Elected state public defender?

I must confess I did not know that in some jurisdictions the Public Defender is an elected position.  Wow!  I find that hard to believe.  The dangers to the system of justice in that idea seem apparent to me and now seem to be quite clear in Florida.  I just found out by reading a comment in A Public Defender (blog) on the situation in Florida.  You should take a look at it here.