president Sue Legg. This team was successful in promoting a central receiving facility and other forms of diversion from the criminal justice system.

Advice

When asked what advice they would pass on to our members, Bennett and Arlene said:

• Don’t take our legal and democratic system for granted.
• Vote.
• Engage in civic and public affairs.
• Democracy requires intelligent, informed participants.

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Author's Note

After the interview with Arlene and Bennett, I learned that the Miami-Dade County Commission named the Public Defender Office building in Miami in honor of Bennett, and that this was the only government building in the United States named after a Public Defender.

The words on the building’s dedication plaque resonate, because they not only speak to Bennett’s achievements, but to the work of both Arlene and Bennett, and to the values of many in the League. Here is an excerpt:

Mr. Brummer provided visionary leadership to a dedicated defender team that, despite chronically limited resources, provided quality representation to millions of clients. His work has been recognized internationally as well as nationally. Across the United States and throughout Latin America, governments have drawn upon his expertise to strengthen democratic institutions and to promote equal access to justice. In 2007, his office earned the 2007 Clara Shortridge Foltz Award as the outstanding public defender office in the country.

Mr. Brummer bridged the perceived gap between the interests of indigent defendants and community well-being by promoting measures to strengthen families and prevent crime. He was one of the first public defenders in the country to employ social workers to address his clients’ substance abuse and mental health problems. Through his innovative Anti-Violence Initiative, he led the nation in advocating partnerships between public defender services and community organizations to promote education, health, and effective treatment.

Mr. Brummer’s leadership strengthened the guarantee of freedom found in our Bill of Rights. We honor him for his humanitarian principles, his compassionate representation of the suffering and the poor, and his unselfish devotion to justice.

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